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Thunderbird 68.11 can't open a mail profile mangled by a later version of Thunderbird?

  • 7 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 11 views
  • Last reply by erbogan

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I have a backup of my e-mail (Linux, Thunderbird 68.5) and am trying to move it to another computer (Linux, Thunderbird 68.11).

The error I'm getting is that "A newer version of Thunderbird may have made changes...". However, the backup files were made before the attempt at Thunderbird 78 was made.

I would like to get to my old e-mail. I do not want to have multiple profiles. How do I do that?

I have a backup of my e-mail (Linux, Thunderbird 68.5) and am trying to move it to another computer (Linux, Thunderbird 68.11). The error I'm getting is that "A newer version of Thunderbird may have made changes...". However, the backup files were made before the attempt at Thunderbird 78 was made. I would like to get to my old e-mail. I do not want to have multiple profiles. How do I do that?

Modified by leamhall

Chosen solution

The solution is:

Create a new profile.

Copy from the old profile into the new profile: -- the Mail directory -- prefs*.js -- logins.json -- abook.mab # address book.

It will ask you for the passwords again, but that should do it. Might be other things, but I wish smarter people would answer. I'm really disappointed in the fragility of the application.

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All Replies (7)

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Chosen Solution

The solution is:

Create a new profile.

Copy from the old profile into the new profile: -- the Mail directory -- prefs*.js -- logins.json -- abook.mab # address book.

It will ask you for the passwords again, but that should do it. Might be other things, but I wish smarter people would answer. I'm really disappointed in the fragility of the application.

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No the answer is to use the appropriate command line setting to allow the profile to be downgraded in the knowledge that it might be mangled by a downgrade..

On Linux that would be cd Thunderbird installation directory ./thunderbird -allow-downgrade

See the end of https://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com/2019/09/i-lost-my-profilemail-on-update-to.html

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Hm, could have used that a few days ago. Might have been better than having to brute-force a solution. Of course, I'm still not sure why the app is so fragile. There seem to be lots of issues with profiles, based on questions.

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The profiles were quite fragile following the initial implementation. They still have some issues, but I think they will mostly be with us permanently. After a year I think I am finally starting to get a handle on what the issues are. But the drivers of the project just think profile per install is a good thing and while changes have been made, other important changes like a profile import wizard a just simply not there.

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I see the potential of profiles, but find forcing them on a user to be a very bad idea. I have twenty years of e-mail that would have been lost had I not figured this out. That I do this for a living is probably the only reason I could figure it out.

Until the import process is easy and robust, I think profiles should be purely optional.

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leamhall said

Until the import process is easy and robust, I think profiles should be purely optional.

They have never been optional. They have been an integral part of the program since the days when Netscape sold the product.

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Finding answers here is very frustrating. I will try this. Wish I had found this days ago, would have saved me countless hours searching for a solution!