Lost Evolution mail folders on upgrade to 11.10

Asked by Dana Dyer

Evolution is my email program. Just installed the upgrade to 11.10 and when I opened Evolution all my folders with saved emails are gone. Can I recover them? How would I do this? No, I did not do a save of any data prior to the upgrade. If that was required I was not aware of the need.

Thanks

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Revision history for this message
Mike Green (akfypzn-mike-nw2wga2) said :
#1

I too have the exact same problem!

Revision history for this message
Dana Dyer (dana-d) said :
#2

I have recovered both my "lost" mailboxes and contact list. However I can not say if it was just a coincidence or not. I have a dual boot machine with windows as an option.

Here is the sequence:

I rebooted my computer and in the boot selection window selected the option that allowed me to boot the previous version of Ubuntu. The boot was successful but seemed odd. As I recall it still booted 11.10 and I could not understand that either. In any event I started Evolution and expanded the inbox window and all my mailboxes were now present. Also I could open my contacts lists.

Agreed it does not make sense however I have recovered all my lost data.

Revision history for this message
Hannie Dumoleyn (lafeber-dumoleyn) said :
#3

I have the same problem after upgrading from Natty to Oneiric. The folders are still in /home/myname/.local/share/evolution/mail/local.
Can anyone tell me how I can tell Evolution to show these folders in the list again?

Revision history for this message
Hannie Dumoleyn (lafeber-dumoleyn) said :
#4

Forget my previous remark. I have the folders back in the list. But I do get an error message when sending email:
The reported error was "Adding to mbox:/home/myname/.local/share/evolution/mail/local#Sent failed: Invalid folder-URI ‘mbox:/home/myname/.local/share/evolution/mail/local#Sent’. Adding to local ‘Verzonden’-map." instead. (Verzonden is the Dutch word for Sent).

Revision history for this message
Stephen Lyons (tqa-stephen) said :
#5

Hannie, I got the same issue after upgrading - how did you get the folders back into the list again. My mails do seem to be in /home/myname/.local/share/evolution/mail/local but I can't see them in Evolution. This is after upgrading to 11.10 .

Revision history for this message
Hannie Dumoleyn (lafeber-dumoleyn) said :
#6

Hi Stephen,
The reason why I did not mention how I got the folders back is because I felt ashamed to tell. It was so simple. I just did not unfold the Inbox folder. The reason why I overlooked it was that, in Natty, it was unfolded, but not in Oneiric. I hope this is the case on your computer as well.

Revision history for this message
Stephen Lyons (tqa-stephen) said :
#7

Nope, everything is unfolded / expanded. When I first launched it after upgrading all my mails were there. It ran through some "Processing Mailbox" thing, and when it was finished, everything disappeared. The mails seem to be still on the system, but the Evolution App isn't loading them.

Revision history for this message
Stephen Lyons (tqa-stephen) said :
#8

Just an update, I sorted this by importing the folders using Import .

Revision history for this message
A L (alavery) said :
#9

Hannie,
I think it's like that for most of us. You have a mental block, you beat your head against a wall, and nothing comes out. Then you explain it to someone (in this case the forum) who you think will be competent to fix your problem, and the act of putting yourself in their shoes and explaining the problem for them causes you to have that little bit more rigour in your thinking that solves it yourself. Sure happens to me enough.

Revision history for this message
Andrea Fontana (trikkuz) said :
#10

I have nothing to unfold. A couple of new folders appeared with name #evolution and inbox_sbd but they are not created by me.

*WARNING: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME*

If i try to recreate old folders with same old name, old mails appear inside of these folders, but suddently disapper (i think they're lost forever, so don't try this at home). Opening evolution mail archive with a sqllite editor I can't find these mail anymore (but other mails on other non-recreated folder still exist inside db)

Revision history for this message
Stephen Lyons (tqa-stephen) said :
#11

Andrea, I had exactly the same, but Inbox was called Inbox. So not sure why evolution was not reading my emails from the store /home/myname/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/Inbox . As .local is a hidden folder, I was able to use the following to quickly restore my Inbox / Sent and Template folders.

