Standalone address book

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  • Creator: Dyvik Chenna
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  • Reviewed by: MattAuSupport
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Sometimes you might want to access the Thunderbird address book without loading the entire application. This can be done by invoking the application from the system command line with a command-line option.

On Windows, invoke Start | Run then enter: "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -addressbook

NOTE: If you're using the 64-bit version of Windows 7, you may find Thunderbird installed in the Program Files (x86) directory. If so, enter: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -addressbook

On Mac, open a terminal window (Application | Utilities | Terminal) then enter:

cd /Applications/Thunderbird.app/Contents/MacOS

./thunderbird-bin -addressbook

On Linux, open Terminal then enter:

cd <thunderbird_installation_directory>

./thunderbird-bin -addressbook

If you need to open a standalone Thunderbird address book frequently, make a shortcut for the command. For example, on Windows, the shortcut would have the following properties:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -addressbook

For a complete list of Thunderbird command-line options, see the Command Line Options page in the Mozilla Developer Center.