Thunderbird Community Forum

First, I have very limited understanding of software. I need very simple explanations.

Here's my issue. I use Thunderbird on my desktop computer. I have used the Import/Export > Options > Backup Scheduling function to backup my Thunderbird email to my USB/flash drive. I have labelled the backup folder on my flash drive "Thunderbird email backup." That folder contains numerous subfolders including: 1) calendar-data 2) chrome_debugger_profile 3) crashes 4) datareporting 5) extensions 6) ExternalMailFolders 7) Mail 8) minidumps 9) saved-telemetry-pings 10) scheduled-notifications 11) settings 12) shader-cache 13) storage.

Again, these are the subfolders created/named by the Thunderbird Import/Export backup. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THESE FOLDERS MEAN.

Here's what I want - it's actually very simple. I want to be able to see (read) my backed up email on my flash drive without using the Thunderbird installed on my computer. I want complete interaction with the backed up email without my desktop Thunderbird - or my online email account - being involved at all.

My understanding is that Thunderbird Portable is supposed to be able to allow me to do that. I downloaded Thunderbird Portable (from https://portableapps.com) to my flash drive but when I tried to access it the first thing it did was try to force me to put in my online account (POP?) information.

I don't want to do that. I just want to open Thunderbird Portable on the flash drive and have it realize that all of my backed up Thunderbird email information is right there in the same flash drive. I want it to just access and use what's right there.

I was really hoping that Thunderbird Portable would simply ask me where to look - in a very user-friendly way! - and I could tell it to go to my "Thunderbird email backup" folder on my flash drive (WHERE ALL MY THUNDERBIRD INFO IS!) and it would simply do just that and provide me with complete Thunderbird service for the backed up email.

Am I missing something? Can someone give me a VERY SIMPLE walk through to do what I would think should be a very simple thing? Thank you. Chris (6/29/26)

PS - I've read the Mozilla Support ARTICLE: Thunderbird Portable (Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition) and other portable apps as alternatives (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1285834) and it alludes in general terms to exactly what I want to do but it does not give any step-wise instructions.

Thunderbird 140.7.1 i have a subfolder called "purchases" which I add to on a regular basis. Suddenly no messages appear after May 2014 I have logged in directly to the mail server, and all the missing messages are definitely on the server. I have checked the local filters, none are set. I have tried properties/repair. I have tried removing ~/.thunderbird/xxx/ImapMail/mail.myserver.com.au/INBOX.sbd/purchases.msf

Could it be a problem with dovecot indexing on the server? all the other subfolders seem to work fine. It's just this one.

Bonjour, Lorsque je me connecte, j'ai un message que me dit : User is authenticated but not connected et ceci sur toutes mes boites mails. De plus, suite à un changement d'ordinateur mes mots de passe sont visibles aves des chiffres et des lettres credential redacted (see https://github.com/thunderbird/aaq-scraper/issues/15 ) Je ne peux pas voir mes mots de passe enregistrés Je ne peux donc pas me connecter à mes boites mails car les mots de passe ne sont pas valides A savoir que je suis sur certaines boites mail sur @outlook.com (anciennement dbmail)

Pourriez-vous m'aider à débloquer le problème car je suis très embêtée Par avance merci et bonne soirée PS : Si je supprime l'application et que je l'installe de nouveau, vais-je perdre tout l'historique (dossiers, agendas, contacts, etc ...)

It was working fine on the new computer until yesterday. Now I get a pop-up box that says: ' Unable to connect The connection was refused when attempting to contact localhost.

The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments.

If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection. If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure Thunderbird is permitted to access the web.

Needed to ire install thunderbird email and could not get past the "donation" page Paid a "donation" and still cannot get past the donation page The release channel button did nothing Am thinking the donation is a scam How Can I use thunderbird for emails Margaret

Assistance with Read Receipt and Delivery Status Notification

Good afternoon,

Thank you for taking the time to read my email.

I have been trying to determine why I do not receive read receipts after selecting Return Receipt and Delivery Status Notification under the Options tab when sending emails. This has been an ongoing issue for more than 10 years.

