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Being 2020, what is the correct process to back up all Thunderbird folders to a flash drive

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  • Last reply by Matt

With it being 2020, what is the correct process to back up all Thunderbird folders to a flash drive. I have tried nearly all, if not all, old methods on the web and none seem to work. I am not a computer person so I need the process completely written out for me.

Richard

With it being 2020, what is the correct process to back up all Thunderbird folders to a flash drive. I have tried nearly all, if not all, old methods on the web and none seem to work. I am not a computer person so I need the process completely written out for me. Richard

Chosen solution

There are three or more things being asked here. What is unclear is what you are trying to achieve and why. A backup will create a Thunderbird readable copy of your email file. It will be a single file containing many emails. As above tiny sample of just one part of 1 very short email shows, it will be a vast track of computer code and message characters embedded within it. That's your backup and it will duplicate your original file. It will be read by TB. You can also export emails. You can even export emails as plain text. But you can't just read TB emails as if they'd been written in English. I don't know what that 2018 file could be or how you could read it - did you open it in TB? If not, what did it open with? It had to open in something- text doesn't just appear on the screen it needs a programme. The addon you were advised to use will (I've just read its description - which is better than many addons provide but still pretty vague.) it seems, allow you to export your messages into various other formats. But when you've done that you will have just converted your messages so that they can be read by a different programme. It seems to give you lots of options. So you could create a pdf, I think. And it seems to allow you to export the whole profile. But all you'll have at the end of that will be a block of messages that you need to open with a different programme ( Acrobat Reader maybe). And it will not be openable in TB. It will be the same information formatted for a different programme. And this would really only be of use for archiving - or maybe if you were ceasing to use TB. It wouldn't be a backup in any normal sense. You couldn't use it in TB.

To use that add-on it will have to be added-on to TB. And yes you can Google how to install a TB addon. It's not difficult. The pop-up you got was Windows telling you that you haven't got a programme installed and associated with that kind of file (whatever it is) because Windows doesn't know it's a TB add-on file. So you have to let TB import it into itself ( install it). How useful it would be is another matter. I'd say you needed to backup your TB file, definitely. In a form that TB can read. Either directly to an external drive, or keep a backup on your hdd and manually copy that. There is a free programme that I use called "Personal backup" by J rathlev that has a tool to backup TB as well as your other data. And you can then make a separate copy of the backup from where it's saved.

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Modified by christ1

It copies over but not in readable folders/files are the originals in Thunderbird. How can those original folders/files be transferred over to a flash drive. I have on my flash drive from 2018 a copy of the Thunderbird folders/files that mirrors those in Thunderbird and are readable. Those on the flash drive from 2018 respond and open just like when using the original Thunderbird. That is what I am wanting.

export them as EML using the import export tools addon. https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools-ng/?src=ss But you are creating a copy of your mail not a backup. Just to be clear it is useless to Thunderbird so you can not use it to restore to Thunderbird much at all.

It copies over but not in readable folders/files are the originals in Thunderbird.

I don't understand what that means, and what you're trying to achieve.

What the article describes is how to create a backup of your Thunderbird profile. The only time you'd need the backup is to restore it in case your profile got lost or damaged.

Modified by christ1

Matt sent the following message to me: Export them as EML using the import export tools add-on. https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools-ng/?src=ss But you are creating a copy of your mail not a backup. Just to be clear it is useless to Thunderbird so you can not use it to restore to Thunderbird much at all.

I tried downloading his add-on recommendation. But got the following popup message "This file does not have an app associated with it for performing this action. Please install app or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Apps Setting page."

I am a novice at this and have no idea what or where the popup is telling me to do and where to do it.

It is not clear what you are trying to achieve. A backup ( i.e. a copy of your profile which is the container with your emails, settings, folders etc.) only needs to be readable by TB itself. If it is the same as the original ( i.e. a clone with the same size, format etc) when on the portable drive, it can be reimported into TB if you need to, by TB itself or by copy and pasting it over the exisiting profile.. And TB would be able to read it. If you want to export it to a different mail programme, or read it manually (why?) that'd be a different thing.

I have backed up the Thunderbird files per the method Chris had stated earlier. I would like to be able to transfer all Thunderbird files in the same form to flash drive so I can open them in a readable form as if they were in Thunderbird. It appeared that Matt's earlier post with his suggestion was the answer but when the download was complete a popup appeared stating: "This file does not have an app associated with it for performing this action. Please install app or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Apps Setting page." I am a novice at this and have no idea what or where the popup is telling me to do and where to do it. I keep all of the Homeowners Association emails in those files so I would like them in a readable form on the flash drive for backup.

perhaps you could rely less on your computer knowing what you want to do (despite expectations, they do not know everything.) and more on Google to find out what to do with an XPI file. See I googled it for you. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-add-ons-frequently-asked-questions#w_how-do-i-install-an-add-on

They will be readable, by TB. Computer data is readable by the programme that created it. Some simple programmes ( e.g. notepad) will save and read plain text, that other plain text readers can open. Most don't. This is an example of a very small part of an email message viewed as text within TB....... .......................................................................................... From - Thu Jun 18 23:07:22 2020 X-Account-Key: account4 X-UIDL: GmailId............. Received: from a27-105smtp-ou

       by m>
       (version=TLS1_2 cipher=ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA bits=128/128);
       Thu, 18 Jun 2020 13:50:50 -0700 (PDT)

