- click help>troubleshootinginformation - scroll down to 'profile folder' and click 'open profile' - now exit thunderbird - note the name of the profile, which ends normally in default or default-release - now, click back arrow to prior windows folder - you should now be at the thunderbird\profiles folder, listing all profiles - in each, look for abook.sqlite (addressbook) and history.sqlite (collected addresses) (A prior version, several years old, may be there and is called abook.mab and history.mab - not needed if you find the sqlite ones) - if you find the desired files you can copy them and paste into the current profile (the one I mentioned above to take note of) - restart TB and you should see the contacts.

Hi David,

Thanks for the response.

I think I might have made a mistake. Before exiting Thunderbird, the selected folder was "New TB Profile 23JAN2024". I exited TB but couldn't find an 'abook.???' folder that seemed to contain the addresses. I copied and pasted abook.sqlite and history.sqlite, but when I reopened TB the address book was still as before.

It occurred to me that I might use Everything to find other abook files. I got the list shown below. If I copied one of those to "New TB Profile 23JAN2024" instead, which of them should I choose? If so, do I need to located and copy/paste a corollary history.sqlite file, too?

The one in the 6e8t profile looks like the current one. The history file contains addresses optionally copied when sending messages. The other abooks are subsets and recreated as you add contact lists and they are then identified by the prefs.js file. The base are the two files I mentioned. I use the copy/paste approach (only when TB is not running), but there is another approach: you could instead use tools>import>import from a file and follow the prompts for addressbooks, but I prefer the direct approach.

On your follow-up question, 'Profile folder' is under Application Basics.

"Today at 11:16 AM On your follow-up question, 'Profile folder' is under Application Basics."

Color me embarrassed. I finally found the entries.

David, you are a gentleman and a scholar! Thank you!

I had about given up on recovering the address book. I used the tools > ... import process and it worked a charm.

Thank you again! and again and again.

r

You are very welcome. I was pleased to assist.

Don't forget to do a backup. Since your profile is in a non-typical location, I suggest this strategy: - exit TB (this is IMPORTANT) - copy c:\users\rhhut\New TB Profile... to external drive - for easy restore after full TB install, also copy - c:\users\rhhit\appdata\roaming\Thunderbird (because the file that tells TB where the profile is is there) (Note: the old profiles at ... appdata\roaming\thunderbird\profiles are no longer needed and can be removed if desired) THEN, if a full restore is needed: - install TB and exit - copy the New TB Profile.. to c:\users\<yourid> - copy the backed-up Thunderbird folder to c:\users\<yourid>\appdata\roaming to replace the thunderbird folder created by the TB install - start TB and all should be there.