Migrate Thunderbird Profile

This article will match the following case:

• Backup and restore thunderbird profile in same or different computer
• Move thunderbird profile to another computer
• Migrate thunderbird profile from Windows to Linux (vice versa)

This is what we should do:

A. Backup / copy the profile directory

1. Open the Thunderbird application
2. (optional) if you want to make the directory not too big when copying the files, you can call the procedure File-CompactFolder, although this step is done, the size of directory is depends on emails stored, so do not expect that the direcotry size is small as you wish
3. Click Help - Troubleshooting Information, then find the field Profile Directory
4. Click the button Open Directory
5. You will be redirected to your profile directory, copy the container directory (usually a directory named xxxxxxxx.default) and store it in a save place

B. Restore / moving the profile directory in a new environment

1. First we need to let the thunderbird create the default directory, open the thunderbird application
2. Click Help - Troubleshooting Information, then click the button Open Directory
3. Let the directory opened, while you close the thunderbird so that you can make a modification
4. Go upward of the directory, and you will find a file named profiles.ini
5. Move / copy your backup to this directory, copy the directory name (xxxxxx.default)
6. Edit the profiles.ini modify the line Path to your backup directory name

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=xxxxxxxx.default
Default=1

That's all for moving thunderbird profile or backup thunderbird profile.

Thank you for reading this article... ~ok