Closed Bug 1778243 Opened 3 years ago Closed 2 years ago

All emails saved in local folders have disappeared on 103.0b2 beta (there, but not showing) - rebuild temporarily fixes it until next visit to the folder

Categories

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect, P1)

Product:
Thunderbird
Component:
Folder and Message Lists
Version:
Thunderbird 103
Type:
defect

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED WORKSFORME

People

(Reporter: regcardin, Unassigned)

References

(Blocks 1 open bug)

Details

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/102.0

Steps to reproduce:

Logged on to TB after TB was upgraded to 103.0b2 to look for new emails.

Actual results:

NO EMAILS in inbox or in ANY local folders for either of the two email accounts we use. Thousands of emails have disappeared. I closed TB, rebooted the system and restarted TB. Same result.

Expected results:

All of the local folders should have contained thousands of emails.

The files all appear to be there on my hard drive: C:\Users(user)\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\prlpim4n.default\Mail\Local Folders.
The file and .msf file pairs are all there and reflect extensive content. TB front end shows the folders but then indicates that the folders are empty!

Component: Untriaged → Folder and Message Lists
Priority: -- → P1

When I dispose of an email either by deleting it or moving it to one of the local folders, the folder is in fact updated. The problem seems to be in the front end/user interface. While TB correctly reflects the folder structure, it says that the folders are empty.

Severity: -- → S2

Sounds like for whatever reason the mail index got invalid. Does "Repair folder" from the folder context menu help?

Summary: All emails saved in local folders have disappeared on 103.0b2 beta → All emails saved in local folders have disappeared on 103.0b2 beta (there, but not showing)

Repair folder does work. I must have 50 folders. Is there a way to repair all indices at once?

As I said just now, Repair folder seems to work. However, if I move away from that folder (look at another folder for example) and return to it, the emails in that folder are no longer visible. I can have them reappear by invoking repair folder again. So, proof that the emails are there and that the index can be repaired but there is something fundamentally wrong still.

103.0b6 should be better. Do you agree?

Flags: needinfo?(regcardin)

No. I am on 103.0b6. The problem remains.
It is intriguing and frustrating. Since repair works temporarily to make emails in a folder visible (at least while you are looking at the emails after the repair but before looking at other folders) and the problem exists across ALL of the folders, I would suspect that the bug is in the mainline UI and not in a corrupted index. But my best techie days are way behind me ...

Flags: needinfo?(regcardin)

Beg your pardon. I am not yet on )b6! Will try it now.

No. I am NOW on 103.0b6. The problem remains.
It is intriguing and frustrating. Since repair works temporarily to make emails in a folder visible (at least while you are looking at the emails after the repair but before looking at other folders) and the problem exists across ALL of the folders, I would suspect that the bug is in the mainline UI and not in a corrupted index. But my best techie days are way behind me ...

One change: a repair happens much more rapidly than previous iterations.

Blocks: tb102found
See Also: → 1778248

Actually, Bug 1778248 is similar only in that the emails in a folder disappear from view on the first deletion after launching, and come back if you switch folders and return. After that, I've never had them disappear or play hide-n-seek like this bug does. (I'm currently running TB 102.0.3 Release. My disappearances seemed to stop happening at 102.0.1 or .2 Release.)

(In reply to Reg Cardin from comment #1)

The files all appear to be there on my hard drive: C:\Users(user)\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\prlpim4n.default\Mail\Local Folders.
The file and .msf file pairs are all there and reflect extensive content. TB front end shows the folders but then indicates that the folders are empty!

Hi Reg, can you tell us some more about your setup?

  • POP or IMAP?
  • Problem also happens with ≡ > Help > Troubleshoot Mode…?
  • You mention mail stores in Local folders - how do your messages get there?
  • Do you combine messages of several accounts in your Local Folders?
  • What's your settings for compaction?
  • Are you deleting messages before leaving and returning to a folder?
  • Could compaction happen in the run-up to this problem?
  • Does Antivirus interact with your Thunderbird messages?
Flags: needinfo?(regcardin)

Thomas, thanks for your request. Here’s what I have for you. I hope it helps.
• POP or IMAP?
o POP

• Problem also happens with ≡ > Help > Troubleshoot Mode…?
o Haven’tried Troubleshoot Mode but will and post the results.

