Thunderbird Community Forum

I created a user profile for IMAP and all was OK....Until I deleted the profile for POP and I lost all e-mail folders that I didn't move to IMAP. My PC is running Linux Mint. How do I get my lost e-mails?

20 years of emails apparently gone. I have been trying to add TB to a new laptop.

I used the export function in TB and was directed to create a zip file since it was over 2GB. I used 7Zip to view the file and it did not show up in the program. I did this a few times and it kept doing the same thing. When it actually worked I got about 2% of the emails. I believe that, as a result of doing this, that the profile was corrupted by the process of creating a zip file. The result? The original profile on the old laptop is no longer valid. Most of the time when I tried to unzip the file it displayed an error message. I have been through so much over the last few days I cannot remember the entire error but it had the word invalid in it. A red banner across the top of the screen.

I have scoured all my devices for profiles and have tried every one I could find. I was told that using old profiles without them going through the process of TB versions that unexpected results may happen. The latest result, which happens with every profile I use is what is in the attached image. Nothing in or under the inbox, and all this under the outbox.

Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Hello. We changed from the ESR channel to the regular release channel today by installing Thunderbird v146.0 (regular release version) over the top of our existing installation (which was the ESR version). The installation went fine and everything appears to be working perfectly. My only question is why the name of the profile didn't change. It still has a name of 'xxxxxxxx.default-esr'. I would have thought that the name would be changed to 'xxxxxxxx.default-release'. Is this something we should change, or should it be left alone. Thank you very much for your assistance.

Win 11, v.153.0 Firefox (default), v.153.0 T'bird.

Lately, when there's a link in an email and I click on the link, it takes me to a Firefox browser that's not my normal one - this new one doesn't have my settings, saved passwords, or home screen default, etc.

What happened and how can I fix it? Or must I wait for another update? (It just now updated to 153.0 and the problem still exists)

It is quite annoying.

Thanks.

Can I safely access my Profile, which is on a Windows partition, when I am using Thunderbird under Linux (Fedora) on a different partition?

My computer is set up to dual boot using Windows 10 and Fedora Linux. I use Thunderbird and access my emails using POP3.

I use Windows most of the time and therefore my Thunderbird profile is on the Windows partition. But when I'm using Linux I sometimes like to be able to access my emails using Thunderbird. I have set up access in the Linux Thunderbird profile so that it points to my profile that is on the Windows partition.

In some earlier versions of Thunderbird that were around in 2022, I found that if I used Linux to open Thunderbird I could access my profile that was on the Windows partition and read and send emails, but then when I rebooted to Windows and tried to run Thunderbird, I found that my profile was broken and Thunderbird under Windows could not get to my emails.

But, confusingly, with some versions of Thunderbird, the Linux version of Thunderbird did not break my profile on the Windows partition.

I tried asking questions about this issue on the Forum back in 2022 but I received answers saying that what I was trying to do was very "dangerous" and I should not even attempt it (even though it did work sometimes with some versions of Thunderbird).

The last time I tried this was in 2022, and I have not tried it since then.

So, my question is "Is Thunderbird robust enough to allow me to access my Windows Thunderbird profile when I am running Thunderbird using Linux (Fedora) on a different partition?

Running Thunderbird 140.0.1esr (64bit) on Windows 11 Dell desktop.

Have had two active mail profiles running for years, one for each of us in the family. Some weird things are taking place now.

This afternoon when initiating Thunderbird by selecting Thunderbird icon on the task bar as always do, Thunderbird began going directly to my profile, not bringing up the 'Thunderbird - Choose User Profile' window. This has happened previously and I got instruction on the forum how to resolve, so I did that resolution again.

I ran Thunderbird.exe -p in the RUN box .

It bought up the 'choose user profile' window so I UNCHECKED the box 'use the selected profile without asking at startup.' I guess somehow it got inadvertently checked. I expected this to resolve the problem. Note: When the box came up the first time I did NOT notice the names of the profiles offered, ours or the default ones mentioned below.

Now, when I initiate Thunderbird by selecting the icon in the task bar or selecting the icon on the desktop or selecting Thunderbird in the START list of apps -- it still goes directly to my profile not bringing up the 'Choose User Profile' window. HOWEVER, when I enter in the RUN box either thunderbird.exe or thunderbird.exe -p it brings up the 'Choose User Profile' window.

BUT -- the profiles offered are default and default.esr. They are not our two profiles we have been running for years. Our two profiles are still in the Thunderbird Profiles directory as seen with File Explorer. Hovering over default and default.esr shows their respective paths to the Thunderbird Profiles directory. (Cannot edit these paths.) But using File Explorer, these two profiles (default and default.esr) are NOT seen in the Profiles directory at all.

Question: 1. How do I get Thunderbird to function correctly. That is, when selecting the Thunderbird icon it brings up the 'Choose User Profile' showing our two profiles, and when I RUN Thunderbird.exe in the RUN window it ALSO shows our two profiles in the 'Choose User Profile' window, and NOT that default and default.esr profiles which I don't even see in the Profiles directory.

