Hello there Pressurized

Yes it can.

We have read your mail. We try to help you.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_manager

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Sharing_profiles_-_mail

Can I ask are they workstation s?

Greetings Firefox Volunteer.

They cannot all be running at the same time

My profile - I have only one - is shared over my home network. One of three PCs (typically) uses it and I know it can not be used simultaneously by more than one PC. Recently the profile refused to be loaded onto Thunderbird running on my main PC because one of the other ones appears to have made it uniquely its own. I get the message 'A newer version of Thunderbird may have made changes...'. This isn't strictly the case as all Thunderbird versions are the same. I don't want to create a new profile on my main machine but instead want to be able to carry on using the profile on any machine. If this is not possible, how do I release the profile from the machine that I don't want it to be on and switch it back to being usable on my main PC?

Hello there Pressurized

Is correct logging in, there is a password per account in this case.

A notification from Thunderbird that changes have been made after an update of this.

The messages must be taken seriously.

I think you will have to open your profile on the desired PC and change the settings for it until it works as you always used it. Erase and reinstall?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_where-is-my-profile-stored

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/using-multiple-profiles

Here take one of Thunderbird. https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/70.0beta/releasenotes/

Greetings Firefox Volunteer.

Why don't you keep Thunderbird on ONE PC and just remote into it from the others? Then zero coordination is needed.

Thanks for your reply. To be clear, is it no longer possible for several installations of Thunderbird to use one collection of network-shared files?

You can, but I suggest you are setting yourself up for problems EVERY time thunderbird updates because of the new profile checking measures in version 68. You will get the same warning/error every time you start TB on a PC that isn't at the same version as the PC that last used the profile. To suppress the warning and the validity checks (which again, may set you up for future profile corruption) you must use --allow-downgrade when starting Thunderbird.

So I don't get the problem you are trying to solve by "sharing" a profile. It sounds like you are the only person using this profile. Are you also the only person using all these PCs? If that is the case, you avoid the problem I cited by running Thunderbird on only one PC and remoting into it, which is dead simple on a home network, PLUS an added benifit you don't need to keep starting and stoping Thunderbird on every PC.

First I'd like to say how much I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. Your challenges to my approach will, I'm sure, lead to me being better at using Thunderbird. The problem I had, until recently, solved with my shared profile is that I could use Thunderbird and all the messages stored in its profile on any one of three PCs. I am the only person using the profile but I'm not the only one using the PCs. A further advantage of this method is that the profile can be backed up at the same time and as easily as other, more typical, network-shared files and documents. Having Thunderbird running on just one PC and remote connecting to it may not be practical for everyone as it would require an always-on PC of reasonable power. That said, I do have a PC that can be used in this way. What method of remote access would you suggest? My network is all Linux, the machines that I log into graphically - i.e. the ones I use Thunderbird on - are Ubuntu. The PC that had 'made the profile its own' is in my garage and I have been using 'ssh' with X11 forwarding enabled to access it. While this works, programs launched from it such as when opening links or images start on the remote machine and take a good many seconds to open. I am familiar with 'xpra' but don't yet know how it would handle Thunderbird opening new programs from within it. Thanks again!

The issue is Thunderbird not check the version used by the last machine.

Personally I have been recommending using IMAP and caldav calendars, along with one of the contacts sync add-ons to sync to your cloud provider of choice.

Thunderbird has never played nicely with network storage for profiles. It really has a checkered past. Add to that the new profile per install feature and you asking for trouble with everything balanced on a knife edge. Sure it will work. But for how long? I would suggest 6 weeks is probably the life of such an install now until you have to fiddle with things because of version updates.

So use IMAP, Caldav and ldap or a contact sync add-on to maintaining synchronicity of mail calendar and contacts across different devices. Using cloud server side also allows for phone sync on apple or IOS devices as the protocols work on those devices where a shared profile does not.

You are correct, X11 can be slow.

Some remoting apps are listed at https://www.tecmint.com/best-remote-linux-desktop-sharing-software/

Ultravnc is not listed, which I've used in the past.

I have this problem too: I use Thunderbird on my home desktop PC and a laptop, accessing the same profile on a NAS. Both are set to auto-update. The error, obviously, can appear on either depending on which happened to install an update first.

It would be simply solved for me if the error message included the option 'Do you want to update this installation?' - because, yes, I would. As it is, I have to download the latest version and install it on whichever machine happens to be out of step - not a huge issue, but an inconvenient niggle. Is this difficult? Thanks

I have the same issue. I use a profile centrally stored on a NAS. I have a "main" PC from which I usually work with the profile and sometimes from the laptop. If I am on travel then I copy the profile from the NAS onto the laptop, then work with this now locally stored profile and copy it back to the NAS after the travel. Both TBs are kept on the latest releases. Only difference: On main PC it is for 64 Bit linux and laptop it is for 32 Bit Linux. Currently if I get the message "You have launched an older version of Thunderbird" then I am not allowed opening the profile except I use the -allow-downgrade. It would be smarter to add a third button that allows me still to use the profile - with the attendant risks of course.