Yonke imikhiqizo Community Forum

Hi, I have used Mozilla Thunderbird to receive my emails from Google's gmail for several years now. I have created many folders in Thunderbird, to store many of my incoming emails in. Recently, I had to purchase a new computer with Windows 11 installed, as I had used Windows 10 for many years on my old, now outdated computer. Is there a way to retrieve my folders from Thunderbird, so that I can have them on my new computer, or are they lost forever? I have my hard drive from my old computer, so would they be on that hard drive somewhere? Thank you.

I have my gmail account on Thunderbird on Windows 10 and Pop_OS. The Windows has local folders the Pop does not. What happens to the emails on the machine without? I was trying to make room on Windows for a dualboot. I copied everthing to usb then accidentally deleted my user files. 1)How do I recover the local folders from the usb? And/or 2)Do I even need to since I have Thunderbird on Pop? My concern is that, since I set up local folders on Windows, that those emails never got sent to the Pop machine. Otherwise, they all might be there and I just have to locate them which means I don't have to restore the Windows emails.

First I beg your indulgence for my approximative enclise ! Some years ago I used thunderbird on an old MacBook Pro getting mails from pop servers. Indeed I can do an export of thèse mails but I have some questions : First : does an export contains my 2 accounts ? Second : how can i see thèse export ? Must I réinstall Thunderbird and import ? Must I keep pop access or can I use imap ? Is there a reader of thèse exports ???? Your expérience will be a good help

Hi, I've set up TB successfully on a new PC and been using it a while. Then I noticed my local folders archive group of subfolders was missing. I followed some instructions about moving local folders file across from the old to the new version.

Now I see the individual archive folders without the folder group name 'archive'.

Also, there are a couple of other files not visible on the new platform although they were in the original installation local files and were copied across.

I was careful to ensure the same version running on both PCs. Also that TB was closed when copying files across.

Any pointers appreciated!

My laptop fried and I have it currently in the computer ER. They are attempting to salvage the information from the hard drive, but it my take a week to complete this process. I have purchased a new laptop and I am close to completing loading just about everything. I have installed Thunderbird, but because I did not have a clean backup I have no local recovery for Thunderbird. Is there by any chance a way that there could be a way to find a recovery file for my Thunderbird? Rebuilding the calendar and the address book is going to be like walking in 4 feet of soft sand at high tide at the beach.

Thank you, Richard Germain

Hello, I’m experiencing an issue when saving email messages as .eml files from Thunderbird.

When I save a message to a network storage folder (for example, a shared drive or NAS), the file seems to save correctly, but when I try to reopen it later, the content is completely blank — the message body is missing.

If I save the same email to my desktop or a local folder, the file opens perfectly and displays all content as expected.

Environment details:

Thunderbird version: 140.3.1esr

Operating system: Windows 11

Network storage type: NAS

Has anyone else experienced this issue? Could this be related to file permissions, encoding, or how Thunderbird handles .eml files on network paths?

Thank you for your help!

Hi, I'm unable to extract the emails using the ImportExportTools NG add-on. I tried right-clicking on the local file under Local Folders, using the ImportExportTools NG > Export All Messages to Folder > CSV Format steps. However, after loading emails partially, I am getting the following error code repeatedly. Can you please help understand what is the issue and how to resolve this? I have 62175 emails that I need to export.

[Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x804b0002 (NS_BINDING_ABORTED) [nsIScriptableInputStream.available]" nsresult: "0x804b0002 (NS_BINDING_ABORTED)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://mboximport/content/mboximport/exportTools.js :: IETstoreBody :: line 2767" data: no]

IETstoreBody@chrome://mboximport/content/mboximport/exportTools.js:2767:20 IETstoreHeaders@chrome://mboximport/content/mboximport/exportTools.js:2714:10 exportAllMsgsDelayed@chrome://mboximport/content/mboximport/exportTools.js:826:32

I want to use Thunderbird to read saved offline messages stored in mbox files, delete messages I no longer need, and then resave to mbox format. How do I do this? I just downloaded Thunderbird and am struggling to use the help articles and forums to find instructions.

