Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Natao arisiva ity resaka mitohy ity. Mametraha fanontaniana azafady raha mila fanampiana.

restore mail after changed account settings

  • 3 valiny
  • 1 manana an'ity olana ity
  • 5 views
  • Valiny farany nomen'i Matt

Håkan
Håkan
more options

I changed the mail host, and thought I could just update the account settings (password, imap- and smtp servers) to the new host. When I did, all mails disapeared! I realise, now, that's how imap works. But my question is, does Thunderbird keep a backup somewhere so that I can restore the old mails?

I changed the mail host, and thought I could just update the account settings (password, imap- and smtp servers) to the new host. When I did, all mails disapeared! I realise, now, that's how imap works. But my question is, does Thunderbird keep a backup somewhere so that I can restore the old mails?

All Replies (3)

JohannHan
JohannHan
more options

When you used IMAP the messages are still on the server of your old mail provider.

Håkan
Håkan Tompon'ny fanontaniana
more options

I know, but since I'm not a customer there anymore, they have deleted my account and all my mails (I'm sure there is a backup, but they just say it's gone). So I was hoping Thunderbird kept a "hidden" backup somewhere...

Matt
Matt
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Thunderbird might still have them as deleted. As long as the folder has not been compacted.

So open your profile folder (help menu > troubleshooting information and click the show profile button. Ensure Thunderbird is not running.

open the imap mail folder in the profile. Then open the appropriate imap mail account folder.

Locate the file inbox (I assume it is the inbox folder). There will also be an inbox.msf file. that is not relevant but might help locate it.

Copy the file to another location, like your desktop. open in it a plain text editor. I suggest you download and use notepad++, but windows default notepad might suffice, depending on file size but a wordprocessor like word or libreoffice will just make a bad situation a total disaster.

use the menu commands for find and replace to find all occurrences of; 

X-Mozilla-Status: 0008

with 

X-Mozilla-Status: 0001

Then install the import export tools add-on https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/

Use the add-on to import any mail the file contains from an mbox file type.