How can I recover my accidentaly deleted address book?

I was working in my address book this morning and selected a contact that I wanted to delete. When I pressed the delete button, all of a sudden my entire address book dissapeared. I'm fairly sure I only selected the specific contact, but apparently somehow my entire address book got deleted with it.
I can still see the two default address books of thunderbird on the left side, but they always have been and still are empty. The third address book (the one that I've been using the past years), is completely gone.
I have tried to recover the address book in multiple ways:
- looked in the recycle bin of my computer and of thunderbird, but there was nothing to be found in both of them
- I used the 'undo' button about 4 to 5 times, but nothing happened unfortunately. Ctrl+z didn't give any response as well
- I waited with closing thunderbird, untiI I looked up my Thunderbird profile in user/appdata/roaming/thunderbird/profiles/****.defaul. I copied the abook.mab file to another directory, closed thunderbird and restarted it. Unfortunately this didn't help either.
- I've also tried to recover any deleted files on my entire computer using Recuva software. I haven't been able to find anything related to the address book thought.
Is there any way to retrieve/recover my thunderbird address book?
I haven't been able to find a good solution online as of yet. But I figure it can't just be completely gone after I've clicked teh delete button by accident, right?
I'm using thunderbird 24.4.0 on Windows 8.1. Currently I am not using a tool to synchronise the address book to my google account, because I'm working with the maillinglist and I haven't found a way to synchronise them fully. So there's no recent backup of the address book unfortunately.
I really hope you can help me with this. Thanks in advance!

Thanks a lot for your fast reply!
I've tried both options you gave, but unfortunately didn't manage to restore/retrieve any data from the file. The MoreFunctionsForAddressBook add on is very user friendly however and easy to work with.
I also found a few threads that explain that it is possibe to open the original abook.mab file in a text editor and delete some entries in it, to 'turn back' the command that said to delete the addressbook in the first place.
This is the one I've found and tried to follow: http://www.pirules.org/blog/?page_id=312 and
I've played around with it a bit, and managed to retrieve the specific address I was meaning to delete at the time the whole addressbook got accidentaly deleted. I didn't manage to retrieve the full addressbook though, mostly because I have a hard time understanding the code language that is used in the file....
Could this be an option for me? And if so, how do I determine which entry to delete from the file and which one to leave alone?

Similar Messages

  • How can I return to the Classic address book 3 pane view?

    How can I return to the Classic address book 3 pane view  & get rid of the stupid fake leather and same for iCal?

    I asked the same question at the Apple Genius Bar a week or so ago and they said there was no way to change it.  I am with you - do not like this new format at all and would love it if Apple would offer both -maybe when they do an "fix" next?  This was one change in Lion that should not have been made from Snow Leopard.  I am really sorry I upgraded at this point.

  • Why can't I edit or delete Address Book "On My Mac" or sync with iCloud?

    Why can't I edit or delete Address Book cards on my Macs, now that I've migrated to iCloud?  I can edit/delete if I go to iCloud, but the changes don't sync with my Macs.  What's happening, and what's a solution?  Just wait for Apple to fix a bug?

    On your mac, if your look at the left panel of the Address Book, you'll find general categories of "iCloud" and possibly "On my mac" - if you have contacts in the latter, then they are only local to your mac, they are not shared with iCloud.  If you don't have an "iCloud" category, then your mac(s) is not set up of iCloud.  Go to system preferences and look in iCloud.  Is the mac signed into iCloud, are contacts turned on for syncing?

  • How can I get my Yahoo email address book onto my blackberry tour?

    This is my first blackberry and I am lost.  How can I get my Yahoo email address book onto my blackberry tour?
    Solved!
    Go to Solution.

    Hi and Welcome to the forums!
    Was it there before and it is now gone? Or are you wanting to configure Yahoo email for the first time? See this demo information:
    http://na.blackberry.com/eng/support/blackberry101/setup.jsp#tab_tab_email
    Good luck and let us know!
    Occam's Razor nearly always applies when troubleshooting technology issues!
    If anyone has been helpful to you, please show your appreciation by clicking the button inside of their post. Please click here and read, along with the threads to which it links, for helpful information to guide you as you proceed. I always recommend that you treat your BlackBerry like any other computing device, including using a regular backup schedule...click here for an article with instructions.
    Join our BBM Channels
    BSCF General Channel
    PIN: C0001B7B4   Display/Scan Bar Code
    Knowledge Base Updates
    PIN: C0005A9AA   Display/Scan Bar Code

  • How can I recover an accidentally deleted note from my iPhone 4?

