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Problem Importing a ZIP backup of Thunderbird into newest version

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  • Last reply by david

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I was having an issue connecting to the ISP thru Thunderbird so I decided to "repair/install" the latest Thunderbird download version. When I ran the install it asked me to create new profiles - it would not let me exit and keep the old - which wiped out all my previous emails, local folders, and Contacts. I had backed up the mail data into a Zip file a day before. But now I have a Zip file and no clear idea as to how to get all the data into my current version of Thunderbird. The Import function references either other email clients or file types that don't exist within the decompressed zip file. What to do?

I was having an issue connecting to the ISP thru Thunderbird so I decided to "repair/install" the latest Thunderbird download version. When I ran the install it asked me to create new profiles - it would not let me exit and keep the old - which wiped out all my previous emails, local folders, and Contacts. I had backed up the mail data into a Zip file a day before. But now I have a Zip file and no clear idea as to how to get all the data into my current version of Thunderbird. The Import function references either other email clients or file types that don't exist within the decompressed zip file. What to do?

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It depends on what you backed up when you state 'mail data' - was it the full profile or just some message folders? a screenshot of what is in the zip folder may help. If it was the full profile, you can unzip, and use tools>import>import from another thunderbird installation. And, your old profile may still be there, unless you consciously deleted it. You can browse c:\users\<yourid>\appdata\roamingg\thunderbird\profiles to see if there are folders of recent use. Folder size may be a clue.