Lost mail when I changed imap server
I had a IMAP-account but changed email-provider (the emailadress is the same).
Now my inbox only displays emails received since the move, but I can still search old emails. They will display (with content) in the search results, but when I try to open them they will not display.
I have the settings for saving messages locally, and not to delete any. But how can I get them back to the inbox, and possibly sync backwards to the server of the new email provider?
I know the easy way to do this would have been to migrate the messages straight from the old provider to the new one, but this was neither my decision or under my control.
Best regards,
Fredrik
Chosen solution
I had a IMAP-account but changed email-provider (the emailadress is the same).
I suppose that means you did modify the server settings of the existing account. That was a mistake. What you should have done is create a new account for the new server.
Now my inbox only displays emails received since the move,
That's exactly the expected behavior assuming the above is what you did. The new server doesn't know anything about the emails from the old server and wipes them from your local disk the first time you connect to it.
but I can still search old emails.
That's because they have been indexed. You'll need to rebuild the index. Since there are only the new messages it probably won't take long. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database
I have the settings for saving messages locally, and not to delete any.
That doesn't help because you presumably modified the existing account - see above.
But how can I get them back to the inbox, and possibly sync backwards to the server of the new email provider?
You'll need to restore the messages from a recent backup of your Thunderbird profile you hopefully created prior to the switch.
I know the easy way to do this would have been to migrate the messages straight from the old provider to the new one
What you should have done is to download all messages from the old server to your Local Folders account prior to the switch. Then you could have uploaded those local messages to the new server. This would have been entirely under your control.
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Chosen Solution
I had a IMAP-account but changed email-provider (the emailadress is the same).
I suppose that means you did modify the server settings of the existing account. That was a mistake. What you should have done is create a new account for the new server.
Now my inbox only displays emails received since the move,
That's exactly the expected behavior assuming the above is what you did. The new server doesn't know anything about the emails from the old server and wipes them from your local disk the first time you connect to it.
but I can still search old emails.
That's because they have been indexed. You'll need to rebuild the index. Since there are only the new messages it probably won't take long. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database
I have the settings for saving messages locally, and not to delete any.
That doesn't help because you presumably modified the existing account - see above.
But how can I get them back to the inbox, and possibly sync backwards to the server of the new email provider?
You'll need to restore the messages from a recent backup of your Thunderbird profile you hopefully created prior to the switch.
I know the easy way to do this would have been to migrate the messages straight from the old provider to the new one
What you should have done is to download all messages from the old server to your Local Folders account prior to the switch. Then you could have uploaded those local messages to the new server. This would have been entirely under your control.
Modified by christ1