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Rebuild MSF File in Thunderbird To Regain Mailbox Access

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Written By Mohit Jha
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh 
Published On February 26th, 2016
Reading Time 2 Minutes Reading

Thunderbird is an open source email client developed by Mozilla which can manage multiple emails, accounts and newsgroup. The mailbox formats supported by Thunderbird are:

MBOX: In MBOX, one file holds many emails.

MSF: It is message summary file, which holds index of each folder.

Issues Due To Corruption of MSF File

Sometimes Mozilla Thunderbird folders loses track of the messages due to the corruption of MSF files. Corrupt .msf files (index files) in thunderbird can cause unexpected behavior of emails like:

  • Deleted emails still present
  • Thunderbird not showing inbox
  • Email disappear or messages present are not shown
  • Messages may appear more than once
  • Messages keep reappearing even after we delete them

All these issues are known as corruption of MSF file

How to Repair Thunderbird Mailbox Manually?

To solve the corruption issues, there is an option in Mozilla Thunderbird which allows you to rebuild Thunderbird inbox. Follow the below steps to repair your corrupted folders.

  • Right click on the folder you want to repair in Mozilla.
  • Select Properties
  • Go to General and click on Repair Folder.
  • Click on OK

NOTE: Turn Off Automatic Mail Checking.It is not essential but avoids a potential cause for conflicts.

To repair Thunderbird inbox, you can also delete the MSF file from Thunderbird profile and the next time you start Thunderbird, it recreates them.

Why We Need A Commercial Tool?

Repair only fixes a corrupt index.It means you can only rebuild the MSF file but not the MBOX file. So what if your MBOX file got corrupted?

There is no manual method to repair your MBOX file. However, you can view your MBOX file by using any commercial tool. MBOX Viewer is one of the best tools for viewing your MBOX file. By using the tool you can view multiple MBOX files emails with attachments without any email client dependency.

You can easily download the free version and purchase the full version of the software from its official website.

To end, we can say that Thunderbird mailbox repair can be done manually if the msf file is corrupted. However, if the MBOX is corrupted then you need to use a third party utility to view the corrupted MBOX folder.

  author

By Mohit Jha

Meet Mohit, an accomplished professional serving as an Assistant Digital Marketing Manager and content strategist. As a content strategist, Mohit combines creativity and strategy to craft compelling narratives that captivate audiences and align with brand objectives. With a dual expertise in digital marketing and content strategy, Mohit is your trusted partner in achieving digital excellence.