    How can I recover a note that I accidentally deleted from my iPhone 4?

    I'm not a Mac user, but google showed this: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3824044?start=0&tstart=0.  If that doesn't help, you should google "sync notes to macbook" and see if you find something that does.

  • How can I recover an involuntarily  deleted keynote file after trash?

    After 3 days of working in Keynote I moved several files to my new 250gb hard disk. Many files were moved to trash and deleted. My work in keynote was lost and I have tried everything to recover it. Can you help me with this..? Is there a trick to recover a deletd file from trash...? Is there a recover-data file in my computer..? Thanks
    Unease

    How can I recover an involuntarily deleted keynote file after cleaning trash ..?

  • How can i get my names in address book to forward emails. i used to drag

    i down loaded maverick i can no longer drag names from address book to forward gmail. what do i do?

    Hi ArtWench,
    If you are having issues getting your contacts into iCloud, you may find the following article helpful:
    iCloud: Troubleshooting iCloud Contacts
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3998
    Regards,
    - Brenden

  • How can I recover a recently deleted personal video on iPad air

    I recently took a personal video and deleted it 2 hours ago.  How can I get it back. I was not in wifi when I recorded it or deleted it.

    It's gone. There was no way it could have backed up to iCloud and you didn't backup to iTunes so there is no way to recover it now.

  • How can I transfer contacts in my address book to numbers?

    How can I transfer contact information in my address book to a chart in numbers to create a data base spreadsheet?

    Right now transfering contacts from Numbers 3.X does not work.  Import them to Number 2.3, then copy from ver 2.3 to 3.X

  • How can i print the e-mail address book

    I need to be able to share the address book. How can I print the contents

    There is no good way that I have found to print them directly from Thunderbird.
    The best way that I have found is to export the address book to a comma separated file, .csv file, then open that with Excel or Open Office, format the file like you want and print from there.
    The added benefit of doing this is now you have a backup file of your address book in case something bad happens.
    The Export command is under Tools in the Address Book window.

  • HT4489 How can I synchronize contacts between Apple Address Book/iPhone address book and Outlook (I'm on Mac OX10.7.4 and using Office 2011)?

    I appear to have done what I should to move to iCloud on my Mac, MacbookAir, iPhone and iPad.  Using Outlook 2011 on the iMac and unable to sync contacts between Outlook and my Apple Address Book and iPhone over the cloud.  I gather lots of people have the same problem but some appear to have solved it... any ideas?
    Also, in some sync, I managed to duplicate the entries on the Address Book on my Mac, whereas the iCloud Address Book is ok.  How can I replace the Address Book on my computer with the one on iCloud?
    Thank You for any help!

    Hi Lucy, I had the same problem with Outlook data sync. Once you've enabled iCloud all your contacts are moved to iCloud and are no longer stored on Mac, that's why Outlook cannot reach them - there is simply nothing to reach as data physically stored in cloud.
    I use SyncMate to solve this problem. This app allows connecting and syncing numerous devices and accounts with your Mac and they have recently added iCloud into this list (here the page where they describe sync with iCloud http://www.sync-mac.com/cloud-sync.html ).
    This is how I established sync of my Outlook data with iCloud via this app.
    1. SyncMate syncs only that data which is located on your Mac so you will need to move your contacts back to Address Book on mac from iCloud and disable iCloud for contacts (in order they were stored on Mac, not in iCloud).
    2. You install SyncMate and add iCloud as a new connection (depending on data you want to sync you need to choose "Cloud contacts" or "Cloud calendars" connection in SyncMate wizard and log into your iCloud via SyncMate). Once you've done this, you can sync data on Mac with iCloud via SyncMate.
    3. I may assume that automatic sync option is enabled in Outlook preferences (as previously your contacts on Mac were synced with Outlook). If no - please, enable it (got to Outlook preferences).
    4. Once all this done, data will be automatically synced betwen Outlook and iCloud (latter via SyncMate). The trick of SyncMate is that data is physically located on your Mac (thus ensuring it will be synced with other devices and accounts SyncMate supports, as I said before, SyncMate works with data which is located on Mac), but you still can have it in iCloud (sync will be performed via SyncMate, no need to enable iCloud itself).
    5. And of course, you will be able to sync your iPhone contacts with your Mac (SyncMate supports sync with iPhones also). These contacts will be also synced to Outlook.

