DESPERATE (seriously) Thunderbird 78 has almost destroyed my MacBook Pro

[prin]

Trying to be brief but having multiple problems including limited vision and a congenital anatomical problem requiring high risk surgery within the next month. Sorry to be so personal, but distress and depression have reared their heads mainly due to major computer issues. 6/7/21 I downloaded newest version of T'bird. Since then, my SMTP will not work. Incoming mail was fine. I have reset innumerable times. Contacted Thunderbird - found no help. Contacted Earthlink - no help. I explained this limited vision problem so needed tech support. No help. Yesterday, for probably 12th time, I checked all settings. Eleven times, they were the same as on iMac. But 12th time, I found the Library line was/is different. Don't know how. When I found that, I opened my Thunderbird mail and newsgroup folder just to find that ALL of my folders had vanished. I need to know if I can go backwards and get rid of T'bird 78 and somehow restore all my folders, which are filled with my life. I had written a legal document to my attorney, couldn't send. Kept it in Drafts but that folder vanished yesterday with ALL others. I have zoomed in to see what I'm writing but as I say, my vision is limited. PLEASE HELP. PLEASE.   

[jchuzi]

Do you have a Time Machine backup? If so, you should be able to restore from the time before you updated to Thunderbird 78.

[Xairbusdriver]

I sincerely hope you have some family or friendly support. I have never used Thunderbird, so I have no experience to help with that app. However, my wife still uses EarthLink/Mindspring and that may offer some help. If you remember your EarthLink password, you log into your EarthLink Web Mail and hopefully read/see all your messages. At least recent ones.

EarthLink was very late in converting from POP to IMAP and you had to make the change manually. It sounds like you are now using the IMAP version of EarthLink Mail.

If you can log in to the web-based email system at EarthLink, I strongly encourage you to print anything that might be even semi-important. You can also attempt to download all the messages again. You can then try to export them into a format that will be readable by another app.

Did you make the latest update to TB? Current version is 78.11.0.
Perhaps one of these links will be of help with Thunderbird:

• Thunderbird Profiles (stores your emails and changes you make while using TB)
• Switching from POP to IMAP
• Support page/user forum
• Live (text) Chat

[prin]

Do you have a Time Machine backup? If so, you should be able to restore from the time before you updated to Thunderbird 78.

If only. I had just ordered and received a G-drive external hd for my iMac, but not laptop. (I know - stupid of me.) I thought I had backed up laptop to iCloud, but so far, I can't find it. I did check before downloading anything. Migraine from beating head against wall. Thank you for your reply. I'm really not usually this idiotic. But "not usually" is irrelevant at the moment. I am truly lost. I seriously want to get rid of this latest incarnation of Thunderbird.

[prin]

I sincerely hope you have some family or friendly support. I have never used Thunderbird, so I have no experience to help with that app. However, my wife still uses EarthLink/Mindspring and that may offer some help. If you remember your EarthLink password, you log into your EarthLink Web Mail and hopefully read/see all your messages. At least recent ones.

EarthLink was very late in converting from POP to IMAP and you had to make the change manually. It sounds like you are now using the IMAP version of EarthLink Mail.

If you can log in to the web-based email system at EarthLink, I strongly encourage you to print anything that might be even semi-important. You can also attempt to download all the messages again. You can then try to export them into a format that will be readable by another app.

Did you make the latest update to TB? Current version is 78.11.0.
Perhaps one of these links will be of help with Thunderbird:

• Thunderbird Profiles (stores your emails and changes you make while using TB)
• Switching from POP to IMAP
• Support page/user forum
• Live (text) Chat

Yes, 78.11.0. Not using IMAP. Still on POP. Yes, I can easily log into and read Earthlink webmail with no problem. Issue is specifically with SMTP (outgoing email, not incoming). I am desperate to restore to previous version of Thunderbird with the hope that all my folders will return. For now at least, I have lost every critical folder imaginable that helps to keep me alive (somewhat dramatic, I know, but nonetheless basically factual).
I appreciate the list you sent. Thank you!

[Paddy]

Prin, the mail folders you lost were local folders - since you were/are using POP - so, I'm wondering if somehow Thunderbird became disconnected from your profile, so it appears that the mail is lost, when in fact it may still be there. (The SMTP issue is likely not related).

As per Jim's first link, have a look to see if you can find your TB profile files as a first step. As is noted in that link - the app and the profile are separate, and an update to the application shouldn't affect the profile or files within it.

More - example is for Windows, but I think the principles are the same on a Mac. Apparently this is NOT an unknown issue with TB. 
https://www.emailadepts.com/blog/how-to-recover-lost-folder-in-mozilla-thunderbird.htm

Out of curiosity - any reason you're not using Mail? I switched to it over 10 years ago after being a long-time Entourage user, and I must say, despite a few complaints, it's actually worked pretty well for me. And I currently have 32 email addresses...and thousands upon thousands of emails in there. (many of the email addresses are connected to clients' domains - I'm not completely insane...yet)

BTW - if you do find your profile and mail folders, PLEASE back them up - copy them to a hard drive or a thumb drive or iCloud or SOMEWHERE (maybe twice) to be sure that you have them safely and then, and only then, start attempting the fixes to re-link the app and your profile. And get that backup drive up and running - whether as a clone or with TimeMachine. (I usually tell people to have both. Drives are cheap - your time and your data are not).

[prin]

Prin, the mail folders you lost were local folders - since you were/are using POP - so, I'm wondering if somehow Thunderbird became disconnected from your profile, so it appears that the mail is lost, when in fact it may still be there. (The SMTP issue is likely not related).