I am currently using Thunderbird version 152.0 on one computer and 140.10.2 ESR (32-bit) on another. Despite trying numerous settings and troubleshooting steps over the years, I have never been able to receive a read receipt.

I would be truly grateful if you could guide me in the right direction or let me know if there is a setting I may have overlooked. If there are any troubleshooting steps or additional information you need from me, I would be happy to provide it.

Thank you very much for your time and assistance. I sincerely appreciate your help.

Kind regards,

Brenda

Hello,

I am experiencing a severe issue with the macOS system print dialog handling in Thunderbird, which started immediately after updating to version 152.

Environment

   * OS: macOS Tahoe 15.5.1 (26.5.1)
   * Hardware: Apple M4 (Silicon)
   * Thunderbird Version: 152 (Issue present) / 151 (Works perfectly)

Description of the problem: When I use the native macOS system print dialog within Thunderbird and select either "Open in Preview", Instead of opening the Preview app Thunderbird bypasses the command and immediately sends the document directly to the default physical printer. The same happens with "Save as PDF", the file-saving dialog is first presented, but after entering the filename the document is also sends to the default physical printer rather than being saved.

Steps to reproduce:

  * Open an email in Thunderbird v152.
  * Select Print...
  * in the Print Dialog window, select "Print using the system dialog" 
  * The system print dialog is opened
  * Click the PDF dropdown and select "Open in Preview" or "Save as PDF".

  Result: The document is instantly printed on the physical printer instead of performing the macOS system action.

Steps taken:

  * Tested with Thunderbird v151: The macOS system print dialog works perfectly as intended.
  * Upgraded to v152: The issue appears immediately and consistently.
  * All other applications (Safari, Chrome, Microsoft products, Apple Mail) work correctly 

This seems to be a serious regression in how Thunderbird v152 handles native macOS print system events and dialog actions on Apple Silicon / macOS Tahoe.

Any help or a fix for this would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards, Michel

New to Thunderbird.

I have added a Gmail account to Thunderbird. I select a message in Inbox, right click > Move To > Local Folder

It seems to work. It creates a copy in Local Folder.

However, a few seconds later, the message reappears in the Inbox. The message in Local Folder is still there, confirming that copy is made successfully.

Also, the message is still in Gmail account when viewed from Google's Gmail. It's clearly working like Copy rather than Move.

This is frustrating. Is it a bug?

E-Mail messages are in Xfinity, but do not come to Mozilla Thunderbird. Not having access to Mozilla email, prevents messages to be sent from Xfinity. I also cannot send messages from web sites. brucelowrey@comcast.net

All of a sudden every time I open something in an email it automatically creates a new tab. When I delete what I have open it takes me out of my email account and I have to delete the tab to get back to my remaining emails. I have changed nothing so I am confused as to why it has recently changed.

hello, i had a friend and his father needed urgently to migrate his thunderbird with 1 email to a new computer but he wasnt able to setup the emailaccount in a new german client. i helped and the problem was that the setup asks for the password but it meant the password from the emailprovider to allow thirdpartyapps access. please consider to improve the german setup wizard by adding a new textline to clearify. best regards

Thunderbird is not connecting with Xfinity Comcast for sending or receiving emails at gpenkala@comcast.net . This combination was working fine for decades. Last Friday (Jun 12) was the last email I received in Thunderbird. I can view current emails on the Xfinity website, but these are not being transferred to my Thunderbird account anymore, These are the error messages:

"Sending of the message failed.

Unable to authenticate to Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.comcast.net. Please check the password and verify the 'Authentication method' in 'Account Settings | Outgoing server (SMTP)'." "Sending of the message failed. An error occurred while sending mail: Outgoing server (SMTP) error. The server responded: resomta-c2p-555483.sys.comcast.net resomta-c2p-555483.sys.comcast.net Excessive failed authentication, ESMTP server temporarily not available."

Can you tell me what configurations I should be using within Thunderbird for Incoming and Outgoing Servers?

the default font for writing texts is too small for me to easily read. Yet when I send the message the text size too large, How do I control these font sizes independently