10 Nov.

The version of Thunderbird I currently have on my Dell desktop is possibly corrupted. Dell Premium Support is trying to help me. I currently cannot send or receive e-mail through Thunderbird. Dell technician wants to install new version of Thunderbird. Then he wants to create a back up of all my current Thunderbird e-mail, and of all my local folders, including their contents. Then he would export the data from the back up and import it onto the new version of Thunderbird.

Please explain how to create a back up of all Thunderbird data.

I have read some information on how to create back up of Thunderbird Profile. However, this is apparently not a back up of all the e-mail itself, plus all the local folders and their contents. Thank you.

URGENT! My emails are from 5 roadrunner.com (former mail.twc.com) New owner Spectrum is closing us out of our accounts. How can I protect my 15 GB of emails?? Will they disappear if I can no longer access roadrunner? I'm not sure if the server will be swept, but it's in the works. Please tell me how I can bulk save these lifetime of emails...fast! Thank you! p.s. I am computer illiterate and very nervous! I will appreciate step-by-step. (I thought I was safe downloading them to my computer with Thunderbird, but now I think I need to do more to secure them locally.....thank you!

Today my Windows 11 pro operating system updated itself to Version 25H2 (OS Build 26200.7171) When I opened Thunderbird it required me to put my account details in and then accessed my IMAP details. All my folders and sub folders were there but no Local Folders. How can I import them into Thunderbird please. Thanks

I transferred my accounts from an old Win 7 computer to a newer Win10 computer. Local Folders files were transferred in and show in the "Local Folder" folder but only trash show in the application. How can I get all my folders inside "Local Folders" to show in the application

For my internal operation, I typically store the date/time of files at the beginning of the file name to help with time based sorting.

When I store incoming emails from Thunderbird, the date/time is added at the end of the file name.

Here is my question: is there a way to make Thunderbird change the sequence in the file name and put date/time at the front (preferably in a format I would want to use such as yyymmdd).

I have a gmail backed work account. Until recently we used outlook classic as the interface for this account. It is now unusable due to Microsoft lack of support. NEW OUTLOOK IS AWFUL. So I found Thunderbird and really enjoy its look and feel. I am having issue opening a previously saved outlook file in the .msg format. I have tried the file extension conversion to .eml and when i open the file i only get header data and addresses. No body or attachments. I really want to continue using Thunderbird but this issue is a deal breaker should i not be able to fix it. Please help. I cant be the only one. Windows 11

I wish to use Thunderbird email on my Android tablet and after installing the app on the android I followed the instructions on my desktop version. eg Settings, QR code etc and downloaded my accounts. However none of my Local or Storage folders came across? Is there other instructions I am missing or do I need to start from the beginning on the Android version of Thunderbird? any suggestions would be helpful. My intention is to do away with my out of date PC and use an upmarket Android tablet.

To be clear, I seriously doubt the problems I am encountering are TB's fault! The problems may be my fault since I've grown older, I've tended (believed) using new versions of software present my mind a BIGGER challenge than using the older software/version I have been successfully using? I'm still using Version115.10.1

After our ISP chose to start using Zimbra Oct. 7, 2025 and their tech support could not assist me in getting TB working the had me remove POP3 settings for TB and change to IMAP with their software.

FINALLY someone helped me get TB working with IMAP. For 3 days grrr. Now the ISP says I need to use their web mail, Zimbra.

So might downloading the current TB version and somehow get the In box, all the folder contnets etc. over - into the new TB help?

I was going to backup everything tonight, now I have little to NO hope, without help!

THANKS & remain WELL plus be SAFE!

Robin

I handle 3 email addresses from Comcast.net with Windows live mail on a Windows 10 machine. I have many folders and thousands of emails saved. I would like to move to Thunderbird on Windows 11. Can I move my folders and messages so they set up in Thunderbird on Win 11 the way they are set up in Windows live mail in Win 10. How would I proceed?

Thanks.