“I have an old laptop with Mozilla Thunderbird on it. I want to move my emails and contacts to Thunderbird setup on a new computer. How can I do it?”
When you download and install Thunderbird on your Windows PC, it creates a folder named “Profiles” at its root location. This folder contains all the user profiles that are configured in Thunderbird, as shown in the image below.
Each profile folder is an MBOX file containing associated mailbox data, such as emails, contacts, SBD files, and more.
Some may say you can use your existing Thunderbird credentials to log in to Thunderbird installed on a new PC and move your data. However, this is not possible as Thunderbird creates a profile folder on the system (shown above) that stores the mailbox data. Thunderbird doesn’t store any data on the cloud.
Hence, you will need to manually move the Thunderbird profile folder or the complete MBOX file from the source computer to the destination computer. But how do you do it? Let’s find out.
Methods to Move Thunderbird Data to a New Computer
Below, we have explained two methods to help you move Thunderbird data to a new computer.
Method 1: Copy the Thunderbird Profile Folder (MBOX File) to a New Computer
If you want to transfer Thunderbird mailbox data from one computer to another, you can copy the profile folder containing the MBOX file from the root directory on the source computer and paste it at the exact location on the new computer. All you need is an external storage device, preferably with a large storage capacity (≥64GB) like an HDD or SSD, to transfer the profile folder.
Once you have your external storage device ready, follow the step-wise instructions given below:
Part 1: Copy the profile folder from the source computer
- Connect the external device on the computer from which you want to move the Thunderbird data.
- Launch Mozilla Thunderbird.
- Click on the hamburger icon in the top-right corner.
- Click on Help.
- Click on Troubleshooting Information.
- The Troubleshooting Information page will open in a new tab. It shows the Application Basics table containing information about the application.
- Scroll down to locate the Profile Folder entry.
- Click on Open Folder against it.
- It will open the folder containing all of the mailbox data associated with your profile stored on your system locally.
- Note down your profile name from the address bar and go a level up.
- Locate your profile folder and right-click on it. Copy it and paste it into the connected external storage drive.
- Once you have copied the profile folder into the external drive, safely eject it.
Alternatively, you can locate the profile folder by following the below steps:
- Launch Thunderbird and click on the Gear icon at the lower-left corner.
- Click on Account Settings.
- Copy the address given in the Local Directory.
- Paste it into the Windows Explorer address bar. Press Enter to go to the location.
- Note down the name of the profile folder and click on Profiles in the address bar to move up.
- Copy the profile folder and paste it into your external storage drive.
Part 2: Paste the profile folder on the destination computer
- Connect the external drive containing your profile folder with the new computer to which you want to transfer.
- Copy the profile folder.
- Launch the Mozilla Thunderbird on the new computer.
- Again, click on the hamburger icon and then go to Help > Troubleshooting Information.
- The Troubleshooting Information page will open. Locate the profile Folder in the Application Basics table and click on the Open Folder button against it.
- It will open the folder containing the mailbox data associated with the profile.
- Close Thunderbird.
- Now, go up three levels to the profile folder and paste the copied profile folder.
- You have successfully moved Thunderbird data to a new computer.
Method 2: Import the MBOX File into Thunderbird
You can also move your Thunderbird mailbox data to a new computer by importing the MBOX file/profile folder in it. For this, you must transfer the MBOX file from the source computer to the new computer. You will also need to use the ImportExportTools NG add-on in Thunderbird to import the MBOX file or the profile folder.
How to Move Thunderbird Data to an Outlook/Office 365 Account?
Many organizations and individuals are transitioning from email clients, such as Thunderbird to Outlook, which simplifies mailbox data access & management. However, it is not a straightforward process as the MBOX file format is not supported by Outlook/Office 365.
If you are also in the same situation and want to migrate from Thunderbird to Outlook, the only way is to convert the MBOX file into Outlook-importable PST file format. For this, you can use Stellar Converter for MBOX. It is an advanced MBOX to PST converter tool that lets you convert an MBOX file to Outlook or Office 365 compatible PST file format. You can also use this software to save the MBOX file data as HTML or PDF files.
Apart from Mozilla Thunderbird, Stellar Converter for MBOX supports other MBOX-compatible email clients like Apple Mail, PocoMail, Entourage, Mulberry, SeaMonkey, and more.
Conclusion
If you want to move your Thunderbird data to a new computer, you can use the methods explained above. But what if you want to move Thunderbird data to MS Outlook/Office 365? The answer is simple. You can convert Thunderbird data (MBOX file) to PST files. The software simplifies the process of migrating Thunderbird data to Outlook in just a few steps. Moreover, the software is compatible with 15+ MBOX-compatible email clients.
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