Viewing local folders after disabling email account
Hi all, I have a client who uses Thunderbird and wants to close his orange.fr email address, but has thousands of emails he needs to be able to continue to refer to / archive. I advised to move all the emails from the IMAP server/inbox folder, to a Local folder in Thunderbird. Having done this, I tried to remove the account, did NOT check the box “Remove Message Data” and (wrongly assumed) there would still be a way for him to see his orange.fr emails in a local folder somewhere, but they all disappeared. I’ve tried to trace the path for the local folder but can’t see a way to see them once the account is removed. Can any suggest the best way to GUARANTEE that he can close his orange.fr email account and still retain his old emails? I’m guessing that if he closes the account but doesn’t remove it from Thunderbird, the account will retain the local folders but will be unable to connect to the orange.fr email address. I suppose that would be a solution but I’m guessing Thunderbird will throw a connection error every time it opens? is there a neater way? We would prefer to avoid trying to export them to another mail client.
Any suggestions / advice greatfully received. I’m just nervous that he doesn’t lose access to his old emails after closing his orange.fr email account. TIA Russ
All Replies (11)
The safe way I have used is this: Never MOVE, always COPY
- click file>offline>download to ensure all message content is local
- exit thunderbird (IMPORTANT)
- in windows file explorer, locate the desired folders in the imapmail\<accountname> folder
- COPY the folders to Mail\Local Folders
- start thunderbird and verify that messages are there
You can now remove the IMAP account I encourage doing a backup, again, using Windows File Explorer.
Thanks David, Im a bit unsure about how I would go about locating the imapmail\<accountname> and the Mail\Local folders in File Explorer - are they in the Windows/Program area…..? Thanks again David
David, Am I right in thinking that - as a simpler, less elegant solution, I could just move the emails in thunderbird from INBOX to LOCAL FOLDERS > (create archive folder), and then, if I keep the account in Thunderbird but he cancels it with orange.fr, he could always access his emails in Thunderbird in the local folder ? Thanks for your advice to date
Am I right in thinking that - as a simpler, less elegant solution, I could just move the emails in thunderbird from INBOX to LOCAL FOLDERS > (create archive folder)
Yes, that would work too. But there is a caveat. Mail servers are not made for mass transaction, and email providers tend to limit the amount of data which can be transferred within a certain time. So you should transfer messages from the IMAP server to your Local Folders account in smaller batches, and not all at once. Depending on the no. of messages on the server this might be a somewhat tedious thing to do.
Also do not move messages, use copy instead. If something goes wrong, messages would still be available on the IMAP server. Select a batch of messages to be transferred on the server -> right-click a selected message -> Copy To. Select 'Local Folders' - <desired destination folder> from the drop-down menu.
if I keep the account in Thunderbird but he cancels it with orange.fr, he could always access his emails in Thunderbird in the local folder ?
Once the messages have been transferred to your 'Local Folders' account they will always be accessible, regardless of the existence of the IMAP account. Once the IMAP account with orange.fr has been canceled, you'd probably want to delete it in Thunderbird as well. Otherwise you'd get constant error pop-ups due to failed connection attempts.
Also make sure to backup the Thunderbird profile on a regular basis, accidents can happen at any time. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile
Modified by christ1
Hi Chris, Thanks for your input - really appreciated. What I don’t get is, we copied all the emails to a local folder on Friday, then I removed his orange.fr account and the local folders all disappeared too - I thought they would remain? I added his account back at in again and all the IMAP emails obviously repopulated, but the local folders stayed disappeared. That’s the bit I don’t get. I’m happy with the copying emails to local folders, but I do need him to be able to see that local folder once I remove the account. Any thoughts? Really grateful for your time by the way Russ
I think the key you may be missing from your initial problem is what both christ1 and I have stated: you need to COPY. My assumption is that you MOVED in that initial attempt. Copying disconnects the messages from the account.
What I don’t get is, we copied all the emails to a local folder on Friday, then I removed his orange.fr account and the local folders all disappeared too - I thought they would remain?
Yes, they are supposed to remain. Please explain in more detail how you did copy the messages.
Modified by christ1
Hi David. Thanks for reply. I definitely copied them, not moved. But when I removed the account the local folders all disappeared.
Hi Chris. I selected batches of emails, right clicked and copied to local folder - a subfolder I called Archive. All looks fine. Then I removed the account and the local folders disappeared.
Was the archive defined as part of the account? That would still be a logical component of the account.
I have no idea what's happening there. I'd suggest to create a new profile using profile manager. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/using-multiple-profiles
Start Thunderbird with the new profile, and re-create your orange.fr account. Then try again to copy over the messages.
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