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How do I restore my Thunderbird data using Mac Time Machine after accidentally deleting files in Important folder?

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  • Siste svar av christ1

jkgsoccer
jkgsoccer
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I deleted numerous emails from my Important folder, not realizing that that would also delete them from all folders the email resided in. I then deleted the items from the trash folder and compacted it.

I closed T'Bird, went back to a Time Machine backup prior to the deletions, and restored my entire Library>Thunderbird folder. The files seem to have been restored based on the file and folder size, but they are not visible when I restart T'Bird. How do I get my deleted emails back? HELP!!

Using T'Bird 38.3.0 on MiniMac with OS X (Version 10.6.8).

I deleted numerous emails from my Important folder, not realizing that that would also delete them from all folders the email resided in. I then deleted the items from the trash folder and compacted it. I closed T'Bird, went back to a Time Machine backup prior to the deletions, and restored my entire Library>Thunderbird folder. The files seem to have been restored based on the file and folder size, but they are not visible when I restart T'Bird. How do I get my deleted emails back? HELP!! Using T'Bird 38.3.0 on MiniMac with OS X (Version 10.6.8).

All Replies (5)

christ1
christ1
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What is your account type - POP or IMAP?

jkgsoccer
jkgsoccer Eieren av spørsmålet
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I have one of each that I use. My main/default is IMAP. Does that make a difference?

christ1
christ1
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If your account is IMAP you'll have to restore messages to your Local Folders, and then upload them to the server again. Otherwise the server will delete them right away.

jkgsoccer
jkgsoccer Eieren av spørsmålet
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First, thank you for your time. That is the problem! But I don't know how to restore to a different folder using Time Machine or how to upload to the server once I get them into Local Folders.

christ1
christ1
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But I don't know how to restore to a different folder using Time Machine

Not a Mac user, so I can't help with that. What you can do though is to put Thunderbird in offline mode mode, so it won't synchronize with the server and delete the restored messages. Or simply cut your internet connection temporarily.

You'll then have to put Thunderbird into offline mode anyway to move the restored messages to your Local Folders. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Outbox#Online_and_offline_states

For moving messages, start with a single message as a test. Right-click the message > Copy To > <destination folder underneath Local Folders>

Verify the message has been copied. Only then delete the message in the source folder.

You can select multiple messages and copy them in one step. Do that in chunks, not all at once.

Once all recovered messages have been moved to Local Folders you can upload them to the server. Thunderbird needs to be in online mode again for that. Uploading works the same way as described above, i.e. copy messages to the destination folder on the server.