where to keep emails..server or local folders
As I have just learned, Cox is no longer supporting new emails so I am sure at some point there will not be a Cox email address or any fix to issues with it. So I usually keep only currently needed things on the IMAP Cox server and all others in Local folders in Thunderbird. What happens to all these emails if my laptop crashes? Are these emails on my laptop in a file somewhere where i can back them up to a flash drive somehow to protect myself? Or am I better keeping them on the Cox server (but they could be hacked there). Thank you for any help.
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So I usually keep only currently needed things on the IMAP Cox server and all others in Local folders in Thunderbird. What happens to all these emails if my laptop crashes?
The worst case would be that your messages are lost for good. Therefore it's recommended, to create a full backup of your Thunderbird profile folder on a regular basis. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile
Messages in Local Folder which have been backed up can be fully restored. Obviously you should backup onto an external media.
Or am I better keeping them on the Cox server (but they could be hacked there).
Keeping messages on an IMAP server is by no means a replacement for backups. In order to backup messages from an IMAP account, you'll have to turn on synchronization. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/imap-synchronization
In Thunderbird speak synchronization means to download an offline copy of the messages on the server to your local disk, so they can be backed up as described in the article linked above.
Whether to keep your messages on the server or local is something you'll have to decide for yourself. There are good arguments for either way.
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Chosen Solution
So I usually keep only currently needed things on the IMAP Cox server and all others in Local folders in Thunderbird. What happens to all these emails if my laptop crashes?
The worst case would be that your messages are lost for good. Therefore it's recommended, to create a full backup of your Thunderbird profile folder on a regular basis. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile
Messages in Local Folder which have been backed up can be fully restored. Obviously you should backup onto an external media.
Or am I better keeping them on the Cox server (but they could be hacked there).
Keeping messages on an IMAP server is by no means a replacement for backups. In order to backup messages from an IMAP account, you'll have to turn on synchronization. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/imap-synchronization
In Thunderbird speak synchronization means to download an offline copy of the messages on the server to your local disk, so they can be backed up as described in the article linked above.
Whether to keep your messages on the server or local is something you'll have to decide for yourself. There are good arguments for either way.
Thank you for your detailed help. I have reading and backing up to do..Hope this post helps others
So time has passed since I first posted this question and now I am again trying to back up my TB profile and I have a question to clarify my instructions. I have closed TB..then did a start>run %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles\ hit OK.. It brought me to a folder titled e.g. tx6pmhuc.default as I only have one profile on this laptop. Is this the folder I copy and paste or do I go UP one folder in the tree that would be labeled "Profiles" and copy and paste that folder?
It doesn't really matter whether you copy the Profiles folder or the actual profile folder (tx6pmhuc.default) itself. Either way, you should end up with a full backup copy of your profile folder, and that's what really matters. If you had additional profile folders, they would be inside the Profiles folder by default.
Thank you ..updated my personal notes..all safely backed up!