i used notepad and saved the the new ‘txt’ file to another location (due to administrator restrictions) & subsequentley deleted the ‘txt’ extension on this. finally i dragged the new ‘Inbox’ file back in to the original folder, replacing the old one. when i reopened tb, there it was - the elusive email, including 2x powerpoint attachments!

tips:
1. ensure thunderbird is not running;
2. make a backup of that ‘Inbox’ incase it all goes pear shaped;
3. be patient with the file loading in notepad - takes a bit of time due to its size;
4. you will have to sift thru all the heiroglyphics to find the email you need and look for the subject line/date/time info;
5. once you have amended the ‘X-Mozilla-Status:’ as 0000 ensure you save the file, as mentioned above.

cheers,
ac

…i think i will keep my eye on this blog

I decided to delete some more sent items and after I deleted those from the trash folder, I did another compact. It didn’t take it very long this time and then it said ‘done compacting’. Well, the emails were gone, as though I had emptied the folder.
The Trash folder in application data…mail/Local Folders also disappeared. The folder in Thunderbird itself was still there, just empty. When I restarted Thunderbird, the Trash folder in Local Folders reappeared (just with file size 0). Perhaps it does NOT like you to compact twice in a row?

I tried a system restore…didn’t work. I use my trash for storage of emails I may need to refer to, so this bites.
Are they just gone for good? Would you have any idea if data recovery software would be able to find them?

GREAT blog by the way…

Ann

The only way to do a fresh install of Thunderbird without all the previous data, is to first uninstall Thunderbird and then delete the Thunderbird Profile Folder. Then you can reinstall and it will be like brand new.

Is there any way to cancel everything out and install Thunderbird with a ‘clean slate’, without bringing up any of those old folders? It is a real ‘pain’ to have those old imported folders. It won’t allow me to do a fresh Import. Does anyone have an answer for this? I would truly appreciate any help.

Thanks to you all for reading this. I hope to hear from someone soon. Please email me at the following address:

auto.collect1@yahoo.com

Enjoy the weekend.

Kindly,
Ben

I opened up the inbox file in notepad and made all the X-Mozilla-Status to be 0, but when I go to open up Thunderbird, my email doesn’t show up in my inbox. Any thoughts and help would be much appreciated.

Thanks:)

I’m currently going through the steps to restore my deleted email, and so far it’s going well, except when I try to open the inbox file in everything but wordpad but nothing works - all that’s appearing is jibberish and a bunch of symbols. Much help is appreciated:)

Thanks,

Angela from Canada