Importing messages into Thunderbird

Mike Rogers

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Dec 6, 2022, 11:13:08 AM12/6/22

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Can one of you fine folk advice me how to import messages from
Thunderbird on my old PC to Thunderbird on a new PC?

I've tried copying everything in the email folders on the old PC into
the corresponding folders on the new but it sees all the messages as
folders and won't open them as emails!

Help!

Mike

Andy Burns

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Dec 6, 2022, 12:18:10 PM12/6/22

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Mike Rogers wrote:

> Can one of you fine folk advice me how to import messages from Thunderbird on my
> old PC to Thunderbird on a new PC?

On the old PC

Tools > Export... > Export

it should produce a .zip file with everything in
copy that via USB stick/ network/ whatever to new PC, then

Tools > Import... > from a file

and point it to your copied .zip file

hopefully your file is under 2GB, otherwise you need to extract it yourself and
point it to the folder you extraced to ...

www.GymRats.uk

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Dec 6, 2022, 12:29:19 PM12/6/22

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On 06/12/2022 17:18, Andy Burns wrote:

> Tools > Export... > Export

Was about to suggest that then realised there is no Export optionon my
version 91.13.1 perhaps if I upgrade it might appear...

The other point I was going to mention but this is from donkeys years
ago, was that in the past I've had to set up all in-box sub-categories
(which is quite extensive) on the target machine to be identical to the
source machine in oder to import emails without an error.
But as I said, this was rather a long time ago and I doubt anyone elses
in-box has such a large directory structure.

Cheers - Pete

Andrew

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Dec 6, 2022, 12:35:38 PM12/6/22

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I don't have tools>export either on 102.5.1, only Import.

There is this addon though -

https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools-ng/?src=ss

Andy Burns

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Dec 6, 2022, 12:39:08 PM12/6/22

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Andrew wrote:

> I don't have tools>export either on 102.5.1, only Import.

I do have export on 102.5.1, but you seem to be running 91.13.1

Andrew

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Dec 6, 2022, 12:49:28 PM12/6/22

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Oops, sorry. I only noticed the "upgrade to" with my
slightly blurry eyes.

Max Demian

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Dec 6, 2022, 1:00:56 PM12/6/22

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Shut down Thunderbird on the old machine. Find the data folder: mine is
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird - there should be
folders such as Crash Reports, Pending Pings and Profiles, plus a couple
of files. (You might need to enable hidden files to see the folder.)
Copy all those - this is useful for backup purposes. Install Thunderbird
(latest version) on the new machine; start it and stop it. Copy all the
backup files into the data folder on the new machine, then restart
Thunderbird. There should be a complete installation with all the
information from the old installation.

--
Max Demian

Dave W

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Dec 6, 2022, 4:26:13 PM12/6/22

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There is alt.comp.software.thunderbird for this sort of query.
--
Dave W
>Help!
>
>Mike

John Rumm

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Dec 6, 2022, 7:47:51 PM12/6/22

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On 06/12/2022 16:13, Mike Rogers wrote:

I normally just copy they whole %appdata%\Thunderbird folder to the new
machine - when you start TB it will carry on like it was always that way.

--
Cheers,

John.

/=================================================================\
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Max Demian

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Dec 7, 2022, 6:31:12 AM12/7/22

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On 07/12/2022 00:47, John Rumm wrote:
> On 06/12/2022 16:13, Mike Rogers wrote:
>> Can one of you fine folk advice me how to import messages from
>> Thunderbird on my old PC to Thunderbird on a new PC?
>>
>> I've tried copying everything in the email folders on the old PC into
>> the corresponding folders on the new but it sees all the messages as
>> folders and won't open them as emails!
>>
>> Help!
>
> I normally just copy they whole %appdata%\Thunderbird folder to the new
> machine - when you start TB it will carry on like it was always that way.

Yes that's what I do.

--
Max Demian

Brian Gaff

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Dec 7, 2022, 9:56:25 AM12/7/22

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I suspect a version mismatch. Brian

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Brian Gaff

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Dec 7, 2022, 9:59:08 AM12/7/22

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And of course there is also a portable version of Thunderbird as well.

Brian

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Paul

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Dec 7, 2022, 1:10:38 PM12/7/22

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There is a potential, for the "folder-move-method" (which is
what I use), to be more version intolerant, than the Export-Import
method.

When you move the folder, the destination version of THunderbird
should be equal or greater. You could move from say TBird 2.0.0.23
to a fresh install of TBird 91.0.

Whereas with Export-Import, maybe you could go from 91.0 to 2.0.0.23.
Normally, the design intent of Export, is portability.

The message format(s) and box declarations probably haven't changed,
but the password and master password concepts have changed with time.
That's when "going forward" on version is going to work better.

I don't know what components are handled in Export-Import as I
don't recollect using it.

Paul