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Transferring Thunderbird to my new computer

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by david

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I upgraded to a new computer. When I did, I saved the old C drive and transferred it to the new computer. When I installed Thunderbird, it downloaded all of the emails that I've received since I built the new computer but all of the old emails and folders are gone. Can I retrieve them? I' certain I stored them on the old computer. There's probably a folder in the old C drive files. What is the procedure to retrieve the old emails and folders?

Thanks in advance for your help. FWIW, I did make a contribution/

I upgraded to a new computer. When I did, I saved the old C drive and transferred it to the new computer. When I installed Thunderbird, it downloaded all of the emails that I've received since I built the new computer but all of the old emails and folders are gone. Can I retrieve them? I' certain I stored them on the old computer. There's probably a folder in the old C drive files. What is the procedure to retrieve the old emails and folders? Thanks in advance for your help. FWIW, I did make a contribution/

All Replies (7)

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Hello there bill. We have read your message. We try to help you.


Your folder is stuck on the old c drive? Can you connect the drive again to your pc tower?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer



Greetings Firefox volunteer.

Modified by Display name. день сумо

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Hello there bill .



If the emails are on the old drive .


Step 1: Open “This PC” on your computer and paste the path as C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles

Step 2: Then, copy the file containing all the emails and move to a secure location as drive D or in an external HDD.

This technique is mainly applicable when you want to reinstall Thunderbird without losing data in any other computer. So now you can use the important mail even after changing the device.

Step 3: Download Mozilla Thunderbird on your computer and while installing the software, it will create a new profile by default under “Profile”.

Step 4: Now you just launch the software by checking the box and clicking on “Finish”.


If the map is still on the other C drive than it will return by using the form text.

Greetings Firefox volunteer

Modified by Display name. день сумо

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Hello there bill.

You have lost folders and emails and maps. By moving it to a another pc.

If the data is not deleted then it s still on the c drive.

Because it s old email the mails are not on the Thunderbird server.


Retrieve deleted emails Thunderbird.

Run Mozilla Thunderbird, right-click on the Inbox folder, and select "Properties". Select "General Information" and check the folder name to be as "Inbox". Then click "Repair Folder" and click "OK" to finish the process. After this, you will be able to view the repaired data - emails, etc.

Contact me after.


Greetings Firefox volunteer.

Modified by Display name. день сумо

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FIrst, let me thank everyone who has responded so far. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to resolve my problem so let me suggest another possible path. I have my old C drive.

When I built the new computer, I installed a power cable and SATA so I can plug in the old C drive (which now shows up as the E drive when I plug it in. So if I connect it, my old T'bird settings and data are now in the computer, but not recognized by T'bird since it doesn't look in the E drive. I've already installed T'bird on the new computer so can I:

1. Uninstall T'bird, copy the T'bird folder (or some files in it) to the new C drive and reinstall T'bird?

2. Or can I copy some folder or folders from the e drive (old C drive) into the new one?

3. Or, is there some other method considering I've put my old C drive into the computer?

My concern is messing up the new T'bird installation. Thanks again for all the suggestions.

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On the old computer, your profile is in c:\users\yourname\appdata\roaming\thunderbird. The profile probably ends in words such as '....default-profile' . If you use POP, your old mail is in the Mail folder in that folder, under the name of your account. Each folder, such as inbox or sent, is a separate file ending in SBD or MSF.

On new computer, you can define folders of same name (must be identical) in local folders area. This creates dummy names for the folders. (If you go to File Explorer and look, you should see names that exactly match the 'real' files on old PC. Then, close TB, and copy the old SBD and MSF files from old pc to overwrite the new dummy files. And you're done. Files must match identically.

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Wouldn't this be the same as if you paste the old profile into it ? eventually it will replace the new files with the old ones .

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It may be even simpler. Are the isolated folders, such as old POP folders or local folders? With TB not running, you can copy any folders from old profile to Local Folder area of new profile, so long as they do not have same name as other folders in local profiles. When you restart TB, the folders and messages will be there. This can be a bit messy if you had a POP account and some messages are in the old IN and SENT folders, and the later messages are in the account's IN and SENT folders.