Real Cause of the Missing Folder Pane in Thunderbird for Linux and Its Working Fix and Solution

[Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo]

Dear Linux Users Worldwide,

The real cause of the missing folder pane/folder pane not showing up in Thunderbird email clients for Linux operating systems is extensive and widespread corruption of the *.msf mail summary files or mail index files. If your *.msf mail summary files or mail index files are badly corrupted, the traditional usual recommended and oft-quoted solution of deleting the folderTree.json and session.json files in your mail profile(s) and later rebuilding them will not work, for sure. Even if you try this solution for 1 trillion times, it will still not work. This is because the files which are actually corrupted are NOT the folderTree.json and session.json files. The real files which are corrupted are your .msf mail summary files!!!

I have been repeatedly and stubbornly trying the traditional usual recommended and oft-quoted solution of deleting the folderTree.json and session.json files and later rebuilding them, for a few years, but it did not work out for me at all. Now, today, 15 November 2016 Tuesday, Singapore Time, I have actually solved the problem of the missing folder pane/folder pane not showing up in Thunderbird email clients for Linux, which has plagued me for a few years.

Please refer to the following link/URL for my solution to the problem:

http://forums.edmw.xyz/index.php?threads/is-there-a-cure-for-stupidity-retar...

An archive (ZIP file 19.7 MB) of the above forum thread is available at the following Google Drive Cloud link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B96mKCooAF0naXJNNnpYUERncUk/view?usp=sharin...

The original reference resource is here:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders

Concisely, the solution towards fixing the problem is to:

1) Exit or close Thunderbird
2) Go to your email profile, e.g. /home/user/.thunderbird/<profile-name>
3) Rename the *.msf files to *.msf.bak
4) Start Thunderbird
5) Create a new folder, e.g. "Backup 15 Nov 2016"
6) Move all your email messages from the INBOX folder to "Backup 15 Nov 2016"
7) Check and ensure that all your email messages from INBOX are actually in your new folder
8) Exit and restart Thunderbird again
9) You should be able to start receiving email messages into your Inbox all over again

For a few years, Thunderbird for Linux had fixed me. Now, I have fixed Thunderbird for Linux.

Thank you very much for reading.

Yours sincerely,

Mr. Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) @ Time Traveller
Former old abandoned name: Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)
SINGAPORE CITIZEN
Mobile Phone #1: [phone] (M1 Mobile Postpaid)
Mobile Phone #2: [phone] (Singtel Mobile Prepaid)
15th November 2016 Tuesday 5:03 PM Singapore Time

*I am an entry level Information Technology Specialist/Systems Engineer/Linux Server Administrator/Helpdesk Support/Computer Technician available for hire anywhere in the world!!! Please contact me for my curriculum vitae/resume. Thank you very much.*

[OT] Re: Real Cause of the Missing Folder Pane in Thunderbird for Linux and Its Working Fix and Solution

[geo.inbox.ignored]

On 11/15/2016 03:16 AM, [e-mail] wrote:
> Dear Linux Users Worldwide,
>
> The real cause of the missing folder pane/folder pane not showing up in
> Thunderbird email clients for Linux operating systems is extensive and
> widespread corruption of the *.msf mail summary files or mail index
> files.
> >

true, corrupt .msf files will mess up folder files.

what you went thru may be a way to correct them. 'may', because i have
never tried such.

what i do know is any easier way to correct is to delete them with a simpler
procedure.

with thunderbird close, open a file browser to;

/home/user-name/.thunderbird/*.default/Mail/

open a terminal from file browser, execute;

rm -R *.msf
  cd ..
  rm panacea.dat
  exit

open thunderbird, all .msf files will be rebuilt and a new panacea.dat
file is created.

next <alt+f>,<f> to compact all email files and remove 'dead' emails.

if you do not have thunderbird configed to compact on closing, you need
to set such or remember to do so when deleting or manually moving emails.

as for what you also needlessly posted;

=+=+=+=
> *I am an entry level Information Technology Specialist/Systems
> Engineer/Linux Server Administrator/Helpdesk Support/Computer Technician
> available for hire anywhere in the world!!!

=+=+=+=

you really need to read and learn what is present with most all well
written computer programs. the very last of every main menu line, "Help".

had you done so with thunderbird, you would have been directed to;

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/thunderbird

last in list should have been your first choice. ;=)

in closing, if you wish to restructure thunderbird to a more efficient
'tree', contact me off-list and i will be glad to pass along an easy way
to do so for easier backups.