Thunderbird Community Forum

Had a double disaster, both OS partially upgraded at same time due to space issues and had to wipe and install.

Ended up with a TB install in Ubuntu where 2025 emails are missing. (see image #1) Found out that my backup should have most of them. (see image #2)

How do I safely identify the 2025 mail content in my backup folder, and how do I safely copy them over to the existing set up?

I see that the 933 profile exists in both so most likely it should be one of the lower number profiles in backup I need.

Attached are images of folder content.

Many thanks in advance!

I can see where the Local Files are saved under .sdb folders and msf files. I can save these to a USB stick as a backup BUT can I perhaps open on another device also running Thunderbird. Is this possible and how? I can't see an 'open file' in Thunderbird.

Hello,

I have been using Thunderbird only occasionally for backing up Google emails after which I delete the emails from Google. I am thinking of using Thunderbird permanently but there are things I'm not sure about.

1). Does Thunderbird automatically integrate Google Take Out mbox files automatically into one email list? When I start Thunderbird, I see files that I have uploaded to Thunderbird (on two occasions in the past and these were mbox files from Google Take Out) but these files are empty. (screenshot attached). When I select the "all mail" folder all of the mails saved since 2005 appear to be there.

2). Does Thunderbird save attachments or only the emails themselves?

I would be grateful for some help so that I can optimise my working with Thunderbird.

Best wishes

DanZ

TDS is dropping support for email services 10/31/2026. They are providing an option to migrate our data to a new provider Everymail, I'm wondering what other options I have and what it means to my current mail data(Inbox, Archive etc..) if I go to another provider(not Everymail)?

I've used just the default profile I setup when I started using Thunderbird, I can't tell where all of that data is stored and I don't want to loose some of the Archived messages from over the years.

 When I click on properties for the Thunderbird Archive Folder it shows:

mailbox://botto%40chorus.net@mail.tds.net/Archive

Is this data on my local storage or on TDS?

Any help here would be appreciated, Thanks

I'm using TB 150.0.2 on a Mac with the latest update of MacOS.

I just deleted all of my archived emails, thinking it was stuff that I had sent to trash. I.e. I deleted all archives, then emptied trash. Only after I did that did I realize that I had deleted things I want to save.

I'm pretty sure there's no way to undo emptying the trash, but I use Time Machine to back up. If I open time machine and go to the most recent back-up, I should be able to get everything back, right?

What folder (or folders) should I restore from a Time Machine back-up?

I will preface this with no I do not have a backup - which is my fault. However I did not expect my account to be nuked into oblivion with no explanation.

As per the title, all my emails are gone. My local folders are devoid of anything I can use and am hoping that everything may be on a server somewhere. This is years of emails, important correspondence, bank information, business, etc. The ONLY thing I can think of is when I download the TB app for android and sync'd it using the QR on the desktop version of thunderbird. I then checked stuff the next day and everything was gone barring emails from that day, all folders, everything was gone. Is there no way to recover this?

I have many years worth of e-mails in several folder in Hotmail/Outlook. I am about to download them to local HD storage. I will probably use the Outlook Export function which I understand will send me a massive single .PST file. Does Mozilla have a way by which I will be able to search, read and generally access those e-mails and their attachments? Thank you very much for your help - this is part of my campaign to become less dependent on the Big Tech Bros...

Hi, To "save" the info in my Local Folders? Are they excluded from Compacting? I use this folder as a "what I've done" library. The others I don't care about. Thanks

I had 3 different email accounts operating in outlook originally under a pop3 format. I would like to have all those email show up in the local folder with all the subfolders so I can save the imap emails currently coming in to thunderbird into the local folder and subfolders if I want to keep them. I have managed to download the email account that was the default in outlook through the import function. I have tried the import export tools and the local folders add ons but dont seem to be able to pick up the other email folders in the outlook file. Am I doing something incorrectly or, if I open outlook again could I change the default and then thunderbird would pick up and add the default through the import function.

Suggestions or corrections to my assumptions would be wonderful.

I had to update my server settings in Thunderbird since I changed my email hosting provider. I had no idea I would lose all my emails and folders I created. Is there any way to get these recovered?

I am running the latest versions of Thunderbird and Linux mint 22.3, and for the fourth time files are not being read correctly after an update. I store email files on a separate SSD drive (just in case the main drive crashes). I have just updated to the latest version of Tbird. After every update it loses the connection to Local Folders. When I relink, it reads some folders but not others. I can see the missing folders via a file manager, but Tbird will not/cannot read them all. I have tried to relink several times, but no joy. If I move Local Folders to the main drive, will that solve the problem? Is it a Linux problem? Or a browser problem? Do I need to switch browsers?

I lost my windows 11 computer, and need to restore all my missing Local folders in my new computer that I have just installed Thunderbird. I think I need to delete everything under c:\user\myname\appdata\Roaming\Thunderbird\*. Tried this and still no Local stored emails found when I brought up Thunderbird? I have years of data stored there and really need them.

Dear Team, I have to download approximately 9000 emails in the inbox/ sent folders saved in yahoo with attachments. Though I could download after spending a week, unable to see the downloaded messages. Please inform how to proceed. Thanks. p.s: As suggested by chatgpt, I selected all messages in both the folders and downloaded them again. Please suggest best way to download the messages quickly and verify the contents. Thanks for your help. -Mani

I have removed the drive from the computer that will not boot up. I hope to be able to transfer my "profile" to my new computer from that drive. I understand that I will need to have the same version of Thunderbird installed on my new computer in order to transfer my "profile". Since I can't access Thunderbird on my "crashed" computer, how can I know what version I had installed previously? How do I find where to load that version on my new computer?

I have a problem recovering my thunderbird emails.. My laptop was ruined in an accident. I have a new one. Unfortunately, I failed to ensure that my last few mozbackups were to my onedrive, so they are lost as well. My most recent backup is over 6 months old. I have rescued the hard disk from the old destroyed laptop, into a caddy which I can plug into the new laptop. This reads it as a drive F: Is there any way I can get thunderbird to read the f drive, so I can access their emails. If I could get them onto my new C: drive that would be ideal. Is any of this possible? - Thanks, John

I have been with Primus communications for many years, they are no longer supporting email address and I have to sign up with a new company they have nominated. I want to know if how my emails are managed in my Thunderbird screen will all be transferred and that I will continue as normal with Mozilla Thunderbird

Can I just copy the entire profile folder and name it as a backup or do I have to copy the contents of the folder?

I just want to create a backup to include all my email messages.

Thanks

I added .eml files from backup into Sent folder in Explorer. TBird client continues to show the messages that are the .eml files that already were in Sent folder in Explorer. TBird client shows none of the messages that are the .eml files that I added into Sent folder in Explorer.