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Copying TBird profile to another computer doesn't preserve mailbox folders

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I'm setting up TBird on a new computer. I copied the Profile and Email folders to the new computer and used Profile Manager to reference these locations.

The account information transferred correctly along with the old email. However with the previous installation of TBird I had set up a number of folders under Local. These are not reproduced in the new installation, with the consequence that all the emails have ended up in the single Inbox folder.

How can I get the folder setup to transfer to the new installation and have the old email shown in the correct folders?

I'm setting up TBird on a new computer. I copied the Profile and Email folders to the new computer and used Profile Manager to reference these locations. The account information transferred correctly along with the old email. However with the previous installation of TBird I had set up a number of folders under Local. These are not reproduced in the new installation, with the consequence that all the emails have ended up in the single Inbox folder. How can I get the folder setup to transfer to the new installation and have the old email shown in the correct folders?

Chosen solution

I think the transfer will work better if you copy the Thunderbird folder instead of just the profile folder:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer

Delete the existing Thunderbird folder on the new computer and copy the one from the other computer into the same location. It also might avoid issues if the version of TB is the same on both computers.

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All Replies (5)

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Chosen Solution

I think the transfer will work better if you copy the Thunderbird folder instead of just the profile folder:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer

Delete the existing Thunderbird folder on the new computer and copy the one from the other computer into the same location. It also might avoid issues if the version of TB is the same on both computers.

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That worked! Thanks for the suggestion.

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Does this also copy all the e-mails that are in those subfolders?

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MedeaFleecestealer said

Does this also copy all the e-mails that are in those subfolders?

The Thunderbird folder copies all profiles, and all the data in a profile including all mail folders, contacts, settings, calendars etc., as long as the mail storage is in the default location - which is true for the vast majority of users.