How to Recover Deleted Emails in Thunderbird

Home > HowTos > File Recovery Tips Updated by Nancy on Nov 26, 2024 | Approved by Christian Cawley

When you have junk email messages, it is common to want to delete them to make room for more useful and valuable emails. While trying to delete unimportant emails, you may mistakenly delete crucial emails at the same time. When this happens, you may go to the trash folder to recover the emails. However, you might have emptied the trash folder and it becomes difficult to recover deleted emails in thunderbird software. If you have this issue, you shouldn’t worry. In this post, we will share five ways you can recover deleted thunderbird emails.

Quick Navigation
Method #1: How to Retrieve Deleted Emails on Mozilla Thunderbird from Trash
Method #2: How to Restore Deleted Emails in Thunderbird with a Backup File
Method #3: How to Recover Deleted Thunderbird Emails after Emptying Trash
Method #4: Restore Deleted Thunderbird Emails by Repairing Inbox Folder
Method #5: How to Recover Deleted Emails in Thunderbird with Software

Method #1: How to Retrieve Deleted Emails on Mozilla Thunderbird from Trash

If you unintentionally delete email messages from your Inbox, it goes into your trash folder. To recover deleted emails Mozilla thunderbird through the trash is pretty easy. Follow the simple steps below to retrieve the deleted emails:

  1. Launch the Mozilla Thunderbird software and sign in to your account with your username.
  2. Click on the ‘Trash’ icon to select the deleted emails from the trash folder.
  3. Right-click on the deleted email files and select the ‘Move To’ icon.
  4. Next, select ‘Select user account’ and then ‘Specify location' where you want to restore deleted emails to’.
  5. Since you will likely want to restore the messages to your inbox, click the ‘Inbox’ option.

This will restore all the selected emails from the trash folder. Check your inbox to find all the emails that have been restored.

Method #2: How to Restore Deleted Emails in Thunderbird with a Backup File

You must understand that the Thunderbird email does not have a backup feature, which means you have to do the backup manually. To start with this process, you should create a backup profile on Thunderbird. When you have done this, you can proceed to recover deleted emails on thunderbird profile backup. Follow the steps below to do this:

  1. Launch the Thunderbird profile path on your computer system. It should have a path that looks like C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profile.
  2. Substitute the profile folder with the backup copy that has previously been created for the Thunderbird profile.
  3. Launch the Mozilla Thunderbird and all the settings, messages, calendar, and emails, among others, will be moved to your Thunderbird account.

Method #3: How to Recover Deleted Thunderbird Emails after Emptying Trash

You can also recover permanently deleted emails thunderbird if you have emptied your trash folder. Follow the steps below to restore your permanently deleted messages:

  1. Reveal the hidden files in Window explorer by opening Windows Explorer and clicking ‘Folder Options’ under ‘Tools’. You can also show the hidden files by clicking the ‘View’ menu and then check ‘Show hidden files, drives, and folders’. Next, click ‘OK’.
  2. Locate the Thunderbird saved files on your PC. First, go to ‘C:/Users/YourUserName/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/YourProfile/YourThunderbirdAccount. Next, locate your profile, which is named in eight random numbers and letters and followed by ‘.default’. Check the Thunderbird account name where you are trying to restore deleted emails; that is your Thunderbird account.
  3. Input the Imap Mail folder and click to open the Inbox file with any text editor like Notepad.
  4. Find the line before the email text that shows ‘X-Mozilla-Staus: 007’ or something similar and change the number to 0000. Save the text and exit Notepad.
  5. Close the Thunderbird software and reopen it again. Now check the recovered emails in your inbox. You will find that all the deleted emails have been restored.

Method #4: Restore Deleted Thunderbird Emails by Repairing Inbox Folder

When emails are corrupted in the Thunderbird Inbox folder, this method is the appropriate way to fix the issue. Follow these steps to see how to retrieve deleted emails Mozilla thunderbird:

  1. Launch Mozilla Thunderbird and right-click the ‘Inbox Folder’. Next, select the ‘Properties’ menu.
  2. Select the ‘General Information’ menu and verify that the folder name is ‘Inbox’.
  3. Click the ‘Repair Folder’ option and then ‘OK’ to complete the process. You should be able to see the repaired data and emails in your Inbox folder after this.

Method #5: How to Recover Deleted Emails in Thunderbird with Software

If you have deleted your emails from your local computer, the only way to recover the emails is to use professional software. We strongly recommend iBeesoft Data Recovery software as the best software that can recover your deleted Thunderbird emails.

iBeesoft Data Recovery software is designed to effectively and completely retrieve all lost files and data within minutes. The best part is that you don’t need any technical knowledge to use the software. In three simple steps, you can recover your deleted emails from Thunderbird Mozilla. Additionally, the tool offers two different recovery modes, which are Quick Scan and Deep Scan. If you need to recover data fast, the Quick Scan will suffice.

For a further search of files and data, the Deep Scan mode is the mode to use. To ensure that you recover the right data and files, you can search or preview specific data using file types or file names before you execute the recovery mode. iBeesoft data recovery software supports all data types and storage devices. This means irrespective of where you have your Thunderbird emails, you can retrieve them easily.

Download for Windows Download for macOS

Important Tip: To avoid data loss, it is recommended that you regularly back up your Thunderbird emails. With this, you will not worry about system crash or inability to access your Thunderbird emails. You will find options for backup tools that you can use. However, we will also recommend the iBeesoft Dback tool for your backup task. It is highly effective and it is compatible with a variety of systems and drives.

So, if you have been asking – can I recover deleted emails in thunderbird? The answer is a big yes. This article has highlighted five different ways by which you can recover all deleted emails without any issue. The fact that you need to backup your emails and data regularly cannot be overemphasized. You must do this to protect your data.