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What OS are you running Thunderbird on? If Windows 10, you should have your profile somewhere withing your User Files, under \AppData\Local there is probably a Directory named thunderbird. If you are using the PortableApp version of Thunderbird, then you should find the profile within the \ThunderbirdPortable\Data Directory.<br><br>If you are running Linux, then there should be a .thunderbird folder in your User's Folder.<br><br>Maybe your files are still there...
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A further thing, if you have setup Thunderbird for IMAP, &amp; your mail provider also allows you to connect via a web-browser, I would logon that way to check whether your emails are still there. Also if you have been using pop within your Thunderbird account setup, &amp; there used the setting to leave the messages on the server, they should also still be there.
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<blockquote>
somewhere withing your User Files, under \AppData\Local there is probably a Directory named thunderbird. 
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Actually if memory serves the profile under windows is located in c:\users\&lt;username&gt;\AppDat<wbr />a\Roaming\<wbr />Thunderbir<wbr />d\<br />
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Under Linux it would typically be /home/&lt;username&gt;/.thunderb<wbr />ird/
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1) This situation is common when the backing store implements both IMAP + POP.<br />
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Then someone sets up a new POP account, selecting &quot;delete server side messages after download&quot;.<br />
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2) Since POP protocol is so flakey/broken, for massive quantities of mail, POP likely died part ways through the download + delete process.<br />
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So you still have some of you mail on the server.<br />
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3) If this is truly what's occurring, it's only a matter of time will the client with the POP setup connects again + destroys the rest of your email.<br />
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4) Before any other action, ensure POP is completely disabled on your backing store server, as mixing IMAP + POP for the same account across various clients is a recipe for disaster.<br />
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5) If you determine POP + destroy server messages is the culprit, you can likely... revivify (give new life, resurrect)... all your messages... be accessing the raw files on your server, then removing the filename flag which marks the files as deleted.<br />
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6) Said differently...<br />
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a) Files may truly be deleted.<br />
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b) Or files may be simply marked as deleted (appended filename flag), so they exists till next expunge operation.<br />
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If #6b is true.. and no expunge operation has run... then files still exist + can be recovered.<br />
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7) If you're unsure about your actual backing store setup, after you disable POP, make a backup of your entire mail backing store filesystem, so you can access all files to restore them later.
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Aside: The most important part of this equation is...<br />
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1) Type of software running as mail backing store.<br />
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For example, if you're running Dovecot, the entire message restoration will be trivial.<br />
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Other mail servers... complex...<br />
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2) If mail backing store is running POP.<br />
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As mentioned above, if this is true, first step is to disable POP as this protocol is best disabled for many reasons.<br />
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3) Also, you haven't mentioned what type of mail backing store backups you have, as you may have to fallback to a restore to revivify your files.<br />
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For best comments, provide details about your mail server + is POP running + backing store backend (filesystem, database, mbox/Maildir/dbox/mdbox) + type/frequency of backups running on backing store.
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Rindi &nbsp;- windows 10 - setup IMAP &nbsp;- on webmail the mails are gone too<br>in profile here's what i have : <br><a href="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2021/06_w27/1564844/TB.PNG" rel="ugc"><img src="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2021/06_w27/1564844/TB.PNG" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></a><br>kenfcamp &nbsp;hers's what i get &nbsp;on your location - where are my files?<br><a href="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2021/06_w27/1564847/tb1.PNG" rel="ugc"><img src="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2021/06_w27/1564847/tb1.PNG" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></a><br>David, thank you for jumping in, but i don't understansd what you are telling me - maybe tell it another way, to a noob?<br><br>the only thing i did, is on a second pc i have sending a mail to an online site, and it asked for setup data : mail adress + password - which i gave. NOTE that ther is no software or hardware connection between these - bothe standalone PC's
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If the mails have also gone from webmail, it is possible either your mail account has been taken over (not that likely as you can still login, usually the crooks would probably change the password). But as the first precaution I would change that password first. Another possibly is your PC has been hijacked.
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i found the mails in submaps all were still there, as the Sent mails
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If you know you didn't move them yourself to other folders, &amp; you know no one in your household could have done so, I would still change password using webmail (have the folders also moved there?). Then thoroughly sca your PC for malware and clean it off if any found. Then also change your windoze passwords &amp; after that change the account settings within Thunderbird to reflect the new mail password. After that you should be able to move your mail folders back to where they were originally.
