Maybe somebody knows that follows the Garden Web Computer Help forum.

Is there a icon you can click on? Or three dots?

I haven't used a POP email account in years, although I used to manage them back in 2003.

Try the computer forum. Folks there are very helpful.

I'm not a Thunderbird user but...

Have you tried clicking the three horizontal lines (hamburger?) to display the Thunderbird menu?

Under "View" there's a "Folders" option that allows you to display or hide folders:

I doubt that's your problem because it shouldn't change on its own but who knows?

A screenshot might help a Thunderbird user see what's going on... or not going on.

If your email address is visible, blur it before posting.

Richard when I double click the three horizontal lines nothing happens. When I right click it I get something that says customize and another window pops up.

This is what my main Thunderbird page looks like:

Did you try re-entering your account information? You also have "quick links" highlighted.......what happens when you click on "get messages"?

Elizabeth, nothing. When I right click the down arrow there my e-mail address shows up but it doesn't do anything.

Are your account settings still correct? Go to Tools -> Account settings and make sure your information is there.

( You meant left click in your above post ? )

If you are using gmail, you can get your email and recover the old ones directly from

< mail.google.com >

I don't know why nothing happens when you left click the three horizontal lines but since your tool bar is visible, can you get to "View" -> "Folders" that way?

When I set mine to "Unread" it looks close to what you see: (except for theme and I have mine narrowed)

Then when I select "All" all my folders reappear:

My reasoning for thinking it has something to do with "View" and not with how your account is setup is...

" ... when I get a new e-mail it will pop up ... "

So to me, it seems like your account is set up and you're retrieving messages, you're just not able to see/"View" the folder (Inbox) it gets stored in. But I may be missing something.

I was having trouble with emails just willy-nilly disappearing. I finally went into settings and did something with the POP IMAP setting. I don't know what any of that means and can't remember what I did but it stopped the problem.

Not sure of the date, but I think it was 12/1, but my security software changed and I could get no emails on Thunderbird at all. Had to follow instructions to disable that part of my software. Now it works fine.

This may be related to my change in internet service? Not sure. I switched from AT&T to Spectrum. I just set my email up at Spectrum and added my old bellsouth email to forward them to that old email address. I don't know how to fix Thunderbird. I would like to keep it as it had a bunch of saved messages for future reference. I also have too many companies/people who have my old email address. I don't want to have to change it but not sure how to get the display to work with the new spectrum account. I don't even know if this is possible. My daughter said the email has nothing to do with what internet service you have. I'm really computer illiterate. As you can see lol.

I can't left click on the "View" folder at the top at all. It does nothing.

So, you have an email ending in @bellsouth?

I don't know.

"My daughter said the email has nothing to do with what internet service you have."

She's correct assuming you're using gmail, yahoo, hotmail/outlook/live/whatever and not a new email address hosted on Spectrum's servers. (I use gmail and live)

"I can't left click on the "View" folder at the top at all. It does nothing."

That sounds like there's something wrong with your Thunderbird installation. Clicking "View" or the "hamburger" should open a dropdown menu and present you with more options. I suppose overly aggressive antivirus could be interfering but I doubt it.

Things I might try:

(1) Go to "Help" -> "Restart with Add-ons disabled" (probably won't work, you probably don't have add-ons, but...)

(2) Try that remove and reinstall one more time and watch for an option to remove configuration files. Caution, if you're pulling messages down from the server and deleting them off the server you will lose messages.

That's what I might consider trying if it were me. I have not used a local email client for years (except for tests to obtain the above images) so I don't really know. I'd figure out my email address ("Edit" -> "Account Settings"?) and log into the server in my browser to make sure my messages are still there. If they're still there on the server, I'd feel safe doing an uninstall, including config files, and reinstall. I'm a Linux user though so the uninstall including config files may not even be an option. But it should be.

I'm about to give up and just go and change all my email addresses to everyone I do business with.

I deleted and reinstalled Thunderbird about 5 times now. It looks the same. I'm pretty sure it is linked to my email at AT&T and now that I have spectrum it is not working through them. Not sure why I still see the e-mails on my phone, though.

I have no drop down menus on Thunderbird, it's like the whole thing is disabled.

Thanks for everyone's help.