How convert all my old TB V60.7.1 (32-bit) accounts/pws/filters/contacts etc. to V78.9.1?
I kept running the V60.7.1 32 bit TB to keep the old Mass Mailer add on usable but the program as a whole is getting less and less stable these days with it being such an old version. Now that the add on is available for this version I see no regular way to convert all my old data over to the new system. Any suggestions aside from just giving up?
P.S. I have enough accounts I still use (each with its own imap/pop/pw) & messages / filters / folders that it would be pretty excruciating to manually work them one by one into the new setup. I'm begging. Please I am too stupid to do this sort of thing these days.
Chosen solution
> I gave the program a chance to load it from the directory it first tried making but it doesn't even look as if some of the files it was expecting ever existed in the old version or they might have been named something different.
I don't understand what this means. Better to state what you see and when (steps), or screen shot, rather than be descriptive.
Regardless, 60 to 78 is not that big a jump, it should just work. You can try deleting global-messages-db.sqlite. Or try going to v68 [1] from v60, and then from v68 to v78 - which SHOULD update using help > about.
[1] http://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/
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There's no need to convert. First do https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile
Then do Help > About to pick up a series of updates
Tried telling it to update but the old version just locks up after hitting the button to check for any updates. I tried renaming the existing version and doing a cold install of the newest TBird then copying the profile backup onto the new version's default it created but it still doesn't read any of the info I guess because I keep getting this screen when it boots up. (I'll add a cropped screen shot in a second) Thank you for providing the suggestion that you did. It stood a fairly good chance of working if I wasn't trying to update from V60.7.1 32 bit to the latest. I couldn't reasonably expect the file format to even be readable for that long a difference in time/versions.
It could just be that I have waited entirely too long to update because of my need to keep using the one mass mail add on to help me distribute newsletters to my other firefighters in the county and it didn't seem the add on was ever going to be set for any newer version. Oh well. All my own fault.
But, since I started running (and writing!) my first BBS message system that used a 300 baud modem (followed by the blazing speed of 1200/2400 baud before I got my first DSL!) on the regular phone system I have acquired a few email accounts. Mostly to use to receive confirmation crud email and then the SPAM flood that would follow after those places sold my latest address to someone for < 1 cent or so probably. As such, I now have 49 email accounts (Roses are red, Violets are blue, I'm dissociative identity disorder, and so am I). Manually copying the data from each and adding it to the new program is going to be quite a task. :(
You did the backup, correct? That should have given you an idea of what profile directory your data was in.
Your install of 78 likely caused a new profile to be created. Go to Help > troubleshooting > about:profile and change the config to start with the correct profile directory.
I let the new installation write its own default setup profile and folder, and then I copied the old ones from the prior edition into the new software's profile directory. I gave the program a chance to load it from the directory it first tried making but it doesn't even look as if some of the files it was expecting ever existed in the old version or they might have been named something different. As I observed, I have probably just waited too long and now will pay the price for such. :)
Chosen Solution
> I gave the program a chance to load it from the directory it first tried making but it doesn't even look as if some of the files it was expecting ever existed in the old version or they might have been named something different.
I don't understand what this means. Better to state what you see and when (steps), or screen shot, rather than be descriptive.
Regardless, 60 to 78 is not that big a jump, it should just work. You can try deleting global-messages-db.sqlite. Or try going to v68 [1] from v60, and then from v68 to v78 - which SHOULD update using help > about.
another possibility is try starting in safe mode.
I finally went digging around for an .exe install version that was a couple of versions up from mine, backed up what I had, then installed using the magic "Thunderbird Setup 63.0b1.exe" that I managed to FTP from one site still offering it in a directory I could find. Worked great, and the new version does great updating for everything following.
Thank you so much for setting me on the right path to getting this done. I have been over a year waiting to find some way to update my client to see if it would finally take less than 5 minutes to boot and stuff like that. After I've given this a chance for a week or two I will remove one of the main drive backups and only keep the stuff on the flash drives.
Please take care,
Dave