As per Jim's first link, have a look to see if you can find your TB profile files as a first step. As is noted in that link - the app and the profile are separate, and an update to the application shouldn't affect the profile or files within it.

More - example is for Windows, but I think the principles are the same on a Mac. Apparently this is NOT an unknown issue with TB. 
https://www.emailadepts.com/blog/how-to-recover-lost-folder-in-mozilla-thunderbird.htm

Out of curiosity - any reason you're not using Mail? I switched to it over 10 years ago after being a long-time Entourage user, and I must say, despite a few complaints, it's actually worked pretty well for me. And I currently have 32 email addresses...and thousands upon thousands of emails in there. (many of the email addresses are connected to clients' domains - I'm not completely insane...yet)

BTW - if you do find your profile and mail folders, PLEASE back them up - copy them to a hard drive or a thumb drive or iCloud or SOMEWHERE (maybe twice) to be sure that you have them safely and then, and only then, start attempting the fixes to re-link the app and your profile. And get that backup drive up and running - whether as a clone or with TimeMachine. (I usually tell people to have both. Drives are cheap - your time and your data are not).

  What a wonderful message, for which I thank you! Interestingly, after I replied earlier, I began exploring more of TB and looked specifically at my TB profiles, thinking that might be an issue. I must have picked up your vibes.  I've found the information that Mozilla provides to be somewhat overwhelming (in my current state), but I will return to it, print it out, and try to figure it out. I am best at following a 1, 2, 3 sort of list. More and more, I have found that TB is aimed at Windows users. I do wish a human tech specializing in Macs could be available.

I have been using Earthlink for nearly 20 years. I gave Mail a try but didn't care for it. Can't recall why. Am glad you like it. Maybe I'll give it a try again.

You can bet that I will back up EVERYTHING probably two times over!

Thanks again to all of you. You're terrific. Stay well.
~ Prin

[prin]

Prin, the mail folders you lost were local folders - since you were/are using POP - so, I'm wondering if somehow Thunderbird became disconnected from your profile, so it appears that the mail is lost, when in fact it may still be there. (The SMTP issue is likely not related).

As per Jim's first link, have a look to see if you can find your TB profile files as a first step. As is noted in that link - the app and the profile are separate, and an update to the application shouldn't affect the profile or files within it.

More - example is for Windows, but I think the principles are the same on a Mac. Apparently this is NOT an unknown issue with TB. 
https://www.emailadepts.com/blog/how-to-recover-lost-folder-in-mozilla-thunderbird.htm

Out of curiosity - any reason you're not using Mail? I switched to it over 10 years ago after being a long-time Entourage user, and I must say, despite a few complaints, it's actually worked pretty well for me. And I currently have 32 email addresses...and thousands upon thousands of emails in there. (many of the email addresses are connected to clients' domains - I'm not completely insane...yet)

BTW - if you do find your profile and mail folders, PLEASE back them up - copy them to a hard drive or a thumb drive or iCloud or SOMEWHERE (maybe twice) to be sure that you have them safely and then, and only then, start attempting the fixes to re-link the app and your profile. And get that backup drive up and running - whether as a clone or with TimeMachine. (I usually tell people to have both. Drives are cheap - your time and your data are not).

Paddy - Well done! I got this far (see attachment) before I couldn't figure out what to do next. I even looked up File Explorer for Mac and File View under Finder. I even saw my Profiles and yes, you are correct, the folders are hiding. Problem is I could not figure out how to follow the remainder of the directions. whimpering

[Paddy]

So are your folders actually hidden? I don't think Thunderbird "hides" user folders on a Mac. Should be able to find them in ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/ which you'll find by drilling down from:
/Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/Library/ (where "username" is whatever your user account is called)

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data

When you say you can see your profiles - are they the OLD ones or are they new ones? If you can see all your old customized folders and the inbox and outbox files are large, then chances are these are your old profiles. You'll need to drill down a bit and have a look around. The modified date on some of these folders should also match the last day you were able to see all your old folders - if it's recent (say, today) then you're looking at the existing (new) profile.

To restore it, I think it's basically a matter of copying it into the TB user data folder - I suspect that you may have a new one in there with nothing much in it.

https://www.lifewire.com/restore-thunderbird-profile-1173164

I don't use Thunderbird, I'm afraid (though I apparently tried it out in 2018, because it's installed, LOL) - so if anyone else who actually DOES use it can chime in here, that might help.

[prin]

Dear Paddy,
My sincerest apologies for not replying till now. I have not been ignoring your awesome help messages - my eyes wore out (I think I mentioned my vision is limited among other serious health issues) so toward the end of last week, my eyes just wouldn't go any farther. I rested them till yesterday.
Here is what has occurred today. For the 15th or 16th time, I have checked the Thunderbird site (useless) and my Earthlink site, and matched up, as best I could, settings for all incoming and outgoing mail (outgoing still not working). But, in changing settings, all my subfolders magically returned. I am going to back up those before I take another step or two. The next steps must be how to get rid of now two accounts in my Earthlink email window without the folders hiding again. AND I REALLY want to delete Thunderbird 78.11.0, which has caused a multitude of problems, but am afraid to do so until I figure out or receive some help on what it will cause (for example, hidden folders and another email disaster).
Thank you for your patience. I am most appreciative. Please don't give up on me. If anyone else here is a Mac user with these same problems, I'd love to know.
Best,
Prin