Tbird complete uninstall; start over

Long story short I messed up my install of Tbird (downloaded mail before I had checked box to leave mail on server and somewhere in process of migrating profile lost inbox email then have to restart Tbird every time and on and on...). I'd like to completely uninstall Tbird so I can make a fresh start.

Oh, I saved the inbox file and profiles separately and also still have my old mail and settings on a different partition.

Thanks,
Scott

 

Scott,

Uninstall Firefox through Add/Remove, and then delete the "Thunderbird" folder located in: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird

Reboot your PC
Reinstall Thunderbird

A new profile will be created
Now check out this page: Create a New Profile for details on what to copy, and what not to copy to the new Profile.

Let us know if you have further questions.

Ramona

 

Thanks Ramona. I was hesitant to delete program files directly. I don't do anything with the folders in documents and settings?

Also, I understand you to mean Thunderbird not Firefox.

I'll let you know,

Scott.

 

Scott,

Backup your Profiles folder before you start the uninstall/reinstall. Always a good idea. Then follow the guideline I referenced and it will take you through the steps for moving all your preference data, including Mail. Just leave the Profiles folder as is, other than backing up when you uninstall.

Big fat DUH!

Ramona

 

Ramona ~

Awesome. Slow and patiently following directions and it works like a charm.

Q: that inbox that I couldn't read yesterday but saved - could I rename it and copy it or clean out my inbox and copy it without renaming it?

Many thanks for the good work you do.

Scott

 

Ramona,
it is hard to keep track of those critters. Firefox used to be Firebird, and Thunderbird is sort of fiery too. I can fully understand.

 

Scott,

Rename the Inbox you couldn't read, like BADInbox, but from what you posted, it look as if it is corrupt. No harm in trying though.

Glad the rest of it is going well. Practice makes perfect, or something like that!

Ramona

 

Westside,

I hear you, and it makes me a total "Bird Brain "! Actually, it was more like a "Senior Moment "...

Ramona

 

Ramona & Westside ~

It's 'senior moments' that I have during installs and such that are the cause of so much of my learning.

Changing it to "old inbox" and copying it to "Local Folders" put it there but no email opened even though the file in explorer shows 15k Kbytes. Guess it is corrupted - working on late night fatigue increases frequency of senior moments

Skimmed file in notepad - tedious - and think I can live without it.

Thanks again for your help.

Scott

 

Have you tried to copy/paste the Oldinbox out of the Local folders, and right into the mail account. Delete any Oldinbox.msf in the Local folders, and, if successful, you can delete the OldInbox file in the Local folders.
You should be getting something out of it, and I have doubts that the Oldinbox became corrupted, but, rather the .msf file.

 

I think that's what I've been doing - copying only 'old inbox' out of my archived Local File and pasting it into my Mail folder. No msf file - and deleting the msf files before restarting Tbird. Is that what you meant?

Or, do you mean to copy it out of the "new" Local Folder, etc. If so, I'm not clear where to copy it. The Mail folder contains the Local Folder and my pop-server myisp folder. Do you copy it above these two in the tree?

 

Scott,

Close Thunderbird
Open Windows Explorer

Copy the oldInbox, out of the Local Folders folder, and into the default ISP Mail Account folder.

Open Thunderbird
See if you can read your messages in oldInbox now? You may see three questions marks (???) instead of the number of messages, but once you open oldInbox, the correct # of messages will show up, and your Mail.
(Fingers crossed)

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona,
Copied it out of Local Folder and into Default>isp folder then opened to default
profile (instead of Scotts). Old Inbox there but no messages to be read.
Scott

 

Then, try again to copy the saved Inbox, wherever you had it, rename it, and cpy/paste it. You can paste it in the same ISP mail folder. But, make sure that there is something in saved Inbox.

 

Thanks for your perservence in this.

Looked at the save Inbox that is in My documents. Full of content as described earlier. Copied/pasted it to Default>x.slt>mail>isp folder. Opened Tb through profile manager and chose Default (not the usual profile I use). As before, newly renamed inbox was there. Clicking on it resulted in the slow moving of the blue progress bar but no emails displayed.

