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There must have been an update for Thunderbird that screwed up the way I have been using Thunderbird for years now. I had sub folders under inbox. For example, I had an investment newsletter go into a sub folder under inbox labelled "inv". I had a filter set up to move emails that had the name of the newsletter in the title to go to that "inv" folder. In this new version of Thunderbird, those separate sub folders are gone. The filters are still there but the folders are gone. Now all emails just go into the inbox. Is there a way to roll back to a previous version?

TIA Eric

This has been re-posted. In error my first post said ‘Firefox’ NOT ‘Thunderbird’.

Hi all. I recently had a terminal problem on my Win 10 computer so have bought a new Win 11 machine. I ran Thunderbird mail on the old Win 10, had 5 email accounts, had about 12 local folders and had my Profile stored in a folder on the desktop. The folder was moved there some years ago but don 't remember how I did it. I moved it there because this folder gets backed up every night.

So, I have managed to remove the HDD from my old machine and have located the 'old' profile folder. I now need to re-install Thunderbird on the new machine and match it up to my old profile folder (I think...)

Any advice on how to do that?

I am trying to migrate my old Roadrunner (Spectrum) email account into Thunderbird. The auto create feature will not work with the settings that Thunderbird is finding. I have verified all of my information settings with Spectrum Support, and they tell me that Thunderbird has to supply me with some sort of special settings to make this work. Any help finding this info will be appreciated.

Hello,

Moving from an older Ubuntu 18.04 machine where Thunderbird is limited to version 102 to a newer machine running Mint 22 where the current version is 128.6

According to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/upgrading-older-version-thunderbird This should work without issue but the latest version mentioned in the article was 115.

Any change since the article was written? Do I need to install older versions to handle the migration to the latest?

Alternately would using the Export / import tools be better for this task than transferring the profiles?

Thank you

Hello, I've just installed TB on a new computer (Windows11) and followed the directions given on https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer to move data from the old computer to the new but when I open TB on the new computer it simply creates a new profile instead of the one I've copied into the C:\Users\...Appata\Local and \Roaming folders. What do I do to get TB to use the copied profiles? Thanks.

trying to install thunderbird on a new laptop. got the donation screen, donated. got the thank you screen, it says carry on and complete installation but there is nothing to install, no files downloaded and everything takes me back to the first screen and the thank you screen. I'm getting to the point of taking my donation back and just sticking with outlook!!!

I copied my Thunderbird profile from an old Win 10 computer whose motherboard was failing, and I managed to get the profile copied before I completely lost access. Now I no longer have access to it. I did not use Mozilla Backup. I downloaded Thunderbird on a new Win 11 computer. On the new computer, I set up Thunderbird. Then I deleted the new profile and pasted the old profile. Now Thunderbird will not open at all. It says, "Your Thunderbird profile can not be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." I have uninstalled and reinstalled Thunderbird, but I still get that message. How can I fix this? Thanks, Teresa

I've had thunderbird for years, for the task component. It's wonderful. I got a new computer, but now have lost all my recurring tasks. I saved the profile on our network but cannot locate where to put in the path so import the task file into thunderbird. I did not find it in the community forums; so I must not be asking the question right. Any assistance is helpful.

Thank you

I'm running Thunderbird on Mac OS 15.3. I have two POP accounts in Thunderbird; the configuration has been stable for years. This evening, I went to add a new account, and Thunderbird seemed to have decided to update itself, including flipping me over to Chrome where it opened a page about Supernova.

Thunderbird relaunched and came up with an empty "Chat" window. My usual mail window is gone -- and I can't get it back. I can't get an "About Thunderbird" window to open.

I actually can't figure out what happened. My mail appears to be gone. My accounts seem to be gone. I can't open Settings, I can't open Account Settings.

Wait, the mail accounts seem to still exist -- I can tell Thunderbird to check mail, and the POP server shows the checks happening -- but if I send mail to myself, nothing opens. Also, all of the Layout menu options are greyed out.

Help? :-)

Thanks, Vince

Currently on 131.0.3. Started having this issue around the time 131 dropped.

I press Ctrl-shift-O and bookmarks manager won't open. Bookmarks manager opens normally if I use the menu to open it. Keybind won't work in troubleshooting mode so I know it's not an addon, and the hotkey works fine on other computers with Sync enabled so I know it doesn't have to do with my synchronized settings. Also won't open with a fresh profile so I am very hesitant to reset all my settings.

I use this keybind multiple times per browsing session so it has had a major impact on my usage. Not sure what to do. Please help!

I'm going to try a graphics driver update in the hope that helps. This is on Windows btw.

