Thunderbird mail transfer - how do I go about doing this?

[Red Squirrel]

I'm setting up a new PC for my parents and I did the mistake of downloading all their email before I transfer the profile over, so I can't overwrite it now. How do I go about transferring all their old emails and merging them with the new emails?

To make matters worse the new PC uses thunderbird 3.x and the old uses 2.x.

 

[lxskllr]

Did you try Tools-Import?

 

[Modelworks]

There is a good program for this:
http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

I recommend when you reinstall mozilla that you use the portable version.
It installs to its own directory and it puts all the data in that folder. So all you have to do to backup all the mail and the program is copy the folder.
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/thunderbird_portable

I use firefox portable for that reason, never have to reinstall plugins or scripts or bookmarks ,etc. Just copy the folder.

 

[lxskllr]

There is a good program for this:
http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

I recommend when you reinstall mozilla that you use the portable version.
It installs to its own directory and it puts all the data in that folder. So all you have to do to backup all the mail and the program is copy the folder.
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/thunderbird_portable

I use firefox portable for that reason, never have to reinstall plugins or scripts or bookmarks ,etc. Just copy the folder.

I do the same thing, but leave the directories in the default locations. It's a bit more work I guess, but it works fine.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I figured out a way. I created a new fake account, then I grabbed the folder from their old profile and replaced the one created for that fake account, and it loaded everything.

For some reason only 1 out of 5 folders actually transfer properly, the rest I had to manually create then move the emails. Can't just grab all the folders and do a single drag/drop. Had the same issue when I migrated them off my imap server. I hate localized email!

But yeah it works, tedious, but it works.

 

[jmagg]

Moz backup would have taken about 2 minutes to make the move.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

i've had good experiences with mozbackup also.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Actually can mozbackup be ran by command line? I'm wondering if I should set that up for them as part of the backup strategy. Right now I use syncback and just grab the whole profile as well as the D drive and back it up to the NAS.

 

[jmagg]

I recommend when you reinstall mozilla that you use the portable version.
It installs to its own directory and it puts all the data in that folder. So all you have to do to backup all the mail and the program is copy the folder.
http://portableapps.com/apps/interne...rbird_portable

I use firefox portable for that reason, never have to reinstall plugins or scripts or bookmarks ,etc. Just copy the folder.

I wasn't aware of the portable, thx

 

[whoiswes]

I wasn't aware of the portable, thx

Another way of defining where you want the firefox and thunderbird profiles is to launch the exe with the -p flag, which brings up the profile manager...you can specify multiple profiles and the location for each.

I have my profile pointed to a 'profile' directory within the firefox folder...same with thunderbird. Programs are both running off a data partition (not C:\) I can reinstall the OS and I don't lose a thing (even cache/history).

It's another way of doing what portable apps is doing, that's all.

HTH