I-Thunderbird Community Forum

On T-Bird start up I'm given a list of (originally) four Profiles. Currently I only use Profile Three, but on start=up today it is not there. Doing the usual searches does not list it, only 'default', 'new user' and 'profile two'. Is there any way to recover it?

First, I have very limited understanding of software. I need very simple explanations.

Here's my issue. I use Thunderbird on my desktop computer. I have used the Import/Export > Options > Backup Scheduling function to backup my Thunderbird email to my USB/flash drive. I have labelled the backup folder on my flash drive "Thunderbird email backup." That folder contains numerous subfolders including: 1) calendar-data 2) chrome_debugger_profile 3) crashes 4) datareporting 5) extensions 6) ExternalMailFolders 7) Mail 8) minidumps 9) saved-telemetry-pings 10) scheduled-notifications 11) settings 12) shader-cache 13) storage.

Again, these are the subfolders created/named by the Thunderbird Import/Export backup. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THESE FOLDERS MEAN.

Here's what I want - it's actually very simple. I want to be able to see (read) my backed up email on my flash drive without using the Thunderbird installed on my computer. I want complete interaction with the backed up email without my desktop Thunderbird - or my online email account - being involved at all.

My understanding is that Thunderbird Portable is supposed to be able to allow me to do that. I downloaded Thunderbird Portable (from https://portableapps.com) to my flash drive but when I tried to access it the first thing it did was try to force me to put in my online account (POP?) information.

I don't want to do that. I just want to open Thunderbird Portable on the flash drive and have it realize that all of my backed up Thunderbird email information is right there in the same flash drive. I want it to just access and use what's right there.

I was really hoping that Thunderbird Portable would simply ask me where to look - in a very user-friendly way! - and I could tell it to go to my "Thunderbird email backup" folder on my flash drive (WHERE ALL MY THUNDERBIRD INFO IS!) and it would simply do just that and provide me with complete Thunderbird service for the backed up email.

Am I missing something? Can someone give me a VERY SIMPLE walk through to do what I would think should be a very simple thing? Thank you. Chris (6/29/26)

PS - I've read the Mozilla Support ARTICLE: Thunderbird Portable (Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition) and other portable apps as alternatives (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1285834) and it alludes in general terms to exactly what I want to do but it does not give any step-wise instructions.

As explained in the subject line - title, I do NOT need nor use the Today Pane.

It use taking up needed space for the down arrow & popping up distracting me.

How do I eliminate it? I will even, if necessary edit Thunderbird to get rid of it.

'AND bold text' somehow, a new version of Thunderbird was created - downloaded and all my passwords AND bookmarks are gone. I looked for the profile, but it's new so does not contain passwords NOR bookmarks.

THANKS! Remain WELL & be SAFE!

Robin

is there any way to perform a dynamic backup of Thunderbird. By that I mean a regular (e.g. daily) backup of the profile or at least the mailboxes using a scheduler without closing Thunderbird down?

Good morning,

I’m reaching out because I’m having trouble with my Thunderbird email and need some assistance.

I was using Thunderbird without any issues before, but now all my old emails have disappeared. I can still receive new messages, but I’m unable to send emails like I used to. I also can’t recover or view any of my previous emails.

It seems like something may have reset or become corrupted, and I’m not sure how to restore my old messages or fix the sending issue.

Could you please help me get Thunderbird working properly again and recover my old emails if possible?

Thank you for your support.

Dee

I have been using Mozilla Thunderbird for many years without any issues.

A few minutes ago, I used Thunderbird as usual and then closed it. When I tried to open it again, it would not respond. I restarted my Windows 11 laptop, but after rebooting, Thunderbird opened as if it were a fresh installation. None of my email accounts, settings, or data are there.

I signed in to one of my email accounts, hoping Thunderbird would automatically recover my previous accounts and settings, but nothing happened.

I am using Windows 11 and Thunderbird version 140.13.0 (64-bit).

Could you please help me recover my existing Thunderbird profile, email accounts, and data? I would greatly appreciate your assistance.

Thank you.

I have followed the instructions that several people give to transfer my existing Thunderbird installation to a new computer where I have just installed Thunderbird. That is I copied the Thunderbird folder and put it in the Roaming folded found in %appdata%. Both computers are on Windows 11. When I open the new Thunderbird, it does not recognise it. Furthermore, in Help>Troubleshooting information>Profile folder when I click to open the folder, it looks for a folder that is not in my previous Thunderbird installation: qr19mupe.default-release instead of the one that came with my imported Thunderbird folder. Has this happened to anybody and found the solution? Can anybody help please?

When I opened Thunderbird two days ago it came up with the following message: To use your current email address, fill in your credentials. Thunderbird will automattically search for working and recommended server configurations. It asked for Full Name; Email: and Password. Fearing it was a scam I filled in my server settings manually. My server is Centurylink but my email address is embarqmail.com so when I filled in my info the send was smpt.centurylink.net port 587 (which was fine) The problem was with receive: I guess my old setup was pop.embarqmail.com port 110 and I put in pop.centurylink.net port 995 which is what Centurylink's website called for. Well this one worked and it downloaded 800 messages but no saved folders and the Thunderbird screen layout looks different from the one I am used to. A few minutes later the pop.embarqmail setup downloaded the same messages but still no saved messages. It looks like I have 2 profiles. Did the last one I entered override the old and wipe out files I had stored. Is there a fix for this mess I have created and can I retreive my old folders and messages? I tried doing a system restore and it didn't work due to corrupted files. Oh, I'm still using windows 7. Thanks

My wife and I both have Thunderbird accounts. The issue is that when we open Thunderbird, both accounts show on one screen. Is there any way to separate logins and only show each of our accounts on the screen?