Repeated the same with my usual folder (x.Scott). I set it up with what I recall general or global setting on install. That means that 'local folders' only are displayed. So I copied it into x.Scott>mail>local folder as well. Same story.

BTW, I can read the newly renamed file in its new locations in Wordpad.

Not panicked just puzzled.

Scott

 

Scott,

O.K.! Now we're squeezing all that information out of you bit by bit.

If you chose Global settings, then all incoming mail will be downloaded to the Local Folders folder rather than to the ISP Mail Account Folder. Is this what you wanted? That's why the ISP Mail Account folder is not viewable in the left panel of the Mail Window.

If you prefer that your incoming mail be downloaded to the ISP Mail Account, rather than to Local Folders, then you will need to change that setting:
Tools | Account Settings | Server Settings
Click on the "Advanced" button
Enable: Inbox for this server's account

Now your ISP Mail Account Folder should be visible, and the Mail in the OldInbox will hopefully be available. If you can read the Mail in WordPad, then you've not lost the messages. Any Mail that you have in the Local Folders can be moved to the ISP Mail Account Folder.

Open the Local Folders Inbox and press CTRL+A
Right click the highlighted files and select "Copy to "
Select the ISP Mail Account's Inbox
Do the same for Sent Mail, etc.

Once you have all Mail in place, and you are positive all is well, then you can delete the Mail in the Local Folders. I usually suggest waiting a day or two. I never use "Move to" because in the event of a power failure, TB freezing, etc., your Mail would be lost. Copy is always safe...

Ramona

 

Yes I wanted global settings so I wouldn't have duplicate folders showing up. As I understand the Mozilla file structure better I sense ther's a better way to do this. Is there some disadvantage to having the settings the way I have them?
Early and late day at work so have to run...
Scott

 

Scott,

I'm not trying to talk you out of something that you want. It isn't my preference, as I use different mail accounts for different purposes. Therefore, I want to see all my mail accounts listed in the Mail & Newsgroups left panel. I'm one of those horrible people who likes a place for everything, and everything in its place...

One question I do have though, is why would you have "duplicate" folders?

I have one more workaround for you so you can view the messages in your oldInbox.
Make a backup of your existing Inbox in the "new" Local Folders which contains your current email.

Close Thunderbird
Open Windows Explorer
Open the oldinbox mail file, highlight and copy the contents of the entire file

Open the existing Inbox in the "new" Local Folders which contains your current email
Scroll down to the end of the document
Ensure that there is at least two spaces after the last line of text
Paste the contents of the oldinbox which you just copied
Click on File | Save
Close the file.

Open Thunderbird
Open your Inbox
Can you view the oldinbox messages?

Ramona

 

Well, it's late and I'm tired but I understand this most recent work around so I succumb to the temptation to try it. Duh, it's a text file - just copy it over to the new inbox, right?

Dang, it was a wierd half hour or so. Could copy into Wordpad but not paste into inbox. Kept getting messages saying other program was busy do I want to retry or switch. Never saw that before.

Tried Metapad and OO and they wouldn't work - the latter I just installed and haven't learned to use it yet so - as with the others - probably some form of user error.

Any way got it to copy/paste with notepad (I thought there was some sort of size limit with notepad). Same results - nothing shows (I had emptied the new Inbox prior to operation).

Now here's the weird part - or the more information to you - The old inbox was 15,000 kb, the new, empty inbox was 17,000 kb. After the cut/paste the size is 32,000 - all rounded down numbers.

And - when I looked at the new inbox in Wordpad prior to the copy/paste (when I first noticed its size incongruency and suspected the old stuff might be there) sure enough, it looks like the same old content with the most recent content added in at the bottom.

So it seems to me we're just adding more of copies of it to it that can't be read.

Weird - and curiouser.

Scott

 

You are making life more ifficult than necessary. Don't bother looking at the contents, although you can if you wish.
If you don't care about any new mail copy the Inbox fiile to your account, If you want to preserve the mail then you use the renamed file. Just do right click|copy, and then right click|paste, and the pasted file will show in your mail. All the work you did is counterproductive. The Inbox file is not a text file, but rather a Unix format file.
It scares the heck out of me when I hear what you are doing. In fact, I have no idea what or why you are doing, nor the consequences.
I wish you good luck.
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