Inbox stays blank

This article was written for Thunderbird but it also applies to the Mozilla Suite.

Symptoms

You try to open the Inbox and nothing happens (the message list stays blank). The "Building summary file" message (in Thunderbird's status bar) lasts for minutes. Sometimes the contents of the Inbox appear and sometimes they don't. Thunderbird hasn't entirely frozen; it still responds but the Inbox doesn't display messages or behaves strangely.

This usually happens to very large Inbox files that haven't been compacted.

Workaround

1. Exit Thunderbird.
2. Make several copies of the file "Inbox" in safe places (outside your profile folder).
3. Rename the file "Inbox" to "InboxOld".
4. Delete the file "Inbox.msf".
5. Start Thunderbird. It will create a new, empty Inbox.
6. There should be a new folder InboxOld visible in the folder pane. Right-click it and select "Compact This Folder".
7. If this succeeds, try to open it.
8. If you can open it without problems, you are done and you can delete the copies (after you make very sure).

If you can't open it without serious problems:

1. Exit Thunderbird.
2. Delete the files "InboxOld" and "InboxOld.msf" and the folder "InboxOld.sbd" from your profile folder.
3. Download the MboxImport extension.
4. Start Thunderbird and install the MboxImport extension.
5. After restarting Thunderbird, try to import one of the copies using the MboxImport extension.
6. If this succeeds, you can move the messages to where you want them (I suggest somewhere else than the Inbox).
7. If this also fails, you may have to take your loss.

In the future:

• Regularly compact your folders.
• Keep your Inbox empty by moving messages you want to keep to (subfolders of) "Read" (or the equivalent in your local language).

See also

• New messages do not appear in Inbox

External link

• MozillaZine Forums: "Inbox ruined"