Received=D9yGVgJc;

      spf=pass (googlecom: domain of 01010172c932d084-9af1adc2-d67d-463a-894b-41f1c83d763a-000000@us-west-2mazonseom designates 5 as permitted sender) smtp mailfrom=01010172c932d084-9af1adc2-d67d-463a-894b-41f1c83d763a-000000@us-west2azons;
      dmarc=pass (p=NONE sp=NONE dis=NONE) head om=mozorg

DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/simple; DiHSdKvxueur42m+A23T5RJP3mkqKAGvCxsH/aY SC9XDJJpLVI2UWFSdLKBNF4fgG1MmFATnZ6yzFPY= DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/simple; s=hsbnp7p3ensaochzwyq5wwmceodymuwv; d= t=1592513450; h=Content-Type:MIME-Version:Subject:From:To:Date:Message-ID:Reply-To:Feedback-ID; Jd/ywdOrpLqu1aE7FNNztkvMh4TsHxpc2CqPNp6+MyAn 4MfHAmANs+gx5QQq33JW04gSx+n2ihdgdhA5JEdc= Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

boundary="===============8210305113909999564=="

MIME-Version: 1 Subject: Re: Thunderbird won't load my second gmail account From: Mozilla Support Forum

Chosen Solution

There are three or more things being asked here. What is unclear is what you are trying to achieve and why. A backup will create a Thunderbird readable copy of your email file. It will be a single file containing many emails. As above tiny sample of just one part of 1 very short email shows, it will be a vast track of computer code and message characters embedded within it. That's your backup and it will duplicate your original file. It will be read by TB. You can also export emails. You can even export emails as plain text. But you can't just read TB emails as if they'd been written in English. I don't know what that 2018 file could be or how you could read it - did you open it in TB? If not, what did it open with? It had to open in something- text doesn't just appear on the screen it needs a programme. The addon you were advised to use will (I've just read its description - which is better than many addons provide but still pretty vague.) it seems, allow you to export your messages into various other formats. But when you've done that you will have just converted your messages so that they can be read by a different programme. It seems to give you lots of options. So you could create a pdf, I think. And it seems to allow you to export the whole profile. But all you'll have at the end of that will be a block of messages that you need to open with a different programme ( Acrobat Reader maybe). And it will not be openable in TB. It will be the same information formatted for a different programme. And this would really only be of use for archiving - or maybe if you were ceasing to use TB. It wouldn't be a backup in any normal sense. You couldn't use it in TB.

To use that add-on it will have to be added-on to TB. And yes you can Google how to install a TB addon. It's not difficult. The pop-up you got was Windows telling you that you haven't got a programme installed and associated with that kind of file (whatever it is) because Windows doesn't know it's a TB add-on file. So you have to let TB import it into itself ( install it). How useful it would be is another matter. I'd say you needed to backup your TB file, definitely. In a form that TB can read. Either directly to an external drive, or keep a backup on your hdd and manually copy that. There is a free programme that I use called "Personal backup" by J rathlev that has a tool to backup TB as well as your other data. And you can then make a separate copy of the backup from where it's saved.

Thank you, Christ 1, Matt, & Terry B, for resolving this problem for me

Following Terry Bernstein's advice, I've installed Personal Backup. But I can't see the tool to back up TB. Can he help on this?

Frank E.

It should have installed as a separate programme at the same time. While Personal Backup asks you what you want backed up, TB Backup looks for your TB profile itself. Is there a TBBackup icon in your Start Menu ( or even on the desktop)?

No, I can't see a TBBackup icon anywhere. I tried googling 'TBBackup' but that pointed me to all kinds of unknown websites. Should I try uninstalling and re-downloading Personal Backup?

Have you looked in your start menu? The web page says... "Overview of included add-ons

In addition to the main program Personal Backup the installation file contains the following tools:

   TbBackup: Backup of Thunderbird data
   PbStarter: Run backups under a different account as protection against ransomware
   PbPlaner: "

And on my PC there was a Start menu entry with everything in.

This image above is from the web page.

Modified by TerryB

Terry, You are correct, the Personal Backup is listed in my start menu along with it's different subfolders.

Thanks for all of your help.

I decided that I didn't have the latest version of PB. So I uninstalled it and was careful to download it from the creator's own website. Problem solved. Thank you for your help, and sorry to take your time. It seems to be a really useful set of programs.

Glad to help you. And the software creator. It's worth recommending and even paying for the pro version.

@terry, I have finally had time to read your lengthy response. Despite your assumption, the import export tools does a full profile backup. It is slow, but it is also the most compatible backup I am aware of beyond closing Thunderbird and copying the %appdata\Thunderbird folder tree to a backup device. Personally after the experiences of everyone becoming reliant on mozbackup and the author abandoning it I am loath to suggest third part software that purports to do something specific with Mozilla profiles. This is especially due to the changes to profile per install. I wonder if restoring from these programs is as easy as it used to be.