One more thing -- I have been thinking of switching over and installing the Thunderbird Release Channel -- If I installed it, would these problems carryover or would they be resolved? Thank you.

Added this note: In the past when the box 'use the selected profile without asking at startup' got inadvertently check and I resolved the problem by running thunderbird.exe -p, I was not running the Thunderbird version I am running now. It was back on 9/22/24 and I forgot what version it was but I don't think it was the ESR version back then. Maybe that is why running this command worked back on 9/22/24, but getting weird results now with the current esr version running. Thank you again.

Hi, So I used Thunderbird to create a zipped backup file of my profile. I got the warning that if the file size if more than 2 GB I may want to make a manual backup. I proceeded, and ended up with a file that was 15 GB. I then uninstalled Thunderbird, reinstalled it, and tried to import my backup file. Thunderbird gave an error, saying the file is too large, and I should manually extract it. Okay, I tried, but Windows 11 failed to extract the file. I then used a third-party app to extract the files. This gave me a c2140ucr.default folder that contained three direct subfolders and many, many files. I located my inbox.ca file, which is what I really want, but I cannot find a way to import it into Thunderbird using the Tools menu. Any ideas on how to recover my previous profile would be appreciated. Thanks.

I have two installations of Thunderbird with each being on a different bootable partition of the same drive so they never get used simultaneously. When I was able to associate both Thunderbird installations to the same profile it was seamless.

My need is to continue having Thunderbird on both partitions but to be able to keep synchronization. I can create two identical profiles set up in IMAP but I assume this will allow for messages already downloaded by the first instance and then subsequently downloaded by the second be flagged as unread. This seems trivial but a moderate inconvenience still. Add to that, I have quite a few accounts in this profile and would find it daunting to have to input completely again all this info. Hoping for a simpler solution.

I also just did the usual copy/paste of the currently used shared profile to the default profile folder for the instance of Thunderbird that alerted me of its inability to use a shared profile but am finding this is not enough to produce an operable profile. Seems it has been flagged as unique to the other partition's Thunderbird (which is on the currently inactive partition).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have been trying to move emails from a computer to a new one. Nothing works. It tells me to create a zip file since the profile is over 2GB. If it does create one (it usually fails) then when I try to open it with an unzip program it does not appear. I did some snooping and the unzip program says it's empty. Explorer says it's over 4GB. The Windows app says it's an invalid zip file. Obviously TB can't create a valid zip file.

I've tried using just the mail folder because everything else (address book, etc) is not that important. It fails.

I do have the same version of Thunderbird, but the existing computer has the 32 bit version. The new one has 64 bit. Is that the problem?

A couple of months ago TB downloaded an update. The wrong update. I spent hours on it and in a chat for another hour or so. They had me going to different sites and downloading a number of versions. None worked. They gave up. I was told that what I was seeing should never happen. Well it did and they couldn't fix it. I finally dug around in my server and found a few old downloaded versions. One of them finally fixed it.

So, yeah, I've pretty much had it with Thunderbird. If I can't get this resolved quickly (He says after - 6 hours) there is no reason to keep fighting with it.

I found a thread on the TB community forums that said to great a new profile so I did. Now the old PC is screwed. I started another profile import. It's been running for 15 minutes. It is stuck on file 231 and has been for 5 minutes.

If anyone can figure out what to do I'm listening.

I closed Thunderbird by the X in the upper corner and my Icon disappeared off the tool bar so I tried again and the Icon was no longer in the trash bin, so I re set up and none of my old emails/folders are there and it downloaded 338 emails off the web server. My address are all gone....HELP

Hello. I have tried to backup my Thunderbird profile and simply cannot find it. Using Thunderbird 140.3.1esr(64bit) on mt laptop (Windows11 version 24H2 - fully updated). I have gone through all of the suggestions using T'bird help/troubleshooting and export to show profile folder. The profile file name is shown but annotated as "Unavailable". Gone through looking for hidden files and cannot find it. Even did a complete file search to no avail. Thunderbird works fine so the profile folder must be somewhere.

I hope you can help.  Steve

hi, if i sync 2 t/bird installs which one will install its personal data on the other pc?. the same question also applies to my f/fox install if anyone knows

win 10 tb145.02

thanks very much if anyone knows

I use Thunderbird 115.18.0 on a Windows 7 machine. I wish to transfer all my Thunderbird data to a machine running Linux Mint 21.3 which has Thunderbird 128.12.0esr. I have not been successful after many tries. Could this be because the Thunderbird revisions are different? If so, can I get 115.18.0 to install on my Mint machine? If not how should I proceed? I have already tried creating a new .thunderbird directory with ********.default directory from the other machine. I have also tried a new .thunderbird directory with a the ********default-release directory as directed by one site.

I have followed your instructions at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer and gotten nowhere all day. on it. You have "Profile Folders", a folder called "Profiles", a bunch of profiles (folders) inside the Profiles folder and profiles in Roaming and in Local paths. When I get the old profile 'k41******' copied to the new computer in both the Roaming folder and the Local folder the Thunderbird program still will not show me the old files. I don't need any of the thousands of emails in the old computer, just the Templates in one account. This should be easy. I should just copy the profile k41***** ect. and paste it into the "Profiles" (notice the pleural there) and then Thunderbird should work. But it does not.

