If you want to do it without using Thunderbird see the instructions here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database But make sure all your profile is backed up.
Cautious optimism! I made a backup copy of the database and followed the instructions in that link. Then turned on the activity manager as it suggests. It's definitely doing .... something! And taking a long time and showing me all kinds of progress bars and displaying encouraging-looking text.... this may just end well. On Wed, Mar 28, 2018, 12:51 AM madodel <madodel@mac.com> wrote:
On 3/28/18 00:29, Evan Koblentz wrote:
I force a rebuild of the indexes by first doing a "Search Messages" on the root folder (usually "Local Folders") with "Search subfolders" checked.
Where/how do I do that?
In Thunderbird. I don't have Linux, but on the Mac: Click on the root folder for the POP account (in the left side Folder pane, main account is usually named "Local Folders" but may be your email address) to get the context menu. Select "Search Messages" Enter anything, make certain "Search subfolders" is enabled. Then click on Search. Wait until it is done searching all the subfolders, Then select File from the main menu then select Compact Folders under that. That should force a reindex. POP messages are stored in a sqlite database. Not sure about iMap.
If you want to do it without using Thunderbird see the instructions here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database But make sure all your profile is backed up.
I don't guarantee this is your problem, but it sounds like what I have experienced moving a TB profile in the past and also when I had too large a database.
Mark
On Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 11:55 PM madodel <madodel@mac.com> wrote:
On 3/27/18 15:27, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I've got a huge problem. I use Thunderbird on my Linux desktop. Made a backup copy of the profile folder before wiping the partition and reinstalling Linux the other day. Imported the backup profile into the new installation. All of the IMAP folders worked fine, but my POP folders are broken. The messages appear to be there in the folders, but they're blank when I open them (except the sent folder: that is missing entirely). This includes my entire inbox of personal email containing thousands of messages, many of which are very important, and some of which are absolutely vital. Tbird has a "repair folder" option but all that did was erase everything include the message list (got it back by reimporting the profile folder again). Here is someone else who had the same problem, but no solution is listed: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1024340 .... can anyone help? (Please don't tell me that I "should" have made another kind of backup, or that I should switch all folders to IMAP going forward, etc. ..... that will NOT help solve the immediate problem and will just make more stressed/angry.) Any tbird whizzes out there who can save all these messages???? This is urgent.
Did you rebuild the indexes? When my POP accounts have corrupted folders in TB (usually displays as empty folder), I force a rebuild of the indexes by first doing a "Search Messages" on the root folder (usually "Local Folders") with "Search subfolders" checked. Doesn't matter the criteria, it is just to force every subfolder to be searched. Then select File, then Compact Folders from the main menu.
I stumbled onto this when I was using TB under OS/2 but it still works under TB on OSX. I assume the same would work on Linux.
Mark