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Disappearing emails

FIXED
penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Disappearing emails

I've just had the strangest thing happen to my email setup. I use Thunderbird for sending and receiving emails, but I have Thunderbird set that it doesn't download emails automatically, but only when I click on "Get Messages". I also use Mailwasher to show me what incoming emails are waiting for me on the Plusnet servers. Using Mailwasher, I can read enough of each of these emails to tell if they are iffy or can be downloaded safely, and can delete the iffy ones at Plusnet, not on my pc.

This morning I had two emails waiting at Plusnet that I wanted to download, but just as I clicked "Get Messages" a third okay email must have arrived at Plusnet. The end result is that the two emails have disappeared completely, but the third email which I didn't know was coming, has got onto my pc. The weirdest thing is, that another email that had been on my pc since yesterday has also disappeared. I've searched in all the Thunderbird trays (In, Deleted, etc), ditto Mailwasher, but no signs of the disappeared. I've even rebooted the pc, just in case, but that just means I was getting desperate.

Has anyone any ideas how to recover these missing emails, please?

Thankyou for any help

6 REPLIES 6
Baldrick1
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 11,615
Thanks: 5,166
Fixes: 415
Registered: ‎30-06-2016

Re: Disappearing emails

@penneck 

Have you logged in to Plusnet webmail (https://webmail.plus.net/) to see if they are still on the Plusnet server? Look around all the mail boxes to see if they have moved to say junk or deleted items.

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Disappearing emails

Fix

I have occasionally seen Thunderbird get out of step, making some emails apparently invisible and others not open correctly.

Try repairing the .msf file for each folder, then at least you can believe that Thunderbird is showing you what it has.

 

Within Thunderbird, <right-button mouse click> on a folder you want to resynchronise, starting with "Inbox",

then <left-button mouse click> on "Properties" in the pop-up options list,

then within the "General Information" tab select the [Repair Folder] button.

Just let it do it's thing, and eventually the progress bar at the bottom of the Thunderbird window will say "your-chosen-folder is up to date" and you can click on the [OK] button to return to using Thunderbird.

 

Repeat this process for any other folders that it is possible that your missing messages might have ended up, such as "Junk", "Spam", "Deleted", etc.

 

Good luck !

penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: Disappearing emails

@Baldrick1 

Thankyou for the suggestion. Have just tried it, but no luck unfortunately.

Regards

penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: Disappearing emails

@Anonymous 

Thankyou for your suggestion. I'm pleased to say "Success". I can now see the emails. Will go back to your post, and click on "Fixed"

Regards

Hazel74
Rising Star
Posts: 90
Thanks: 13
Registered: ‎22-05-2019

Re: Disappearing emails

My emails have disappeared from webmail this evening, yet my phone is synced and can see everything.  What's going on?

Gandalf
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 26,563
Thanks: 10,265
Fixes: 1,599
Registered: ‎21-04-2017

Re: Disappearing emails

Hi there, 

If your emails are on your phone but not webmail that'd suggest your phone's downloaded them to itself.

Is it setup to get emails through POP3 or IMAP? 

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet