I am unsure of what you want. Are you saying there are Thunderbird message files on the computer, but no version of Thunderbird? Please be more specific than saying you have 'emails from an old app.' Thank you.

Hello

Sorry for not being clear.

I have an old version of thunderbird on my MacBook that I can’t open, but which contains messages etc that I would like to access and back up - before I erase my hard drive due to an issue.

I’m looking for a way to get in to the thunderbird app that isn’t opening at all.

Does that clarify enough?

Many thanks

Alisdair

You can probably copy the profile from the old Mac into a new one.

> I have an old version of thunderbird on my MacBook that I can’t open

Please find your version number. And that's still a bit vague. What exactly are you seeing?

Hello. thanks again, and now more detail below.

Thunderbird version - unsure, but the screenshot has the installation date on it which might assist?

the error message i get is attached also, and from that, the details pane - which i cant screenshot - has the text below within it:

AdapterDeviceID: 0x3e9b AdapterVendorID: 0x8086 Add-ons: %7Be2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103%7D:68.2.1,wetransfer%40extensions.thunderbird.net:2.0.0,default-theme%40mozilla.org:1.0,google%40search.mozilla.org:1.0,bing%40search.mozilla.org:1.0,amazon%40search.mozilla.org:1.1,chambers-en-GB%40search.mozilla.org:1.0,ddg%40search.mozilla.org:1.0,twitter%40search.mozilla.org:1.0,wikipedia%40search.mozilla.org:1.0 BuildID: 20191030212137 ContentSandboxCapable: 1 ContentSandboxLevel: 1 CrashTime: 1705859669 EventLoopNestingLevel: 1 FramePoisonBase: 9223372036600930304 FramePoisonSize: 4096 InstallTime: 1573065120 Notes: FP(D00-L1100-W00000000-T000) WR? WR- OMTP? OMTP+4 ProductID: {3550f703-e582-4d05-9a08-453d09bdfdc6} ProductName: Thunderbird ReleaseChannel: release SafeMode: 0 SecondsSinceLastCrash: 69470 StartupCrash: 0 StartupTime: 1705859667 ThreadIdNameMapping: 5:"Gecko_IOThread",6:"JS Watchdog",12:"JS Helper",9:"JS Helper",8:"JS Helper",10:"JS Helper",11:"JS Helper",13:"JS Helper",7:"JS Helper",14:"JS Helper",15:"Socket Thread",17:"Timer",18:"Cache2 I/O",19:"Cookie",21:"StreamTrans #2",22:"GMPThread",23:"Worker Launcher",24:"IPDL Background",25:"Compositor",26:"ImgDecoder #1",27:"ImageIO",29:"DOM Worker",33:"StreamTrans #6",35:"DataStorage",36:"mozStorage #1",36:"StreamTrans #13",36:"StreamTrans #15",37:"StreamTrans #16",40:"StyleThread#4",39:"StyleThread#3",37:"StyleThread#1",38:"StyleThread#2",41:"StyleThread#5",36:"StyleThread#0",42:"HTML5 Parser",43:"localStorage DB", Throttleable: 1 UptimeTS: 4.23326744 Vendor: Version: 68.2.1 useragent_locale: en-GB

This report also contains technical information about the state of the application when it crashed.

for info - I have a capacity problem on my mac at the moment due to system data issues, and I am trying to resolve this, hence seeking to ensure i have a backup of the info within the app - could this be preventing the app from opening?

Thanks

well, that shows thunderbird 68.2.1 which coincides with the 2019 release date. What seems most important is to do a complete copy, as Wayne suggested, of the profile. If unsure of which folder is the profile, please post a screenshot of it for confirmation. Once you have a clean copy, you can focus on fixing your other problems and then reinstall thunderbird. ver 68 is available, but I suggest going with a more current version.

Thanks David

I really appreciate your and everyones guidance - and patience..

to be sure, referring to attached screenshot, I should simply copy the profiles folder - (or profiles folder + hte profiles.ini?) to my external hard drive as folders, then proceed with my proposed erasing of my machine and resinstall from zero, then relink a new copy of thunderbird once things are up and running?

Thanks

Yes, although I only know Windows, if you copy the entire folder named Thunderbird, that will include the profiles.ini and the profiles. Then, after restoring your computer and fixing whatever problems, - install thunderbird and exit. Do this BEFORE next step - now copy the backed up Thunderbird to overlay the default Thunderbird folder that was created when thunderbird was reinstalled - starting thunderbird will now immediately recognize the old profile. I do NOT know compatibility issues that may surface, as some adjustments were made along the way. For example, abook.mab would need to be converted to abook.sqlite, but worry about that later. (NOTE: for a 'pure' upgrade, you would migrate through the issues INSTEAD of going directly to current version. that is - install ver 78.0.1 - then copy the thunderbird backup to overlay the default thunderbird folder - start TB and exit - then install 91.0.1, run tb and then exit - then install 102.0.1 run tb and then exit - then install 115 current version

All releases are at https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/

thank you david.

You are most welcome. Do report back on status, as I learn from this also.

Yes,, the version of Thunderbird you initially install on the new computer should be the same or close to the version as was last running with the profile data on the old computer.

Version 78 suggested by David should be reasonable. I would not start higher.