Thunderbird - Lost "Saved" Folder

Using TB (version 2.0.0.18 (20081105)) with no problems for quite a while. Suddenly tonight my main account my Saved folder is gone.

I can't find it in Trash, Recycle or any backup. I probably know the answer, but I'll pray, beg, and hope that a backup is kept somewhere I am missing.

As far as I know I didn't delete or move it by action.

 

Cal, I'm not one of the experts but, I'll suggest a couple of things:

First off, I suggest you not download any additional mail until you have researched this a little further to see if your current mail can be found.

Secondly, Do you know where your mail folder was located on the hard drive.

Normally it is located in the path that looks something like the following:..
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\Profile Name\Mail\mail.bellsouth.net

To determine where your mail folder was or is located, Click on your Account Name in Thunderbird and then View "Settings for this Account" as shown here:... http://www.raysmyth.net/tb-01.jpg

At the next screen as shown here:.. http://www.raysmyth.net/tb-02.jpg
you can find the location of your mail folder as indicated providing of course everything is normal.

Once we have better defined where your mail was located in what folder the better we can hopefully solve your problem.

So, look over the screens and see if you can determine where the mail was located. Once we understand where it was located we can attack getting it straightened out providing it is still there of course.

Once it is determined where the folder is located we can use Windows Explorer to see if the mail is still in the Inbox and Sent folders by looking at the byte count.

Good Luck -- Ray,

 

The Chief's suggestions are excellent, but what is this "Saved" folder? I have ten accounts set up in TB, and each one has several folders. Some are part of the account, others are subfolders of the Inbox. If the "Saved" folder is a subfolder of the Inbox, then the Inbox will have a +, to the left of its name. If the folder is a folder of the account, i.e. not a subfolder, then the path could be: C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\.slt folder\Mail\Cox\Saved. Cox is the renamed account.

 

I have found the folders. However, they of course aren't named as they appear in TB. As you, Westside, I have several accounts. What I beleive is my primary account (C:\Users\Clarence\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\52ipxqfj.default\Mail\mail.comcast.net\) has no Saved subfolder, while my others do.

One cavet, I also see the folders in C:\Users\Clarence\AppData\Local\....... with the same names. However, the dates on them are older.

I notice you list as "\Profiles\.slt folder\Mail\ ". An unimportance difference?

 

Greetings all,
Just lurking.....

It looks like you may be using "roaming" profiles ?
I am not familiar with this feature.
In addition to what was said above by Old chief.
Lets assume that you have an account. within that account you have a folder within the inbox called "saved" - to locate this folder:
1. in left panel - select the "saved" folder - right click.
2. Select "copy folder location "
3. Open notepad or other plain text editor and "paste "
You will get something like:

This will tell you exactly WHERE that file is located.
If you have a additional sub-folder under the "saved" folder called "my stuff" the above procedure will show

I find this method somewhat easier than going to "account settings - server settings" route.

I am still dinking with the original problem, with no success. If the folder was "DELETED" by mistake and "Trash" was emptied - then I fear it is lost.

regards:captjlddavis

 

Found it in a backup

Thanks to all for the tips. I found a copy of my Saved folder in a backup that was less then a week old and restored it. (I needed to take a chance and recreated a new Saved folder first and then restore seemed to get the data back in place with maybe only a very few items possibly missing.)

When I post here, I'm always a bit embarrassed because I work on PC hardware for 40+ years. It was always hardware and my software was never the greatest because in we had another group dedicated to software in general and another to networking.

After my company, as so many others, went "offshore" a few years ago and we closed American manufacturing, I took at age 62 an earlier retirement then I had expected. Over the past few 6 years I've come to appreciate the software and network guys a lot more then when I worked with them.

I had a fatal hardware failure a little over a year ago and had to get a new system with VISTA (at that time MS had put pressure on vendors and I couldn't get a new XP machine). Quite truthfully I've never been a happy camper since then.

Whenever I get advice I notice that folder and file information is often anywhere from slightly to completely different from my machine and "things" to change magically. Did the group that installed my PC not "get it right ", is Vista top blame, or is my PC hardware not all it should be?? I'm not sure and each person has a different idea.

Well, thanks for the insights and pardon my vent.

 

In NS7.x and Mozilla, a folder inside the the profile name had the xyz456.slt-type description. Since Firefox and Thunderbird, the profile name has become attached to the alphanumeric, having a xyz456.default description. A number of people call this a "salted" folder,or .slt of the past. Obviously, you don't use that definition. Sorry about the confusion. As mentioned before, I have renamed the folder has the TB way does not remind me of the correct username. So, what for me is, originally, pop.central.cox.net is renamed to Cox, and so forth. You could rename your folder, on the hard drive to Comcast, and just change the Local directory.

 

Cal,

On a Windows Vista Machine, the correct location for your profile is:
Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

The "Roaming" folder is unique for Vista. Those of us still using Windows XP tend to forget that some folks have moved on...

 

Ramona,
good to hear from you! I must comment that CalE said that he/she was using Vista, only on the third post, and even that was not an obvious statement.
It is, always, most helpful to list the OS, and any other helpful information, first.