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Can't move emails I have from disconnected accounts.

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  • Last reply by Zenos

Keith Miller
Keith Miller
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I recently relocated my email from one ISP to another. As a result as soon as the MX record was moved, I lost my ability to connect to the old email account. I renamed my old email accounts on Thunderbird, and started 3 new ones using the same names as had been used before.... so my 3 email addresses would not change.

I have several copies of my old Profiles complete with emails. And I can see the emails I had on the old accounts on Thunderbird because the accounts were renamed. However I can't seem to move any of the emails from the old accounts to the new ones, because for some reason Thunderbird needs to log into the old email accounts in IMAP in order to do this.

Is there any other way for me to migrate the emails I have stored in the old accounts to the new ones?

I recently relocated my email from one ISP to another. As a result as soon as the MX record was moved, I lost my ability to connect to the old email account. I renamed my old email accounts on Thunderbird, and started 3 new ones using the same names as had been used before.... so my 3 email addresses would not change. I have several copies of my old Profiles complete with emails. And I can see the emails I had on the old accounts on Thunderbird because the accounts were renamed. However I can't seem to move any of the emails from the old accounts to the new ones, because for some reason Thunderbird needs to log into the old email accounts in IMAP in order to do this. Is there any other way for me to migrate the emails I have stored in the old accounts to the new ones?

All Replies (1)

Zenos
Zenos
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I don't understand. If your email address is provided by an ISP, you generally can't take it with you if you change ISP.

If your account is independent of an ISP then it shouldn't matter which ISP you use.

...unless you have been using a forwarding or redirecting system that alllows you to use a free email account with a static email address. Some professional bodies provide addresses which don't actually relate an an account; you have to associate them with a working account. In this case, it is YOUR responsibility to transfer the data if you change providers.

You may be able to rescue messages from Thunderbird's cache.

  1. In the dead account note the location of the "local directory" under Account Settings.
  2. Create a temporary folder in Thunderbird under Local Folders.
  3. Close Thunderbird. Browse to the local directory location and copy everything there to your new folder, which will appear under Mail\Local Folders in your Thunderbird profile.
  4. When you re-open Thunderbird, the old messages might now appear under Local Folders.