I want to install Thunderbird on my new computer (Windows 11) from my old (Windows 10). But I cannot open the downloaded version of Thunderbird - it keeps saying there is no profile. Of course there is no profile before I have installed it! I de-installed and re-installed the Thunderbird program, but it keeps saying the same thing. How can I open Thunderbird to install the profile?

I am on Mac OS Sequoia 15.2. I am running Thunderbird for Mac version 128.6.1esr syncing with iCloud. This morning, out of the blue, I opened TB and the sub folders that had synced with my iCloud account and ones that I had subsequently created except the latest one, had disappeared. I have rebooted, shut down and restarted, been all through the forums and tried various fixes related to settings but nothing has worked to return the subfolders. I have read in some of the responses about TB profiles. I followed the instructions to find them and did discover that there is one from a couple of days ago. I also have a recent backup where I could probably find that folder. I'm not sure what to do with it, however and hoped someone here can guide me regarding this problem. A curious thing that may be a clue is that I used Outlook for Mac a long time so I opened it in lieu of TB not working. Outlook was missing the same subfolders. Also I opened Apple Mail, all the subfolders were in tact and though I receive messages fine, it won't let me send a message. I get this alert:

"Cannot send message using the server iCloud Verify that you have addressed this message correctly. Check your SMTP server settings in Mail preferences and verify any advanced settings with your system administrator. The server response was: <syn-076-180-144-237.res.spectrum.com76.180.144.237)>: Client host rejected: Access denied Select a different outgoing mail server from the list below or click Try Later to leave the message in your Outbox until it can be sent."

I have a gMail account and that didn't let me send either.

I have created a new IMAP account where previously I had a POP3 account. The IMAP acct now fetches email from the same GoDaddy server account as the POP3 account used. I want to continue using the same Local Folders location as before, in order to maintain and update the large amount of selectively retained email permanently stored there.

Previously with POP3, I had redirected Local Folders from the default location on the C: drive to a different location (K:\...\Thunderbird\Local Folders) on a data drive. Under Account Settings > Local Folders, Thunderbird still points to the desired data drive directory (K:\...\Thunderbird\Local Folders). Does this mean that the new IMAP account will also use the redirected Local Folders location or will it use the Default location on the C: drive listed after creating the IMAP account? I ask because under Account Settings > Server Settings for the IMAP Mail Server, the "Local Directory" entry points to C:\Users\MCM\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\......

Perhaps the "Local Directory" is not related to the "Local Folders" location?

Thank you for helping with this somewhat confusing situation.

Michael M.

I've been trying to move my Thunderbird data (148.0) from a Win10 to a Win11 machine. I've meticulously followed both the methods outlined at http://mzl.la/1ApHiU3. I have copied my original profiles.ini from the ...AppData\Roaming folder to that location on the new machine, then corrected the drive locations in the file (see attached profiles.ini image). (yes, the correct "j4sqsccb.XXXXXXX" folder is copied to the new installation's root: a bulky several-GB)

In order to try to replicate my original computer's admittedly-awkward installation from long ago, I have added the suffix " -p -no-remote" to the desktop icon's Target field. And on startup, the new T-bird does properly show my original profiles in the Select panel - even though I only ever used the one that functioned correctly, identified as 1 in the profiles.ini file (see Choose User Profile image, IDs X'ed-out).

However, on selecting that profile on the Win11 machine, Thunderbird just takes me to the account setup screen, as if it's unable to locate or load the account settings for that profile.

I'm only doing this clunky method of copying-over out of ignorance; I'd be very happy to simplify the mess I'd created decades ago with my original installation. OR if you think I'm better off wiping all evidence of past installations to start from a clean install, I'll be happy to do that. Please let me know if you need additional info I've failed to provide here!

Also adding images of my ...Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles folder and Installs.ini file, just in case!

Hello, I just enabled the backup sync option for the Firefox web browser (Win 10). What is the equivalent process, or recommended method of enabling a backup for mail folders, calendar entries, address books, settings, etc. of the most current Thunderbird version on a Win 10 PC? I could not find a clear answer in the help forums. Thank you.

I hope someone can help here. I have used Tbird and FF almost exclusively from release. Thundebird is my only email program and the whole thing is playing up badly at the moment. I can send no emails. Some emails that show in the inbox show a blank screen and can not be deleted. All messages I send come back with an end of message error and SMTP blocked (see attached). This happened a few weeks ago and my email sourse gave me some new settings using port 587 and it worked ok until a few days ago then exactly the same again. They have checked and everyting works ok for them. I then checked with BitDefender to see if they could assist and everything was as expected so I did a complete computr scan with it and it came back with 3 trojan errors all of which were in Thunderbird. So I decided to do a complete delete and reinstall. No matter what I do or what I deleteincluding shutdown after every delete, when I reinstall it comes back with the total and Faulty Thunderbird So I can't start with a clean sheet. Not that I would like to as I have hundreds of contacts an email saves going back many years. Suggestions anyone