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A terrible thing happened to me. I used my e-mail account for ages and I accessed it through Mozilla Thunderbird. Then I had to reinstall my computer. I installed Thunderbird again and I added my e-mail account as a new account again.

Thunderbird downloaded all e-mails from the mailserver and then deleted all of them, which were older than 14 days. The e-mails are gone - I checked it through the web API, too.

What happened?! Is there anything I can do to restore my e-mails (it is a real tragedy for me)? I might have made a mistake during configuration, but how could such a thing happen without a huge red warning? Please, help.

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    If all else fails, you can try pulling the old Thunderbird profile out of your backed up data from before the reinstall. You did back it up, right? (The profile sits in %AppData%.)
    – Bob
    Jun 29, 2015 at 6:54
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    @Bob Yes, thank you so much! I restored the Profiles directory, then changed the profiles.ini and I can see all my e-mails now. You really saved my day! Is there any way to upload them back to the mailserver?
    – vojta
    Jun 29, 2015 at 7:04
  • If you drag them into local folders and back to the mailbox, assuming it's IMAP, that should force an upload. I'm not sure if you'll end up losing a bit of server-side info, though. Probably not.
    – Bob
    Jun 29, 2015 at 7:17
  • What about the Trash folder, sometimes they end up there. Take a look at web interface
    – emirjonb
    Jun 29, 2015 at 9:29
  • @emirjonb Trash folder is empty...
    – vojta
    Jun 29, 2015 at 10:05

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Is there anything I can do to restore my e-mails?

The Recover deleted messages add-on should be able to retrieve your emails, provided you haven't compacted the folder yet.

Another option is Recuva from Piriform which can recover deleted emails. There is a free version available.

Note:

Before trying any off the above, don't forget to close Thunderbird and perform a backup. At least make a manual backup of the files you are going to work with.

What is the Recover deleted messages add-on?

The Recover deleted messages add-on adds "Recover deleted messages" to the folders context menu (right click on the folder).

It will work with any folder that has a mbox file (POP account, Local Folders, or IMAP offline folders created via Tools -> Account Settings -> Synchronizing & Storage) if you haven't compacted the folder yet.

It can recover messages whether they are deleted normally, or permanently deleted using Shift+Delete.

Source Undelete a message

What is Recuva?

Recover deleted emails

Email programs like Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, or Mozilla Thunderbird don't store emails individually. Rather, they store each folder as a database file. For example, there might be a folder for the Inbox, another for Sent Mail, another for Drafts, one for the Trash and another for emails you've saved.

When you empty the email program's Trash, the email program empties that database file. Instead of restoring the database file, Recuva goes one step further and recovers emails individually.

When you recover emails with Recuva, they appear in a compressed .ZIP file (for example, Outlook Express.zip). You can use any standard ZIP file reader (including one built in to Windows) to open the .ZIP file up and see the emails inside.

Each email is stored in a standard .EML format, which means that you can import it to any email program -- not just the one it was sent or received from.

Source Recuva - Features

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  • Thanks! This seems to be an interesting add-on. I will try it.
    – vojta
    Jun 29, 2015 at 7:07
  • @vojta Don't forget, before you start, close Thunderbird and perform a backup. At least make a manual backup of the files you are going to work with!
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Jun 29, 2015 at 7:11
  • @vojta Answer updated with another recovery option.
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Jun 29, 2015 at 7:21

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