Uninstalling Thunderbird without losing emails
Hi all,
I installed Thunderbird a few months ago to transfer emails from an email account that is about to be shut down to my Google email account.
I now want to uninstall Thunderbird (and delete all its files from my computer, including emails) but am worried my Google emails will also get deleted (e.g., due to syncing?) in this process.
I would have loved to keep Thunderbird installed but, due to my personal laptop being unavailable when this email transfer began a few months ago, I had to install Thunderbird on my work laptop instead, and I do not want Thunderbird to stay on my work laptop anymore (my employer allows employees to install any software but I will feel better if I just delete Thunderbird from the work laptop at this point).
Please advise, thanks.
All Replies (3)
Uninstalling Thunderbird will not remove messages from the server. What's currently on the server will stay there. To make doubly certain, go to <Account Settings | (the account in question) | Server Settings> and disable the "Check for new messages at startup" and "Check for new messages every [x] minutes" options. Do this for each account you have set up.
Before you proceed with the uninstall, locate your Profile, where all your message data and preferences reside. To find it, while Thunderbird is running, click on <help | troubleshooting information, scroll down to "profile folder" and click the "open button. this is where all your personal thunderbird data lives. you can now close uninstall it. if truly don't need any of in profile, folder that contains it be deleted. < p></help>
Hi Lin,
Thank you for the quick reply. Sorry but I am still confused. In the first paragraph of the message above, you are describing a setting modification just for the account in question and later you are talking about doing the same for every account that has been set up. The second paragraph is more unclear.
Could you please provide a numbered list of steps one needs to follow to completely uninstall and delete Thunderbird (program and files) from their computer without getting any of the messages on Google Mail deleted? I have described my situation in detail above, but please send a message if you need clarifications.
Thanks in advance!
Endret av yak
I guess I'm over-complicating things. If you simply wish to purge Thunderbird from your computer, along with all copies of emails stored on this computer, just uninstall the program and delete your Profile. Nothing that's currently on the Gmail server will be touched, though, of course, what's on the local computer will be gone for good.
Assuming Windows 10 or 11:
- Uninstall Thunderbird from Apps & Features
- Open Windows File Explorer. In its Address Bar, type "%APPDATA% (no quotes, not case sensitive.) Find the sub-folder called "Thunderbird" and delete it. This contains your personal Profile.
- In the File Explorer Address Bar, type "%LOCALAPPDATA%". As above, delete the Thunderbird folder.
That's all.
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