Search does not find all messages
I have a set of local mail folders (>20) When I do a global search I get a list of mails that contain the items and the timeline related to the mails I search for (albeit not all I know I have). When I select a specific period I see the mail headers for the found mails. When I select a mail I get a screen showing me nothing. Mails are apparently not found.
I can find the mails using search on the folder where the mail is located, but this does not work as a global search.
I rebuild the indexes and deleted all *.msf files (and got them rebuild).
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That is what I did as recommended, it was only after all other problem solving recommendations failed that I posted my issue
Can you open the exact same message you found via search directly in the folder?
Yes, in the search on "local folders" or a subfolder it finds and dsiplays the message. The same that it refuses to show in global search. The first time after restart when I do a search it shows the message very briefly, just a flash, and then it shows an empty list and the message area shows the welcome to Thunderbird screen
That may indicate some sort of mail file corruption. Make sure you do have a full backup of your Thunderbird profile. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile
Now, try to move the troubled message to a different folder. Rebuild the global database once again. Can you open the message now from global search?
Yes, after folowwing the instructions I can now find these mails with global search. How do I fix the issue for the complete folder(s)/ all mails?
How widespread is the problem? Does it affect one folder or many? How many messages are in those affected folders?
It affects most (if not all) local folders, 30 folders in all with 1,9GB of messages ~1500-2000 per folder
First of all create a full backup of your Thunderbird profile, so that you can revert to the current state in case something bad happens. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile
For each of the 30 folders underneath 'Local Folders': Right-click the folder - Properties - Repair Folder
Then, select a folder underneath 'Local Folders' in the folder pane.
Now, File (Alt-F) - Compact folders
This should clean up the mail file corruption. Note, depending on the state of corruption, messages may disappear. In that case restore the backup created previously.
Rebuild the global database once again. Can you open the messages from global search now?
Some messages are still not found by global search, some of the repair took rather long compared to other folders with ~equal size. I had about 4-5 folders that did not immediately refresh the content and allowed me to close the properties pop-up by pressing OK. It closed only by pressing cancel and the "number of unread messages " (e.g. number in bold) appeared only on these folders a few seconds after I selected the folder. (msf file not yet rebuild...?)
It is not clear to me whether you only did attempt rebuilding the message index, or whether you also did compacting folders.
In case the latter doesn't fix it try the 'real fix'. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders#Compacting_does_not_seem_to_work
After compacting the folders I did rebuild the index. I will try the 'real fix' and report back ASAP
The "real fix" is indeed the real fix, I created a new folder, moved all messages, compacted the original and rebuild the index. But it is not easy to know which folder to fix as the overview of found messages in Global Search does not give an indication in which folder the message was found.
Thanks
Once you have this sorted out, then you should run a Check Disk to find and fix other file corruptions you may have on the hard drive. Regularly running a Check Disk (weekly, I suggest), will fix file corruptions early before they get bad like this.