littleowl said

Status: I've got a Thunderbird profile containing several email accounts, there is no room left for emails. I would need: To move emails from Thunderbird to an ACCESSIBLE location on the computer. So far I have been right-clicking on them > Save As... and moved .eml files to folders but it is taking ages and sometimes I get error messages (ie. file name is too long) or Thunderbird freezes. Any ideas?

Anyone who can help?

Thanks,

littleowl

I assume you have one disk that is full and another that is not?

I'd move the entire profile from the full one to the other one.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-tb

Hi Zenos, thanks for getting back to me.

The disk is quite full and Thunderbird itself seems to be full: I have approx. 64 accounts on it and cannot add any more, let alone get the latest emails for these email accounts (please note that it is being used by a small business, that is why I have so many emails!).

I have been asked to do a "backup" that can be easily accessed any time (in case I have to retrieve a specific conversation/attachment), that is why I was saving emails in .eml format... but apart from having issues with a few of the accounts, this process is becoming too long and frustrating. Hope this makes sense. Is there any similar, quicker option by any chance?

Thanks,

littleowl

You can do bulk exports using this add-on:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/

I take it you don't have an alternative disk, so your only choice is to remove some older messages?

When exporting messages, you'll be shown several format options.

.eml saves the messages verbatim which is a good general way of doing it and possibly the most preferable format for forensic, auditing, accounting or traceability purposes, and it natively preserves attachments. But you'll need to use an email client to read the messages.

.html is perhaps the most accessible format but following threads is more difficult. You'll need a good search tool to locate things. I believe it can save attachments too.

.txt is lean and mean but will lose all layout, formatting and graphics.

I've tried this add-on on one of the accounts but it didn't work properly... but I'll give it another try ;)

Unfortunately I cannot remove older messages from Thunderbird as everything has to be kept for business reasons. The final purpose of this backup is to free up space on GMail, where these email accounts are "stored" (once the backup is done I would have to delete older emails from GMail).

With "alternative disk" do you mean another computer? (Apologies for the dumb question but I'm very new to this :S)

Thanks again,

littleowl

If it is likely that you will never need those emails but on occasion you might need access. In any case you need them backed up because you are running a business.

You could store old emails on an external hardrive. I use a WD Elements 1TB (you can get larger) external hardrive which I connect to computer using usb connection.

You could save them in the format *eml as Zenos mentioned. You could also - as a backup - copy the entire profile folder ( or export folders as mbox files.) You mentioned imap...before backing up the profile, make sure all your subscribed folders are synchronised for offline use to get a copy into Thunderbird. Then in Offline mode - stopping further synchronisation with server - use that same addon to export the profile to the external hardrive. 'Tools' > 'Importexporttools' > 'Export'Profile'.

Thank you both for your help and explanations. I'll definitely check out these options! (Fingers crossed I can get this sorted out soon...)

Have a great evening,

littleowl