This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Hierdie gesprek is in die argief. Vra asseblief 'n nuwe vraag as jy hulp nodig het.

How to back up my emails in Thunderbird before changing my email provider?

  • 1 antwoord
  • 0 hierdie probleem
  • 9 views
  • Laaste antwoord deur david

more options

I have to switch to another email provider. But the old provider does not allow me to back up my emails and later re-import them at the new provider. I have been using IMAP for all my emails. So when I change the settings in Thunderbird to the new email provider's settings, I assume that in Thunderbird, all my older emails will be deleted (when Thunderbird synchs my account with the new email provider, and the old emails are not there, I assume all older emails will be deleted from Thunderbird?). How can I avoid losing my old emails during the migration? I have already created subfolders to my Local Folders (Backup/email1, etc), and copied all my emails there. Is that enough? Those would not disappear during a switch of email providers, right? Also, I work with a laptop on the road, and a desktop from at home, and I have no access to the desktop machine at his time. How can I transfer the backed-up emails from my Local Folder to the desktop computer later?

I have to switch to another email provider. But the old provider does not allow me to back up my emails and later re-import them at the new provider. I have been using IMAP for all my emails. So when I change the settings in Thunderbird to the new email provider's settings, I assume that in Thunderbird, all my older emails will be deleted (when Thunderbird synchs my account with the new email provider, and the old emails are not there, I assume all older emails will be deleted from Thunderbird?). How can I avoid losing my old emails during the migration? I have already created subfolders to my Local Folders (Backup/email1, etc), and copied all my emails there. Is that enough? Those would not disappear during a switch of email providers, right? Also, I work with a laptop on the road, and a desktop from at home, and I have no access to the desktop machine at his time. How can I transfer the backed-up emails from my Local Folder to the desktop computer later?

All Replies (1)

more options

If you have copied all messages from IMAP folders to Local Folders, you have prevented loss of the messages. To put the folders on the desktop computer, just - exit thunderbird on laptop - copy the Mail\Local Folders folders of interest to a USB stick - on desktop, create the same dummy folders in thunderbird - exit TB and copy the folders from USB to overwrite the dummy folders.