I used Restore Evolution Backup, and manually put the path to the Inbox file "/home/myname/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/Inbox" . This doesn't do anything, but if I then do Import a single file, I can then select "Inbox" from the previously / recently selected files list (this get's around having to copy / move any folders) .

Revision history for this message
Andrea Fontana (trikkuz) said :
#12

Stephen, it works partially. It imported a lot of mails but they are old mails...

Revision history for this message
Hannie Dumoleyn (lafeber-dumoleyn) said :
#13

Andrea
Searching for "_sbd" I found this: (for what it is worth)
Mozilla recognises a sub-folder because the directory name ends with ".sbd", only on OpenVMS a period
is invalid in a filename* and so it gets converted to "_sbd". So Mozilla sees the folder_sbd and doesn't thinks its a sub-folder.
Creating a new folder with the same name overwrites the old one, causing loss of the old contents. I guess you did not get any warning while doing this.
A L
Thank you for your kind words :)

Revision history for this message
Xavier Dallerès (server-andorra) said :
#14

I lost All my old messages upgrading ubuntu 11.04 to 11.10
i imported from HOME/youruser/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/ ( and inbox, sent etc.. one by one in a new folder, and it works fine.

regards

Revision history for this message
Mike Green (akfypzn-mike-nw2wga2) said :
#15

I have still not been able to recover my lost emails since upgrading!
I suspect 11.10 may not have loaded properly as I am finding it very difficult to move between files.
As you must be aware I am not very computer literate.

Is there any way I can revert to 11.04?

Mike

Revision history for this message
Xavier Dallerès (server-andorra) said :
#16

i don't know if this is possible.
Did you try this ?

Open evotution
go to menu file
go to import
import individual file

 home/youruser/.local/share/evolution/mail/local

your user, it's your user name ( for me Xavier )
(.local) it's an hidden directory, to see all directorys, type ctrl + h.

Revision history for this message
Mike Green (akfypzn-mike-nw2wga2) said :
#17

Dear Xavier,

Thanks for the help but when I select "import individual file" it only
offers me a Outlook Express file type and it does not allow me to access
any other file types. I have had many tries but am unable to get beyond
that point.

Regards

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Xavier Dallerès <email address hidden>
Reply-to: <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #174156]: Lost Evolution mail folders on upgrade
to 11.10
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2011 13:35:39 -0000

Question #174156 on evolution in Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+question/174156

Xavier Dallerès posted a new comment:
i don't know if this is possible.
Did you try this ?

Open evotution
go to menu file
go to import
import individual file

 home/youruser/.local/share/evolution/mail/local

your user, it's your user name ( for me Xavier )
(.local) it's an hidden directory, to see all directorys, type ctrl + h.

Revision history for this message
Xavier Dallerès (server-andorra) said :
#18

Hello Mike

When you are in this screen, don't worry about file type, in tehe line above , browse your directorys (home/youruser/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/ inbox

this worked for me,

regards

note :First i created a new folder in Evolution named "old mails ", to prevent loosing the new one's.

Revision history for this message
Mike Green (akfypzn-mike-nw2wga2) said :
#19

Dear Xavier,

When I browse the files, I get home/michael but I cannot find a file
named local.

I have tried Ctrl + h, but get no response!

If I reload 11.10 (assuming I can) will that solve the problem or is
their any way I can go back to 11.04?

Thanks for you patience.

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Xavier Dallerès <email address hidden>
Reply-to: <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #174156]: Lost Evolution mail folders on upgrade
to 11.10
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:50:51 -0000

Question #174156 on evolution in Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+question/174156

Xavier Dallerès posted a new comment:
Hello Mike

When you are in this screen, don't worry about file type, in tehe line
above , browse your directorys
(home/youruser/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/ inbox

this worked for me,

regards

note :First i created a new folder in Evolution named "old mails ", to
prevent loosing the new one's.