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webmail is the same as my mail( so they're gone there also) - nobody touches my PC<br>it's no big problem if i loose them; but i'd like to know how that can happen<br>it could be a hacker &nbsp;- &nbsp;but they can't possibly gain from it, and i saw no suspect behavior<br>as i said the only thing i did is sending a mail from another PC to a webside
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You said you found the emails in submaps (I assume you meant subfolders of your mail profile), &amp; I also on webmail they will be in the same new folders.<br>In Thunderbird you can pick a folder up with your mouse &amp; drop it elsewhere, &amp; the folder has moved.<br><br>I agree it is unlikely someone would do this to you &amp; not also change logins or encrypt the data in order to extort money from you, but maybe he hasn't yet finished...<br>It is more likely this happened unintentionally.
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Hi nobus,<br><br><blockquote><em>as i said the only thing i did is sending a mail from another PC to a webside</em></blockquote><br>Is it possible on the either PC you have the retention settings on the IMAP account to not keep all mail and delete after a certain period of time? If so, then that could cause it.<br><br>As to the idea that it could be a hacker, I highly doubt that. Hacking activity would generally cause either no changes to keep you in the dark about the access, or if it was going to be destructive, then I'd expect far more damage than what you've experienced. I'd say it's more likely there's a setting amiss somewhere that caused it.<br><br>Regards, Andrew
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on the other PC there was not even thunderbird &nbsp;- or any other mail program installed<br>i just put in the data of my TB account on my main pc. is that a possible cause?&nbsp; i doubt it but....
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Hi nobus,<br><br><blockquote><em>i just put in the data of my TB account on my main pc. is that a possible cause?</em></blockquote><br>Can you expand on that? You put in the data of your TB account into what?
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onnmy2nd pc, i visited a website and wanted to contact them - so i clicked on contact - put my mail together, and clicked send.<br>it is then they asked for my mail address&nbsp; + password( no mail installed here)
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"( no mail installed here)", are you sure? If you are using Windows 10 on that 2nd PC as well, then there is an E-Mail Crapp that get's installed by default (you know one of those M$ Store Crapps). Possibly by entering your email address &amp; Password, it configured itself. It would know the server settings of many well known Mail Providers, like Hotmail etc., &amp; so the configuration can go pretty much automatically. If you want to avoid those M$ Store crapps like me, you would have to uninstall them from your system to make sure they can't get in the way. Some of the Crapps can be removed via "settings, Apps &amp; features". When you click on the Crapp you want removed, you should see an "Uninstall" button. Some crapps though can't be removed that way, for those there are utilities available you can run to get rid of them.<br><br>I don't know how that website works you visited, but the good ones usually have a Contact form which fill in, Ask the Question you want, provide your E-Mail Address (or other forms of Contact, like Telephone Number).<br><br>After that you usually get mailed an automatic confirmation that the request has reached them, &amp; you would get contacted again later. That site you used seems to work differently...<br><br><br>
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rindi - i know about the mail CRAP<br>but it is never used - nor configured<br>&gt;&gt;&nbsp;&nbsp;I don't know how that website works you visited, but the good ones usually have a Contact form which fill in, Ask the Question you want, provide your E-Mail Address (or other forms of Contact, like Telephone Number).&nbsp; &lt;&lt; that is exactly what i did, and posted above
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But then you wouldn't have had to input your mail password. I think the website used a script that called your local mail software, &amp; and since none was configured it asked for the password &amp; configured itself.
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The other thing I just realized which I should have from the beginning, even if there was no script running that configured your email, if you really provided the password in the contact form, those from the website would now have it &amp; could have easily logged on to your web-mail account &amp; played around with it.
