Need help using Thunderbird Portable with flash drive email

If people cannot help here, you might ask in the Android forum: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/thunderbird-android

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Super-simple Summary with many fewer words: Just don't enter any account information when prompted by the portable installation; cancel out of or skip over that step -- it is not required, and you seem to NOT want to interact with any mail server there. Then YOU have to start the import function yourself, that's all. If it's the same version of the software as your desktop installation, you know how to export and should find the import function pretty similar. Based on what you told us, I assume you'd use something like Import/Export > Options > {something that looks likely to import stuff}. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Okay, the situation does look simple enough; there's hope :) . One thing to realize is that with your Portable Thunderbird, you're just dealing with Thunderbird here, just another installation of the same program. Thunderbird doesn't just search out mail or backups that already exist on the same drive; your first copy didn't, the second copy didn't, none ever will (unless the developers change things).

It started by asking you to set up an e-mail account for use with Thunderbird because that's what Thunderbird is designed to do -- and again, to drive the point home explicitly, Thunderbird Portable *IS* just Thunderbird from a usage standpoint! Thunderbird does that because it assumes (or the developers assume, if you care to be particular), quite correctly, that generally people want to use an e-mail client to connect to an e-mail service. You don't have to do that. You don't have to enter information to log in to your e-mail provider. It will let you cancel or skip that step.

So, here's where we are. Whether or not you connect that Portable Thunderbird installation to an e-mail account, you should still be able to get to the backup you made and see the backed-up information in Thunderbird. It's a really good idea to make sure that the version number is the same for both installations; if not, there's at least a chance that something might not be compatible. (But at least your second installation is more likely to be the same or later; and later versions may be backwards-compatible with earlier versions' backup schemes.)

And here is where I let you know two things. First, I myself have never used Thunderbird's Import or Export features, not once. Second, you wrote, "I have used the Import/Export > Options > Backup Scheduling function", and that menu structure does not match anything on my own installation of Thunderbird. [I use version 140.11.0esr (32-bit). I found that information on the Help|About dialog.] I do have Tools > Import... and Tools > Export... in my menus. So I don't know if you are using a completely different version or build, or (though I doubt it) something that is not Thunderbird at all (maybe a forked project). And because of those two things, I can not give you detailed step-by-step instructions.

But don't despair, really, Chris. You already know how to get to the import and export functions on your version of Thunderbird (your first installation, the one on your desktop). So if the version of the Portable installation is the same, then you know how to get to those same functions there as well. The program didn't prompt you, but I suspect that all you have to do is find and start the import functionality yourself 🙂 ! Once you start it, it should prompt you for the location of the backup, and you can go from there.

I'll quote you here: "Here's what I want - it's actually very simple. I want to be able to see (read) my backed up email on my flash drive without using the Thunderbird installed on my computer. I want complete interaction with the backed up email without my desktop Thunderbird - or my online email account - being involved at all."

So if I read you correctly, you want your Portable installation on your flash drive so that you can use it as a way to READ your backed-up mail AND TO DO NOTHING ELSE WITH IT. Read-only mail; no replying or editing or sending new mail. You don't want it as a full-fledged e-mail client; you just want a mail reader for your backups. And if I did read that correctly, then all you should have to do is import that backup without entering any client information.

I totally understand the desire for simple, super-explicit, don't-gloss-over-anything, exactly-what-keys-I-need-to-hit-and-when instructions. I have SO been there myself, multiple times. For better or worse, I just can't give you that kind of information myself, because I don't have it. But since you found and used the Export function, I think you're already equipped to use the Import function without instruction. It's just the case that you have to start it yourself; it's not part of initial set-up's automatic prompting, that's all.

(That is assuming that your two installations are of the same version of Thunderbird, or that if not, that they both still use the same import/export interface. In that case, importing into your second installation should be the same as importing back into the original installation.)

--- One last thing: Again, I've never used the import/export in any version of Thunderbird because I've never had to. I don't know if your backup contains connection information for your mail provider's servers, which might be restored on import. To guard against the possibility of connection being recreated in your portable installation when you import, make sure that your computer is NOT connected to the internet when you import. Then check to see if the Account Settings contain connection information for those servers. (If your set-up is like mine, try right-clicking on the account name and choosing 'Settings' from the context menu; or use Tools>Account Settings down at the bottom.) Then look to see if any server names or passwords are entered; remove them if they are. ---

Write back if you need more, Chris. Good Luck! -- Pootmonkey =)

C.V. (Pootmonkey) - Thank you very much for taking the time to craft such a thorough and detailed reply to my inquiry.

Your reply helped confirm what I was slowly beginning to realize. I now realize that what I need is simply an email viewer! I did not know Thunderbird/Thunderbird Portable well enough to realize that its primary function is to serve as a client that retrieves email that can then be viewed - with the emphasis on retrieval as the main function. It does not serve as a "view-only" program and, thus, its deployment is driven by its retrieval function. Silly (uninformed) me! I thought it could easily (and directly) be used to view stored emails without going through all the profiles and retrieval elements.

Having come to understand the distinction, I have found a program that fully satisfy my needs. The program Windows MBox Viewer (https://sourceforge.net/projects/mbox-viewer/) allows me to directly read, search, print, etc. all of my backed up Thunderbird emails. It is a quite user friendly program with lots of very useful features. No profiles or POP connection stuff!

One last note. The Thunderbird ImportExportTools NG add-on/extension (https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools-ng/?src=search) is a very useful - and simple (i.e, user-friendly) - tool for scheduling regular backups of Thunderbird email. Now, using the backup scheduler together with the Windows MBox Viewer allows me to fully manage and view my backed up emails entirely on my flash/USB backup drive.

Again, thank you very much for your reply. - Chris 7/1/26

Simple. Just export the email folders, No software. Click to https://www.mbox-viewer.com/ to view the messages on the flashdrive.

Simple. Just export the email folders, No software. Click to https://www.mbox-viewer.com/ to view the messages on the flashdrive.