How to Fix Thunderbird Local Folders Not Showing Issue

Is your Thunderbird not showing “Local folders” anymore? Or maybe the subfolders are missing. Have you recently restored your profile from a backup? Maybe the profile is corrupted resulting in no messages being shown in the folders. Or simply you directory location is completely different from the actual location of Local folders. Whatever the case, read this article to identify your problem and look for a solution.

We have sorted out solutions for multiple scenarios that can lead to Thunderbird local folders not showing. You can simply choose them according to your situation.

Missing Folders Due to Corruption?

If your Thunderbird profile is corrupted, then you can try repairing it. Unfortunately the built-in ‘Reapir folder’ option is only available of your actually see the folder in you Thunderbird. Since that’s not the case here, then

1. Go to your profile in your machine.
2. Navigate to C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ or use Thunderbird path -> Help > Troubleshooting Information >> Show Folder
3. Once you are in the directory, open “Mail” folder and you will find both your accounts and Local folder in there. Look for .msf files and delete them all in there.
4. Restart Thunderbird and it will recreate the .msf files and hopefully you will have your Folders back.

Important: Do not delete the associated files. If you see files like ABC and ABC.msf, then delete the later and keep the former. Deleting the former will result in losing the email messages.

Another Way:

Another way is to keep a copy of the all Local Folders Mailbox files. Simply copy the files you see in the Profile directory given above (C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\Mail).

1. Keep the copy of “Local Folders” at a separate location.
2. Create a new profile in Thunderbird open its directory (same location but with a different xxxxxxx.default name.)
3. Replace the Mail >> Local Folder of this new profile with the previously  copied Local folder.
4. Open Thunderbird and voila, the Local Folders isn’t empty anymore!

Note: You can try MBOX Converter Wizard to view and convert Thunderbird local folders to 6 different file formats. It will help you migrate the emails onto other email clients like MS Outlook.

Download Now Purchase Now

The location pointing to Local Folder is Not Correct Resulting in Empty Folder

This is an easy fix. There are times when you restore your profile, or maybe change things that should not be changed, or maybe a new Thunderbird update, results in changing the location of the Local Folder.

In short, your Thunderbird is pointing in direction A, but the actual folder is located at B. So, of course Thunderbird won’t show anything in Local Folders.

Let’s correct that.

First, check where your Thunderbird is pointing:

1. In Thunderbird, go to Tools >> Account Settings [Press ‘Alt key’ if Tools not visible].
2. Click on Local Folders on the right panel.
3. Copy the Local directory.
4. Minimize Thunderbird.
5. Open this location on your machine.
6. Are there any files here? Files with no extension or files with .msf extension?
7. Well, this is the location where your Thunderbird is pointing.

If this location is different from the location where your Local folder are actually saved  like the default directory – C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default-release\Mail\Local Folders.

Then, you will have to change it by clicking on Browse after Step 2 and choosing the actual location.

Next, restart Thunderbird and the Thunderbird Local Folders not showing issue is fixed.

Note: If you are restoring or prepared to restore Local Folders, and have a backup of the Local Folders, then you can simply choose to keep the copy at any location and point the Local Directory to that location to get all the mailbox data within your Local Folders easily.

Conclusion

Its quite a headache when you open Thunderbird and suddenly your Local Folders goes missing. It is generally known as Thunderbird Local Folders not showing issue. Hopefully, with this article, you got it all solved. If we find more solutions we will add it in the future.