Join us and the lead editor of IRL, Mozilla's multi-award-winning podcast, for a behind-the-scenes look at the pod and to contribute your ideas for the next season, themed: "AI and ME." Mark your calendar and join our Community Call on Wednesday, Aug 7, 17:00–17:45 UTC. See you there!

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

INBOX disappeared from Thunderbird. Centurylink imap.

  • 4 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by jdp6

Emilio2000
Emilio2000
more options

The entire INBOX disappeared. How can I get Thunderbird to show it again?

I have a Windows 10 PC. I just downloaded thousands of emails from my CenturyLink email server. The emails were apparently successfully downloaded, but I can't see any of them because the entire INBOX disappeared. When I open Thunderbird, all the other folders are there, but no INBOX.

How can I get the INBOX to show again?

Could this in any way be related to IMAP vs. POP. I used IMAP. I saw several people reporting problems with IMAP. Should I switch to POP?

The entire INBOX disappeared. How can I get Thunderbird to show it again? I have a Windows 10 PC. I just downloaded thousands of emails from my CenturyLink email server. The emails were apparently successfully downloaded, but I can't see any of them because the entire INBOX disappeared. When I open Thunderbird, all the other folders are there, but no INBOX. How can I get the INBOX to show again? Could this in any way be related to IMAP vs. POP. I used IMAP. I saw several people reporting problems with IMAP. Should I switch to POP?

Modified by Wayne Mery

All Replies (4)

Wayne Mery
Wayne Mery
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

pop vs imap has no bearing.

Only the Inbox is missing?

What exactly do you mean by " just downloaded thousands of email"? Were they not downloaded before?

Emilio2000
Emilio2000 Question owner
more options

Wayne, Thanks for clarifying that IMAP / POP is not an issue here.

I have not been using Thunderbird for a while. I used CenturyLink's web mail for quite a while. But then I decided to start using Thunderbird again, so I started it up and downloaded a few thousand messages that had accumulated in my webmail.

And that's when the INBOX simply disappeared. Downloading all the incoming emails from the webmail server was successful, but I cannot get access to any of those emails because there is no INBOX.

Restarting Thunderbird did not help. Rebooting the computer (a Windows 10 PC) did not help.

I am now thinking of uninstalling Thunderbird and then installing the latest version. But I am afraid I will probably lose all those thousands of emails.

Wayne Mery
Wayne Mery
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Reinstalling won't help. But it also won't lose emails.

Please start *Windows* in safe mode with networking enabled https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode

Does problem go away?

jdp6
jdp6
more options

A similiar problem has been happening to me for months over multiple versions of thunderbird. Most frequently I loose the entire inbox with it's display preferences I have set. This also happens to my 2 or 3 largest folders (which I use extensively) but not as frequently. I use a IMAP connection to my personal and locally connected linux based email server. I use the same configuration on 4 different workstations running windows 7, 10 & 11. As best I can recall the problem is worst on W10 As this only happens at random intervals I don't think the safe mode suggestions will help. Much as I don't like M$ products I am about ready to return to outlook, very frustrated.

Modified by jdp6