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Handling deleted messages in Thunderbird
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When you delete messages from your mail folder in Thunderbird program,
those messages won't be actually removed from the
corresponding database file, unless you compact it. Instead, Thunderbird
merely changes the status of those messages in the original email
database file.
Status of a message is described by two service tags (fields)
X-Mozilla-Status and X-Mozilla-Status2. When
Thunderbird needs to mark a message as deleted, it changes the value of
these fields without actually removing the message from a database file.
Hence, the easy way to restore a deleted message is just to correct the
status fields of the message so that Thunderbird takes it for a new one
the next time you start Thunderbird.
Some values of the status fields are given below. The values must be
exactly four (or eight) symbols.
X-Mozilla-Status
- 0001 - Message has been read.
- 0002 - A reply to this message has been sent.
- 0004 - User has marked (starred) this message.
- 0006 - 0002 + 0004 combined.
- 0007 - 0001 + 0002 + 0004 combined.
- 0008 - Messages with this bit set will be irreversibly removed
from a database file during the next compaction.
- 0009 - 0008 + 0001 (read, deleted message).
X-Mozilla-Status2
- 00010000 - This message is new since the last time the folder
was closed.
- 00200000 - If set, this message is marked as deleted on the
server. This only applies to messages on IMAP servers.
- 00040000 - If the bit set, this thread is ignored
(In fact, a message with this bit set is not displayed).
- 10000000 - Indicates that the message has an attachment.
For more information on values of Mozilla status fields please
refer to
http://lxr.mozilla.org/seamonkey/source/mailnews/base/public/nsMsgMessageFlags.h#108 |
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Thus, when you need to restore a deleted message:
- Close Thunderbird program and backup the original email database
file you want to edit. (How
to locate Thunderbird email database file in Windows?)
- Open Thunderbird email database file in your favorite text
editor using Edit mode
(Text editors considerations)
- Navigate to the desired message using Search mode of the
text editor
- Determine the boundaries of the message. Each message within
email database file starts with "From - " line which also has
time and date (something like "From - Tue Oct 09 17:27:46 2007").
Hence, look slightly above and below the fragment of the message (to
which you moved on the previous step) and find such starting lines.
Your message will start at the upper line and end on the lower line.
- Check message fields from top to bottom of the message searching
for "X-Mozilla-Status" and "X-Mozilla-Status2" lines.
- Change value of these fields to:
- X-Mozilla-Status:xxxx to
X-Mozilla-Status:0000 (doing so you mark the message as new
and unread)
- X-Mozilla-Status2:xxxxxxxx to
X-Mozilla-Status2:00000000 (this ensures that the
message is not a deleted one).
- Save changes to the email database file
- Delete the corresponding MSF file
(What is a .MSF file?)
- Start Thunderbird
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- Previous versions of Zmeil extract email messages from
Thunderbird database file in such a form as they were without any
editing. Therefore, if a message has been marked as deleted in the
database file, the recovered form of this message will have the same
status, and such a message won't be displayed in Thunderbird.
- This problem is corrected starting with Zmeil 2.1 by
removing the status fields from the recovered form of the messages. Thus, all the extracted email messages will be displayed in
Thunderbird as new and unread.
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