Thunderbird Community Forum

Hi, I am extremely frustrated at my situation: I have a desktop (main computer), laptop and mobile phone all using Thunderbird, with a GMAIL account (IMAP) On my laptop I accidentally deleted the contents of the Archive (Thunderbird folder) and promptly ALL EMAILS AND HISTORY of emails wer LOST on said laptop. They subsequently disappeared on my mobile phone also. The delete action was also uploaded to GMAIL.com and I could not recover them there as it said I am using a different program. I then went on my desktop in offline mode and all my emails are there in Thunderbird (minus approx 5 days worth while the desktop remained offline (no big deal).

I have tried EVERYTHING to back up/export the profile from my desktop (while offline) and upload the mails onto my laptop to recover them and hopefully feed them to GMAIL. Nothing happens, they do not appear. I see all my emails within the thunderbird profile folder in a "IMAP.GMAIL.COM" folder but not in a "Mail" folder (is that relevant)? Is the laptop loading the emails then immediately deleting them, because it is syncing with GMAIL? I am so so lost. Please help. Thank you

Hi, how can we identify the version of a profile in order to know the appropriate version of TB ?

I am receiving a message that a newer version have modify my profile and i need the old version but it's no longer on my HD...

Thanks

I have my incoming IMAP emails stored on my local computer drive where the default Thunderbird installation puts it. This is fine.

My question is, can I move the local folders directory to another external drive or network attached storage? I am doing this as I have a small local SSD and combining all emails the size is massive.

I tried to start Thunderbird and it would not open. There was a message that read, "Your Thunderbird profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." After trying to fix it and nothing worked, I uninstalled and reinstalled Thunderbird. Now all of my contacts and data is gone. When I tried to use the import tool I selected import from another Thunderbird installation and I can't get past the continue button.

How do I recover all of my data and contacts/addresses?

Hello. Today, gone through updates from 115.10.1 to 115.18.0 to 128.14.0 to now 140.6.0 and still cannot shut down Thunderbird in one profile, to then be offered a choice of profile and changeover. It just would not today do that. Instead it re-opens in the original profile, without the profile selection box. Any solutions? Thanks.

We are unable to sign in to thunderburd

using correct crudentials. We wen to geek squad to correct this issue. He installed webnet as a work around.

He said we would not lose any thunderbird emails however all the new and saved emails are no longer available to see or open. We would like you to reinstall thunderbird and restore all the lost emails. How does this get resolved?

I have two personal Thunderbird accounts that were under two other email addresses on an old computer. They are [email1] @mlecwb.net and [email2] @mlecwb.net

Can I access them another way, since that computer is not working well enough to download emails? Plus the old email addresses will be disappearing with the the company l have the email addresses under.....

Then if I can get into the old messages, can I download and save some of the messages - or at least important ones in specific group files - onto another computer or a laptop? Or even on a CD?

Also, could I still use Thunderbird under another email address?

Susan Clark Harris [email3] @outlook.com

I tried to transfer my Thunderbird e-mail account to a new Laptop. I followed the instructions for using an external harddrive. I copied my profile , connected the external harddrive to the new device and filled my profile in. But actually I don't find Thunderbird e-mail in the taskbar and I can't access to it. What do I have to do?

Believe my T-bird account has somehow been corrupted. Takes forever to load on PC and always puts new emails in Trash folder. Often does not accept correct password. If I save / backup PROFILE, uninstall T-Bird and delete any Thunderbird folders on PC, if I restore per backup, will I be restoring the corrupted app. Don't want to loose email addresses, thousands of emails and email folder structure. Will a restore work? Thank you. Greg D

PS Version of T-Bird on laptop still puts all new email in Trash, but loads much more quickly, etc.

I'm abandoning Windoze for Linux Mint Mate. The original Win11 Laptop is still available - no cloud connection, the Windows account exists but is unused. The laptop has all my Thunderbird v146.0.0 (64 bit) mail, address books, calendars.

I have a refurbished PC, came with new-install Win11. Now dual-booted as a Linux Mint 22.2, Mate desktop. The Win11 partition is unused and will stay that way for the foreseeable future.

I use gmail since TalkTalk finally terminated access to my Tiscali account. (I dropped TT many years ago.)

I've setup Thunderbird on Mint, can't see how to find its version. It came from the Mint default setups. Gmail is working but missing all the 'Local' stuff. The calendar has a few of my auto-repeat entries but none of the random ones. Some of my address books are missing.

I remember from the Win10 > Win11 migration that I need to move the 'profile'. It will be large but I have big-enough USB memory keys. And no, the machines are not network linked. I don't trust Microsoft and won't allow any of their corrupted stuff any access to my new kit.