Thanks, Sam Orner

I cannot get thunderbird to run on my computer (it runs fine on my wife's computer). I keep getting the profile can't be loaded error. I have tried the fixes recommend here but none worked.

I'm getting frequent popup messages from McAfee, my email threat detector, that they've detected and stopped a threat, but none is identified. McAfee's chatbot wants me to create a new profile and add my email accounts to that profile. Will I lose access to all my currently saved email messages and calendar information?

Thunderbird is suddenly opening without any of my emails or folders, and asking me to set up an email account - so I put in my email details (I'm with aol) - and it connects to the aol server and my folders re-appear (initially without emails in them, but when I click on the folders the emails start downloading afresh from aol). So it seems that all will be well when the emails are all downloaded again. HOWEVER, after closing Thunderbird and opening it again, all my emails are gone again, and Thunderbird is yet again asking me to set up an account. I can do this again, and the same thing will happen again. Everything is lost again when Thunderbird is closed, and when I start it again, I will be asked to set up an account, and all my emails are gone yet again. I have been using Thunderbird for years and years and years. Suddenly out of the blue this happens, and I'm stuck with using aol's web mail platform directly (not great!!!) Also, Thunderbird suddenly looks different - like it's been updated (which I assumed initially had happened) but the update history still only shows the final release for Windows 7, so this is a bit puzzling, and an odd coincidence that the layout and appearance of Thunderbird has changed at the very same time it stops working for me.

I have a previous Thunderbird account, which resides on another computer. On my current Desktop, I downloaded Thunderbird, went to open and it says "Your Thunderbird profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." I went this route because my original Thunderbird has many customized Files to which I put emails into. I can't figure out how to recreate that profile as your instructions are quite impossible to follow. Remember, most of your users are like me, a bit under the standard as far as programming skills. So, how do I get either: my original profile to be imported to my new computer, or, better, just open my new Thunderbird so I can use a different, newer set of email addresses? This is my preference. Please advise.

Yesterday I was having trouble sending emails from one of my email accounts. I had not fixed that when I shut down for the night. Today when I turned my computer on, both my email accounts and my address book was gone

I have a profile set that uses IMAP and need to change this to POP. I have tried changing the settings and tried creating a new profile by exporting folders and files but nothing is working correctly.

One problem I have is that in the IMAP profile I now have a second email address that is the same address name but is a POP setup. This is confusing. When I use the POP email to export and then import into a new profile I again get two email addresses in the folder panel of the new profile and one of them does have folders but they are empty.

Below is a screen shot of the original IMAP Profile. The upper address has folders but they are now blank because I pasted them in the lower address. I have tried selecting/highlighting the lower address for exporting but when I do I get the two addresses but the folders are empty/blank.

Thank you for any help!

Rick

06 May 2026 USA Just to inform users:

All mailboxes and all mail in profile are catastrophically and irretrievably deleted when I: 1. Change the location of the profile folder. 2. Make appropriate change in profiles.ini reflecting the location change. 3. Launch Thunderbird in Offline Mode (launching in OFFLINE mode is the fatal event). 4. Mailboxes will appear during this one launched session

    but

5. If Thunderbird is closed while still OFFLINE, then a re-launch of Thunderbird in any state will reveal

     that all mailboxes and all mail have been deleted.

All mailboxes, and of course, all mail in the profile are catastrophically and irretrievably deleted. I was lucky that I made a backup before changing profile location.

The deletion of mail and mailboxes occur at the close of Thunderbird's OFFLINE state. An examination of the profile folder indicates the destruction has occurred upon closing of Thunderbird in OFFLINE state.

It is not the re-launch of Thunderbird that causes the catastrophic deletion. The deletion occurred when Thunderbird was closed in its OFFLINE state.

To successfully change the profile location I must: 1. Make the change to profile location. 2. Make the appropriate change to profiles.ini 3. BE SURE to make the FIRST LAUNCH of Thunderbird in ONLINE mode--ONLINE only. 4. Once 1,2,3 are done, then Thunderbird does not corrupt the profile folder.

Conditions that MIGHT make my configuration uniquely affected: 1. I use Proton Mail Bridge in conjunction with Thunderbird. 2. My Profile folder is on a network share that is letter-mapped in Windows. 3. I have about 10 email addresses in Thunderbird that are Outlook IMAP, Gmail IMAP, and of course, Proton Mail.

I've been using Thunderbird a couple of years in this configuration with no problems. I just decided to rename my profile. So, this is my first discovery of the problem.

I'm having a connectivity issues. Did some searching which directed me to the Appdata Profiles folder. When looking inside I see Mail and ImapMail. Both have numerous folders inside. Too may I believe. Based upon the screen prints of the folder's contents, do you see conflicts?

I have three email addresses with Outlook.com.

Pop.windstream I have not used in many years. Not sure what others I could possible delete.

Thanks.

Copilot has prepared a message for me: Subject: Thunderbird always loads corrupted profile and ignores new profiles

Message:

Thunderbird is stuck loading the same corrupted profile and always shows the welcome screen, even when I create new profiles.

I used the Profile Manager via thunderbird.exe -p and created new profiles (“Clean” and “Clean2”). Both profile folders exist in %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles. However, Thunderbird still launches the same original profile every time.

Even when I select “Clean2” in the Profile Manager (with “Use the selected profile without asking” unchecked), Thunderbird ignores the selection and loads the old profile. Safe Mode (thunderbird.exe -safe-mode) also does not disable the welcome module.

This appears to be a profiles.ini corruption or a profile lock issue, because Thunderbird is not switching profiles even though the Profile Manager shows the correct selection.

Could you advise how to repair or reset the profile configuration so Thunderbird will actually load a new profile?

Thank you.