• You mention mail stores in Local folders - how do your messages get there?
o Some I filter automatically, some I save after reading. Makes no difference.

• Do you combine messages of several accounts in your Local Folders?
o Sometimes, but not often.

• What's your settings for compaction?
o “Compact all folders when … “ is not selected. Set to “Ask every time before compacting.

• Are you deleting messages before leaving and returning to a folder?
o Sometimes, but that is not indicative of the problem, since whether or not I do, the result is the same.

• Could compaction happen in the run-up to this problem?
o Don’t think so. See above. I believe it won’t compact unless I am prompted first.

• Does Antivirus interact with your Thunderbird messages?
o I assume that it does. However, the messages show up as expected, in the inbox or filtered to a local folder and are visible.

Whenever I view an email, whether in the inbox or a local folder, the email is no longer visible when I leave that folder and return.

While the inbox emails remain visible a second time, etc., other emails in other folders are not visible. For example, I can only view sent, junk, or trash folder contents by repairing the folder. The same goes for all local folders. If incoming emails have been filtered to a local folder, they are visible in the folder but once viewed, they “disappear”.

Flags: needinfo?(regcardin)

Thomas, I tried Troubleshoot Mode. The behavior/results are the same.

Maybe due to bad anti-virus interaction. You may want to turn it off to check if it makes a difference.

Or some odd folder permission problem? Are the .msf file for the folder getting generated and saved? If you check the folder properties for the folder location on disk, locate the folder on disk. Next to that folder, after it's working, for folder ABC there should be an ABC.msf.

Summary: All emails saved in local folders have disappeared on 103.0b2 beta (there, but not showing) → All emails saved in local folders have disappeared on 103.0b2 beta (there, but not showing) - rebuild temporarily fixes it until next visit to the folder

Permission problem? Perhaps one or more of the folder files is inadvertently set to READ-ONLY? The various messages & pointers may work in machine memory, but they don't get written out to the appropriate file(s). Then, when you leave the folder and you come back, the unwritten info of course isn't there...

Dan, the emails do in fact get written out to the folders. I have inspected the files and the emails are written to the folders.

Magnus, the .msf files are there as expected and have been updated as expected.

Anyone, I would be happy to have a session with anyone who can effectively debug this problem. After nearly a month, there has been no progress.

Can you try in a new profile and see if that shows the same things? (Start with thunderbird.exe -P)

Magnus, I did as you suggested. With a new profile, TB behaves as expected. I downloaded several hundred emails from the server to test with. I can view those emails, delete some emails, leave the inbox to look at trashed emails (they are visible), and return to the inbox where the (undeleted) emails remain visible. Excellent!

Next question: How do I repair the existing profile without losing all of the folders and emails already there? I really don't want to download lots of past emails and rebuild a number of folders if it can be avoided. Is it possible to restore just the profile from a backup?

I don't have a backup made prior to this problem occurring, at least a month ago. So, Im hoping you can suggest a recovery method that won't require a complete rebuild ...

Great that it resolved the issue for you. What's causing the problem may remain a mystery.

You can consider using Tools | Import to get your old profile data into a (completely new) profile?
Other than that, it's possible to copy over files to the new profile from the filesystem - check folder properties to see where the data is. But it's somewhat complex to get all of that completely right esp. to get the "what's downloaded on pop" completely right (popstate.dat needs to be moved as well.)

Magnus, thanks for the suggestion. I was able to import folders, emails, address book, etc. However, TB insisted on downloading 8K+ messages from the server, which I then deleted. The only thing missing is that the import function does not import filters. So, those I will have to rebuild.

Please post if this is closed in error

Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 2 years ago
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
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