Revision history for this message
Donato Roque (donato-roque) said :
#20

that's .local (dot local) which means it's a hidden file. The use of Ctrl+H
will unhide these hidden files.

On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 9:25 PM, Mike Green <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Question #174156 on evolution in Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+question/174156
>
> Mike Green posted a new comment:
> Dear Xavier,
>
> When I browse the files, I get home/michael but I cannot find a file
> named local.
>
> I have tried Ctrl + h, but get no response!
>
> If I reload 11.10 (assuming I can) will that solve the problem or is
> their any way I can go back to 11.04?
>
> Thanks for you patience.
>
> Mike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Xavier Dallerès <email address hidden>
> Reply-to: <email address hidden>
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #174156]: Lost Evolution mail folders on upgrade
> to 11.10
> Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:50:51 -0000
>
> Question #174156 on evolution in Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+question/174156
>
> Xavier Dallerès posted a new comment:
> Hello Mike
>
> When you are in this screen, don't worry about file type, in tehe line
> above , browse your directorys
> (home/youruser/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/ inbox
>
> this worked for me,
>
> regards
>
> note :First i created a new folder in Evolution named "old mails ", to
> prevent loosing the new one's.
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are an answer
> contact for evolution in Ubuntu.
>

Revision history for this message
Mike Green (akfypzn-mike-nw2wga2) said :
#21

Dear Donato,

At last I succeded! I am not sure if the files I put in special folders
have been recovered; I will have to sort and search.

Many Thanks

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Donato Roque <email address hidden>
Reply-to: <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #174156]: Lost Evolution mail folders on upgrade
to 11.10
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:45:39 -0000

Question #174156 on evolution in Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+question/174156

Donato Roque posted a new comment:
that's .local (dot local) which means it's a hidden file. The use of Ctrl+H
will unhide these hidden files.

On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 9:25 PM, Mike Green <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Question #174156 on evolution in Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+question/174156
>
> Mike Green posted a new comment:
> Dear Xavier,
>
> When I browse the files, I get home/michael but I cannot find a file
> named local.
>
> I have tried Ctrl + h, but get no response!
>
> If I reload 11.10 (assuming I can) will that solve the problem or is
> their any way I can go back to 11.04?
>
> Thanks for you patience.
>
> Mike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Xavier Dallerès <email address hidden>
> Reply-to: <email address hidden>
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #174156]: Lost Evolution mail folders on upgrade
> to 11.10
> Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:50:51 -0000
>
> Question #174156 on evolution in Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+question/174156
>
> Xavier Dallerès posted a new comment:
> Hello Mike
>
> When you are in this screen, don't worry about file type, in tehe line
> above , browse your directorys
> (home/youruser/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/ inbox
>
> this worked for me,
>
> regards
>
> note :First i created a new folder in Evolution named "old mails ", to
> prevent loosing the new one's.
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are an answer
> contact for evolution in Ubuntu.
>

Revision history for this message
Mike Green (akfypzn-mike-nw2wga2) said :
#22

Dear Xavier,

I have been able to access my old files but am not sure just now about
the ones I put in special folders.

I am very unhappy with 11.10 particularly that when I open a new folder
and then want to reopen the original or earlier I have to go to
Workspaces to find it.

Thank you so much for you help and patience.

Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Xavier Dallerès <email address hidden>
Reply-to: <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #174156]: Lost Evolution mail folders on upgrade
to 11.10
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:50:51 -0000

Question #174156 on evolution in Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+question/174156

Xavier Dallerès posted a new comment:
Hello Mike

When you are in this screen, don't worry about file type, in tehe line
above , browse your directorys
(home/youruser/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/ inbox

this worked for me,

regards

note :First i created a new folder in Evolution named "old mails ", to
prevent loosing the new one's.

Revision history for this message
Xavier Dallerès (server-andorra) said :
#23

Hello Mike,

I don't know how downgrade to 11.04,
Personaly, i don't like walking forward.

Bye.