Guidance needed:

• What needs to be moved? From where on Win11?
• Where to put the stuff on Mint. How to migrate it?
• Any problems to watch out for?

Help please? Links to resources? Forum posts, online guides, wise words? Or 'just do it this way!'

TIA PeteS

I tried to transfer Thunderbird file from old computer to new computer but get "Profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessable." when I start Thunderbird. The old TB file works on old computer and I am pretty sure I copied it and pasted it into the new location in place of the current Thunderbird file.

I recently upgraded Thunderbird from v140.7-ESR to v147-Release and would be grateful if someone could answer some questions.

After upgrading I noticed there are 3 profile folders even though I am the only user of my Win11 laptop.

Profile Folders 92yfgi88.default-esr - 3.654 GB - 2026/01/23 12:50:27 >> My profile jf63jfuk.default-default - 1.533 GB - 2024/06/05 21:27:32 y9efj7q9.default - 47 Byte - 2026/01/23 12:30:15

The folder y9efj7q9.default only contains 2 files - parent.lock (0kb) and times.json (1kb).

1. Can I safely delete profiles I don't use?

2. Why is -ESR still shown at end of my profile folder name? - I thought it would be renamed when I changed to the release channel version.

3. Can I manually rename my profile folder? - I know I can rename a profile using Profile Manager but this doesn't rename the folder.

4. If not possible to rename my "92yfgi88.default-esr" folder, I assume I can just copy it's contents to another new profile folder and tell TBird to start using that?

5. Can I use Windows File Explorer to delete/rename profiles, or must this be done from within Thunderbird?

Also, any idea why Thunderbird Notifications still show as coming from Mozilla Thunderbird ESR, even though I now use the Release version? I've checked Windows 11 System > Notifications and it is still shown there as Mozilla Thunderbird ESR.. Why? and how to fix?

Thanks in advance..

I want to move my TB data store to a different drive but am unsure whether just to move the profile folder or all the other stuff like installs.ini as well. I have changed the datastore entry in settings, but do I need to modify the profiles.ini file as well, and if so what should it be changed to? At present it is in c:\users\mike\app data\roaming\thunderbird and I want it to go to D:\mail profiles. I'd be grateful for advice please. Thanks Mike Phillips

I moved to a new PC and copied my thunderbird profile for my emails. I do not have access to my old PC at the moment. Is there any way to "log out" or disable the emails on the other PC by deleting the thunderbird profile access or similar?

I could go manually through google to log them out, but it will also remove the access on the new PC and in this situation there are a lot of accounts and the setup is a hassle.

Help please I want to use "Personal Backup" program to save a backup of data needed to restore thenderbird Using tools>help>trouble shooting>application basics>profile>open folder gives 5 files all ending in .default 3 are 1 KB - can these be deleted? 2 have more folders each with many folders and files- are they both needed? which do I use for backing up with "Personal backup" program? the "Personal Backup" program finds 2 possble profiles defaultuser and default_user, which do I need? I am on the "release update channel"

06 May 2026 USA Just to inform users:

All mailboxes and all mail in profile are catastrophically and irretrievably deleted when I: 1. Change the location of the profile folder. 2. Make appropriate change in profiles.ini reflecting the location change. 3. Launch Thunderbird in Offline Mode (launching in OFFLINE mode is the fatal event). 4. Mailboxes will appear during this one launched session

    but

5. If Thunderbird is closed while still OFFLINE, then a re-launch of Thunderbird in any state will reveal

     that all mailboxes and all mail have been deleted.

All mailboxes, and of course, all mail in the profile are catastrophically and irretrievably deleted. I was lucky that I made a backup before changing profile location.

The deletion of mail and mailboxes occur at the close of Thunderbird's OFFLINE state. An examination of the profile folder indicates the destruction has occurred upon closing of Thunderbird in OFFLINE state.

It is not the re-launch of Thunderbird that causes the catastrophic deletion. The deletion occurred when Thunderbird was closed in its OFFLINE state.

To successfully change the profile location I must: 1. Make the change to profile location. 2. Make the appropriate change to profiles.ini 3. BE SURE to make the FIRST LAUNCH of Thunderbird in ONLINE mode--ONLINE only. 4. Once 1,2,3 are done, then Thunderbird does not corrupt the profile folder.

Conditions that MIGHT make my configuration uniquely affected: 1. I use Proton Mail Bridge in conjunction with Thunderbird. 2. My Profile folder is on a network share that is letter-mapped in Windows. 3. I have about 10 email addresses in Thunderbird that are Outlook IMAP, Gmail IMAP, and of course, Proton Mail.

I've been using Thunderbird a couple of years in this configuration with no problems. I just decided to rename my profile. So, this is my first discovery of the problem.