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Thunderbird/Exetel emails suddenly lost?

1K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  PandaAlisha 
#1 ·
Good afternoon,

We recently manually cleared a recycle bin due to an ongoing error message / issues accessing drive and have as a result lost all emails stored. We really need them back. Help???
No other changes to computer.
Note: tried to complete system repair however despite admin access, system repair is disabled.
Emails critical, so any assistance greatly appreciated!!!
Computer is Windows 10.

Thanks,


Alisha
 
#2 · (Edited)
Hi,

I assume you're working for a company. All I can do, I think, is suggest some possibilities for how it might be able to be recovered.

Here are the pieces of information you need to know:
  • Whether your Thunderbird is setup for either IMAP or POP3
  • Do you work for a company that hosts it's own email server or is your email supported by another party, such as an online email provider? Either your company or the other party may store backups going back to a time before you deleted your recycle bin (which I'm assuming is the recycle bin in Thunderbird and not the Windows recycle bin).
  • Does your computer get backed-up locally or online, and does that backup include the following path (a question for your IT):
C:\Users\(your username)\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\(a unique identifier)

The exact location can be found by doing the following:
  1. In Thunderbird, select - "Help"
  2. Select - "Troubleshooting Information"
  3. Look for "Profile Folder" and click the button to the right to "Open Folder"
  4. The path at the top is the location of your Thunderbird profile containing it's settings
Two ways in which you'd be receiving email:
  • IMAP -- Your Thunderbird application basically provides you with a synced copy of what is on the email server. When you delete something it will not delete it on your computer, but will send a signal to the email server that the file needs to be deleted.
  • POP3 -- This works differently. When you open your Thunderbird the emails residing on the server are moved from the server to your computer. If you then delete something, you are deleting it on your own computer.
For either option you need to work with your IT, but so that you understand...​

If you are using IMAP:
Any restoration will need to take place from your company's email server or the online email provider (whichever you have). There is one exception here, which is if your company has a quota policy for how big your server mailbox can get, they may also have a procedure where they force you to archive your messages to a backup locally on your computer. If that is the case, it may be possible to retrieve some of your recycle bin items, but only if they are part of that procedure of archiving locally. There's a chance, but in a case such as this they might ignore the recycle items to keep the size down on your computer.​

If you're using POP3:
The restoration will need to come from whichever type of backup is done to your physical computer.​

Follow these steps to determine if you are using IMAP or POP3:
  1. In Thunderbird, Select - "Tools"
  2. Select - "Account Settings"
  3. On the left, next to your email account name, click the little arrow to show "Server Settings"
  4. Highlight "Server Settings" and look over to the right
  5. Under "Server Type:" it should say either "IMAP" or "POP3" as the "Mail Server"
I'm afraid that's as much information as I can give you. Just want you, or anyone reading this, to be more informed. You can never stress the need for backups enough. You'll need to work with your IT and/or your email service provider. If it's a business computer, it's not appropriate for us to make any changes, nor for you to provide us with any potentially sensitive information. I really hope it works out, and that there's a way to recover it.

I hope this was somewhat helpful. Best wishes.

.
 
#3 ·
Thank you so much for your help!! Very helpful. Reapplying cache profile (tricky to find!) with recovery tool has saved the day- and my life. Troubleshooting page superhelpful too. Helped a friend heaps with this- thanks.
Makes me super glad I just have gmail.

Cheers,

Alisha
 
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