So, for the past weeks I’ve been having so much trouble with my (previous) hosting company: 6 sites, several email accounts for each one, sites going up and down, email working for bit of time.. By Friday, I was window shopping for a new hosting company. Some friends suggested MediaTemple, others suggested Network Solutions, and @imnico suggested BlueHost. Weekend came and I so much stuff to do! With the recent move, we still need to get some things out of boxes… finally sunday night and I had time to do so. Everybody was off customer service… except Bluehost! I got the chance to talk to Ann, who kindly answered all my questions and I was sold. She then helped me move the domains, emails, sites and blogs. I left the move of The Foodie’s Kitchen for last since it’s the one with the more posts, pics and content all around. I left that upload through the night. Everything was going as planned.
Monday morning, right on time. Sites were working perfectly, now just updating the info for the email clients. This involved calling my dad through Skype and get him to change the info. I assumed (there was the source of my problems) that he would archive or save on the desktop his emails. No chance. Just after he deleted the old account to set up the new one I realized my mistake. I was doomed. Emails from the last months lost. I silently panicked, and said to dad that I’d look into it during the day, but that I would get them back. I know he sensed the hesitation in my voice and he wasn’t so sure would be able to. He even said, not to worry. I couldn’t let him down. Not dad.
“They still need to be around there” I kept saying to myself- and trying to believe it. Went through every site online and found some extremely geeky solutions. Until I bumped into this post: Undelete a message. Finally Hope! Ok, so I made my dad install LogMeIn that same night, so I could remotely use his PC the next morning when he wouldn’t be using it. I’m in Hudson Falls and he’s in Guate! It’s not like walking around the block 🙂
One thing I new. I had to find the hidden files (.msf) for the Inbox and Sent Items. The .msf extension (Mail Summary File) is used by Thunderbird to store the mail in two files, one without an extension (Inbox, Sent) which holds the actual mail messages in the standard ‘mbox’ format and the other with an .msf extension (Inbox.msf, Sent.msf) which holds an index of the mail. Those 4 files were going to be my salvation. Now, this tutorial starts:
1. Install the ImportExportTools Plugin for Thunderbird.
2. Now, you need to view the hidden files on your PC:
- Windows XP:
- On the Tools menu in Windows Explorer, click Folder Options.
- Click the View tab.
- Under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders.
- Windows Vista/7:
- To show hidden files, just click on the Organize button in any folder, and then select “Folder and Search Options” from the menu.
- Click the View tab.
- Under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders.
2. Browse the way to get to the Thunderbird Profiles Folder to locate your 4 files:
- Windows XP:
C:Documents and Settings[User Name]Application DataThunderbirdProfiles - Windows Vista/7:
C:users[User Name]AppDataRoamingThunderbirdProfiles
3. There, look for the deleted email account’s subdirectory. Usually it’s like pop.yourdomain.com. You’ll find the four files in question: Inbox (with no extension), Inbox.msf, Sent (with no extension) and Sent.msf
4. Select the files and copy them to the desktop or somewhere with easy access.
5. Fire up Thunderbird and Using the ImportExportTools extension, get the folders all together back to Thunderbird: First the two Inbox then the two Sent files.
My dad had nearly 1.5GB of email and the entire process I completed under 45 minutes. I have to say, I am glad I did manage to get all the messages back. Not even one lost in the process.
Lesson learned: Backup your emails first!