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Hi Nobus,<br><br>Unless I'm misunderstanding and given what you've said you did, then being asked for your email password sounds awfully suspicious to me. I'd like to clarify the following more if you wouldn't mind.<br><br><blockquote><em>onnmy2nd pc, i visited a website and wanted to contact them - so i clicked on contact - put my mail together, and clicked send. it is then they asked for my mail address &nbsp;+ password( no mail installed here)</em></blockquote><br>Is it possible for you to share the website contact page that you visited and used? The reason being is I'd like to examine the page myself, so unless it's too sensitive to share, please do so.<br><br>No contact form on any website should "ever" ask you for your email password under any circumstances that I can think of. Your personal mail account details are simply not needed to send a contact message to a website so if they are asked for, that sets off huge alarm bells for me.<br><br>I'm also still not clear on how you sent the mail without an email client configured. Either you did not send an email at all and used a contact form on the website, in which case your email password would most certainly <strong>not</strong> be needed by the contact form under <strong>any</strong> circumstances, or the site triggered a mail app to self-configure on your machine to enable the sending of the email and it's into that you entered your password. I can think of no other alternatives given the information you've provided.<br><br>Please do the following test on the machine you used and tell me the result.<br><br>Press your <strong>Windows Key</strong> and type <strong>Default apps</strong> and then hit your <strong>Enter</strong> key.<br><br>On the Default Apps settings screen that opens, what is listed under email on your machine?<br><br><a href="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2021/06_w27/1565154/da.png" rel="ugc"><img src="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2021/06_w27/1565154/da.png" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"></a><br>If an email app is listed under <strong>Email</strong> on your machine, open the app and see if it is configured with your email account. Is it?<br><br>Finally, I share <a href="#a43308735" rel="ugc" class="scroll">rindi's concern</a> about the website possibly now having your email account details. If you're able to share the link to the contact page you used I'd like to take a look at it.<br><br>Regards, Andrew<br><br>
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da.png

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Andrew, i'll try to find out the website, and i must say, normally i'm very suspicious about giving account data, but this time i did...<br>in default apps i only see MAIL - and it has Mail + Outlook 2016 ( installed with Office - but never configured afaik<br>in &nbsp;the history all i found &nbsp;is Brave Browser ? all other sites i found are trusted by me<br>it sounds like it tried to set up mail for some reason...<br>if you want - i can send screenshots of history or others?<br><br>@ Rindi tx for the suggestions; they are welcome
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Hi Nobus,<br><br><blockquote><em>Andrew, i'll try to find out the website, and i must say, normally i'm very suspicious about giving account data, but this time i did...</em></blockquote><br>I wouldn't beat yourself up over it too much - I think we've all had that lapse of concentration at least once in our lifetimes and did something we normally wouldn't do. It's called being human and the "murphy's law" effect :)<br><br><blockquote><em>in default apps i only see MAIL - and it has Mail + Outlook 2016 ( installed with Office - but never configured afaik</em></blockquote><br>I'd check both the mail app and Outlook to ensure one of them hasn't been configured. Just open them and take a look. If there are no account details and nothing in the sent items folder in both, then I would strongly urge you to change the password to your email account as soon as possible if only as a failsafe precaution. This entire chain of events has made me very suspicious. Even the idea of a script on a site trying to trigger a mail app setup (unlikely) sounds suss to me.<br><br><blockquote><em>if you want - i can send screenshots of history or others?</em></blockquote><br>No your browsing history won't help if you can't identify the site and page where you sent a contact message to. If you can remember that, then I'm keen on checking the page out myself. If you can't remember though and there is no account setup in either the Mail app or Outlook, then I'd once again, suggest changing the password you entered on the account you gave ASAP as a safety measure.<br><br>Regards, Andrew<br><br><br>
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i thought you must configure them in order to open them ? &nbsp;the Mail Crap has my hotmail<br>and outlook i must configure first - which i don't want to risk<br>what puzzles me is that all mails have disappeared till 24/10/2010,- and these not<br>the mails that were in separate folders in the inbox also were untouched
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<ol><li>What type of user Account are you logging on to Windoze with? Is it an m$ or a local Account? If it is an m$ Account it already knows your hotmail details &amp; most likely the Mail Crapp is already setup for it with that. I always use a local Account, although m$ tries to discourage that &amp; when setting up Windows 10 it always tries to push you to use an m$ account. Even after installation using a local account, it tries to make you use an m$ account. I always insist on using local accounts.</li><li>As I mentioned earlier, the web-page provider you gave your password to, he could have logged on to your hotmail account and played around with it. He could have done anything... That's why you need to change the password so he can no longer login. If you have been using OneDrive, he would also have had access to that, so if you have sensitive documents there, with passwords etc, you need to check those also and change the respective passwords not just within those Docs, but also on the devices or webpages they are referring to. Further they will now have all your E-Mail contacts, so you may have to expect many of them getting Spam/malware Mails in your name.</li></ol><br>
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LOCAL account - and i don't remember the website for sure<br>it's not a big thing, &nbsp;to loose these mails, just annoying, - AND iw certainly like to know why; - if possible
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If messages are also gone from Webmail, then your provider has likely destroyed them.