  • How can I sync two sources in address book 5.0?

    I love the new exchange support in Snow Leopard, this helps me keep my exchange contacts at work up to date.
    I would like to know how I can synchronize my exchange contacts with my local contacts which I have synchronized with GMail thanks to the new GMail synchronization feature provided with Address Book 5.0.
    I can't synch my phone (Sony Ericsson Z750i) with my apple but I can synch it at work, keeping all these sources the same would be absolutely fantastic.

    abook.,mab is the personal address book... but don't be to sure your Norton product even backs up Thunderbird.... Microsoft promised their transfer wizard transferred your mail and it only does Microsoft Mail programs unless you edit it's advanced settings.

  • How can I show alphabet tabs in Address Book OS 10.7?

    Finally installed OS 10.7 yesterday and (not to be a stick in the mud but) now have it working pretty much like classic Snow Leopard, yay.
    Why is it that Address Book keeps getting worse instead of better with each new OS X?
    Please tell me how to show the letter tabs so I can quickly go to the name I am looking for.
    Thanks!

    I don't think there are any tabs.
    I usually just start typing the name of the contact I'm looking for in the search field.
    I agree with you, Address Book in Lion is not Apple's finest achievement.
    The good news, is that it appears to get better when it becomes Contacts in Mountain Lion.
    Among other things, three column viewing is back.
    http://www.apple.com/osx/apps/#contacts
    Matt

  • How can I increase entries in the address book???

    The Address Book only accept 500 entries by user,
    I don't found where i can change this parameter

    I have checked the same, but still I am able to see up to 200 entires only. when I try to find out the other users details by using the search option I could able to find out the user details.
    Pls help me out
    my contact Id. [email protected]

  • How can I get smart group in address book to email?

    digimurr
    Feb 15, 2012 9:58 AM
    Hi
    I'm trying to send an email out to a smart group I created which has about 150 members.  I right click send email while in the address book.  The group ends up in the 'To:' field.  I do a 'cmd A' to select all and move them to the 'bcc' field.  I put my email address in the 'To' field.  I create the subject line and body text which containes a url and an image with a url link.
    When I press send it immediately moves to my outbox and sits there with no activity showing in the MAIL ACTIVITY preview pane.... I've left it for quite a while thinking it might take a while but nothing changes.
    When I send it to my self only it works.   I've tried taking a smaller group last names A-C 30 recipients and it does the same thing.
    Would appreciate some help if you have had the same problem or maybe know what I've done wrong.  Oh, I've also tried it sending it out on me.com and shaw.ca email accounts...
    Thanks
    Murray Brown
    Using Lion 10.7.3
    Imac 27
    I7
    8 gig ram
    1 TB drive
    iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3)

    If you want to "send an email" to the group, you need to get the group into your email client's Contacts first...
    Select your Group > Select All
    From Address Book.App "Help" (±10 years old)
    *See emphasis below* -
    Importing and exporting vCards
    A vCard, or "virtual address card," is a standard method of exchanging data between applications. Address Book can create and read vCards, so if you have another application that also works with the vCard format, you can import or export addresses as vCards.
    Also, you can send your own card to other people in vCard format. They can use the vCard to add your information to their address books.
    You can also use vCards to add addresses to the Contacts list on your iPod.
    To create a vCard, drag an address card out of the Address Book window.
    To add someone else's vCard to your address book, drag it into the Address Book window.
    To create a single vCard with multiple entries, drag more than one card out of the Address Book window.
    To create multiple vCards at the same time, hold the Option key when dragging multiple cards out of the Address Book window.
    You can also work with vCards using commands in the File menu.
    Address Book also supports Lightweight Directory Interchange Format (LDIF). LDIF is an ASCII file format used to exchange information and enable synchronization of that information between Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) servers. You can't export information from Address Book in LDIF format; you can only import it. Address Book can import and export vCards.
    To determine the format of a document, select the document and choose File > Get Info. The format, or kind of document, is listed at the top.
    If another application won't accept vCards in the default 3.0 format, try changing the format to 2.1 in the vCard pane of Address Book Preferences, and send the vCard again.
    ÇÇÇ

Maybe you are looking for