Such an annoying problem with current version 128.5.2esr. On one notebook with Windows 11 Hone I install the latest version (no Thunderbird previously installed), works fine.

One another notebook with Windows 11 Home existing Thunderbird freezes. After startup it just hangs, using so much CPU, that the battery is half drained after 30 minutes. Then reinstalling does not help. The same issue persists.

I read that uninstall does not remove the profiles and that cause the issues. Is that possible. Feature request. Also it would be fine to have the option to remove the profile on uninstall, so the non-tech savy user has also a chance of using this client.

I have loved FF desktop browser since I started using it per my boss in 2003. But I am so tired of the fact that EVERY SINGLE TIME you put out an update it breaks my access to the bank. EVERY SINGLE TIME. I waste HOURS reading articles, calling the bank IT dept, chatting with people who are on 3 calls at once, only to hear them tell me to "just use chrome." I clear the cookies, clear the cache, reboot, follow all the prompts in the settings and THEN the damned bank server doesn't recognize the device so it forces yet ANOTHER password change. It happened again TODAY and it makes me so sad but I cannot do it anymore. I am STILL now (going on 4 hours) trying to access the billpay page @ Xantanderbank. (ahem, secure codename) I am forced now, by this craziness, to use the imbecilic duckduckgo which is A) and offensive name and b) you KNOW it nowhere near the product you have built but I CANNOT DO THIS ANYMORE. Thank you for the time it takes to read this diatribe. I appreciate it.

Hello, I have read various post saying the profiles folder is %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles\ but on my side I have many folder, and it can explain why when I use a backup tool, I loose all my e-mail. I have - C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\Thunderbird\Profiles - C:\Users\Me\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles - C:\Users\Me\Administrateur\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles

And how to have only one ? I have tried to edit setting to use only C:\Users\Me\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles but the application refuse it.

[Note: I characterized this question as an "Installation and updates" issue (even though it is not per se about initial installation or updates) because moving a profile involves installation issues.]

Recently I moved my TB profile, for the second time in the past few months. This time I paid closer attention, and noted several things of interest (that may touch on some questions that remain undiagnosed in this forum):

1. TB took longer to start up, as it could find none of the folders cached in folderCache.json, so rebuilt the cache from the new profile location before starting. (I only learned about this from the next effect.)
2. The "Move to" "Recent" folders list was empty; this cached list only gets rebuilt from use (that is, from moving messages manually (not via filter) to destination folders). This effect led me to folderCache.json- and also may suggest why the OP in that question could not get resolution of his problem.
3. The newly cached folderCache.json was 528 KB, compared to 365 KB at the old location -- and that, in turn, was 170 KB larger than the 195 KB size of folderCache.json at the original location. So each time the cache is rebuilt it grows perhaps 150~200 KB (size depending on the many-times-repeated path length).

What causes the file growth? Because each time it is rebuilt, TB checks through all of the cached folder paths, apparently guided by the mailboxes listed in folderTree.json (see image below). [I think TB just checks each path to see whether it is compatible with the current profile location. If yes, the path is cached for runtime; if no, the path is repopulated from the current profile location (which takes most of the startup time).] But TB never deletes the no-longer-valid paths; it just appends to what was already in the file, so that the list of cached folder paths just grows (thereby increasing TB's startup time, every time). The best way to get rid of the old stuff is just to delete folderCache.json and let it rebuild on the next startup, to reduce the time needed for subsequent starts.

Finally, my questions: In addition to folderCache.json (different timestamp in each profile, of course), there are four files which are the same in all profiles: folderCache-x.json, x={1,2,3,4} (see screenshot). These are apparently from actions prior to the profile relocations, as they are simply copied from one profile to the next, unrelated to changes in folderCache.json. Can someone tell me:

1. What actions cause the creation of folderCache-x.json files?
2. Why folderCache.json merely appends new folder paths without deleting the old ones?
3. Why folder paths are specified explicitly (fully qualified) rather than relative to the profile path?

Thanks for any pointers.

A few weeks ago after an automatic update I ended up having Thunderbird version 131.0.1 installed, I have no idea how this happened. On opening I get a message telling me I shouldn't be using a beta version and that I should revert to the latest general release version (128.4)

Today when I had some free time I downloaded 128.4 and installed it. On opening it it says that I can't use a profile file from a later version with the earlier version. Is there a way to recover from this WITHOUT having to set up the whole profile again from scratch.

Meanwhile I have done a system restore so I am back with 131.0.1 It has not given me any problems so far. Is there a new general release version imminent that will get me back on track?

I would appreciate any help I am not a computer expert, just a user, and find Thunderbird a very good email client.

David Gould