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<blockquote><em>the Mail Crap has my hotmail</em></blockquote><br>In which case there would have been no need to enter your email and password.<br><br><blockquote><em>and outlook i must configure first - which i don't want to risk</em></blockquote><br>No need - that tells me everything I needed to know. If the configuration wizard launches when you try to open it, then Outlook was neither configured nor used.<br><br><blockquote><em>what puzzles me is that all mails have disappeared till 24/10/2010,- and these not<br>the mails that were in separate folders in the inbox also were untouched <br></em></blockquote><br>This is sounding more and more like someone has gained access and screwed around with your account, unfortunately. I assume you've checked to make sure you don't have auto-archiving or cleanups configured within your IMAP server's webmail interface?<br><br><blockquote><em>it's not a big thing, &nbsp;to loose these mails, just annoying, - AND iw certainly like to know why; - if possible</em></blockquote><br>Only two possibilities left that I can see. The IMAP server removed everything up to a certain date or someone gained access and manually deleted them.
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it's weird - i checked the webmail, but found nothing<br>i'll check again; btw would it help to ask the ISP for help in this case?
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<blockquote><em>i'll check again; btw would it help to ask the ISP for help in this case?</em></blockquote><br>Yes, if your ISP is where you have your IMAP account. I was assuming you meant your Hotmail or similar type account. Your ISP should have all access to their mail server logged, as well as actions taken. Just depends on how helpful they're willing to be.
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<blockquote><em>the Mail Crap has my hotmail</em></blockquote>In which case there would have been no need to enter your email and password.<br><br><br>This really depends. If you didn't configure the m$ Mail Crapp Earlier yourself, then it could have been configured when you gave your EMail Address &amp; Password. That would be enough to configure it, at least for well known Mail Domains like Hotmail. You wouldn't have to add iMap/Pop or SMTP Server addresses yourself, as these are known &amp; probably embedded in the Crapp already. Now it really depends how this Crapp is setup. Does it default to Pop or iMap? If Pop, does it leave the Mails on the server after it has downloaded them or not? I think you should check the settings of that Crapp, and maybe also look if those old mails which have gone may now be on that Crapp... When you check those settings, do that while the PC is offline, so if it is the culprit, it can't harm the rest of your mail.
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<div class="content wysiwyg-content fr-view">
yesterday - my TB worked fine<br>today, when i opened it, from my &nbsp;inbox all files were deleted from 24/10/2010 - thats 11 years ! ! <br>no errors, or messages shown <br>anybody knows how this happened - or how to recover them ??
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yesterday - my TB worked fine
today, when i opened it, from my  inbox all files were deleted from 24/10/2010 - thats 11 years ! !
no errors, or messages shown
anybody knows how this happened - or how to recover them ??

thunderbird mails disappeared ? ?

Thunderbird is an email, newsgroup, news feed, and chat (XMPP, IRC, Twitter) client that supports POP and IMAP and LDAP address completion. The vanilla version is not a personal information manager, although the Mozilla Lightning extension adds PIM functionality. Thunderbird can manage multiple email, newsgroup, and news feed accounts and supports multiple identities within accounts. Features such as quick search, saved search folders, advanced message filtering, message grouping, and labels help manage and find messages. Thunderbird incorporates a Bayesian spam filter, a whitelist based on the included address book, and can also understand classifications by server-based filters such as SpamAssassin. Extensions allow the addition of features.

Thunderbird

An email client, email reader or more formally mail user agent (MUA) is a computer program used to access and manage a user's email. A web application that provides message management, composition, and reception functions is sometimes also considered an email client, but more commonly referred to as webmail.