Move Thunderbird 32 profile to new computer with Thunderbird 64
I am moving my Thunderbird (32 bit) data from an old Win 7 computer to Linux Mint on a new machine with Thunderbird 64 bit. I have followed all the advice to copy the old computer profile to the profile folder in Mint, but nothing appears in Thunderbird. My pop3 email server has 2-factor authentication; I can set this up and access or send new emails, but I can't import all my old email folders. The old Thunderbird is version 115.18.0 (32 bit) and says it is "up to date on esr update channel" The Mint Thunderbird is 140.0.6 esr (64 bit) and was recently installed with Mint.
As these versions are 32 bit and 64 bit respectively, I don't see how I can make them the same version, as recommended for transferring profiles.
How can I make this work?
All Replies (7)
These steps should work if thunderbird is installed in same location on the new PC:
- start thunderbird on old PC
- click help>troubleshootinginformation
- scroll to 'profile folder' and click 'open folder'
- exit thunderbird - you should now be in the profile folder. You can verify that by looking to see if abook.sqlite is there.
- copy profile content to external media
- install thunderbird on new pc, downloaded from thunderbird.net
- start thunderbird
- click help>troubleshootinginformation
- scroll to 'profile folder' and click 'open folder'
- exit thunderbird
- delete everthing there
- now, paste contents of exported profile
- if there is a compatibility.ini file, delete it
- restart thunderbird
Hi David, thanks for the quick reply. When you say "if thunderbird is installed in same location on the new PC",
Bearing in mind that the new PC is Linux, the old one is Windows, the folder structures will not be the same - so is this an issue?
I would try. I do not know for sure, but I think this will work. Please try and let me know. Doing it this way should bypass the normal file structures.
Hi David, sorry about the delay. Yes, that worked! It may be that the original problem was just a wrong entry in the ini file that screwed up the linux version of thunderbird.
Now I have a further query. In downloading the new Thunderbird, I removed the original one from the "LM" menu that pops up from the bottom left corner of my screen. The new copy of Thunderbird is located in opt thunderbird* which is a bit inconvenient for accessing it. I tried dragging a copy to the desktop but this doesn't open. I can't figure out how to add the program to the "LM" favourites menu either. Can you help?
- /opt/thunderbird/
Athraithe ag asc69 ar
Well, this is really a Linux Mint question, and I'm no guru there, but try this:
- click the file manager
- locate the folder where the thunderbird.exe lives
- rightclick and select the 'make link' option
- now, highlight the link and drag to desktop
- now, rightclick the image on desktop and click the upper left button on that screen.
- that opens to a file manager window where you can select a graphic image of the Thunderbird logo that you previously created. (Yes, I should have mentioned that first.)
The icon isn't important, but the desktop looks prettier if the icon reflects Thunderbird. For me, I created a classic logo of the bird with envelope. Abandoning that classic logo was one of the more stupid decisions by Mozilla mgt, but I don't get to vote. :)
That does the trick! Thanks for your help David. Linux is a bit of a culture shock to me, but I'll get used to it.
You're very welcome. If you don't mind investing a few dollars, I suggest buying "Linux in Easy Steps" by Mike McGrath, published in 2021. It is 100% Linux Mint with colorful graphics. I noticed it's selling for slightly over $11 at amazon. It's a useful assist to learning Linux as it covers the features that most of us want. No geeks! :)
You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.