Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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.

Copy only Thunderbird messages (email) to a USB flash drive

  • 8 antwoorde
  • 1 het hierdie probleem
  • 1 view
  • Laaste antwoord deur P Brixey

more options

I want to copy all of my messages to a USB drive. I do not want ALL of the profile, just my messages. Will making a copy of the "global-messages-db.sqlite" file do it for me? It is the biggest file in the profile at 218,720 KB Thanks.

I want to copy all of my messages to a USB drive. I do not want ALL of the profile, just my messages. Will making a copy of the "global-messages-db.sqlite" file do it for me? It is the biggest file in the profile at 218,720 KB Thanks.

Gekose oplossing

I wanted to copy all emails from ALL folders so I copied the global-messages-db.sqlite file and replaced the existing one and there they were, all files in all their respective folders. It was a piece of cake. Now I need to copy my calendars over.

Lees dié antwoord in konteks 👍 0

All Replies (8)

more options

The importexport addon can extract all messages per folder in eml format. You could then copy them all to a USB.

more options

Thanks, I have that add-on installed but have yet to try it. I assume if I "export" emails from a folder to a USB I can import them to a different TBird install on a different PC? Would copying and replacing the global-messages-db.sqlite file on the other PC work too?

more options

The importexport addon can extract and also import.

more options

pbrixey41 said

Thanks, I have that add-on installed but have yet to try it. I assume if I "export" emails from a folder to a USB I can import them to a different TBird install on a different PC? Would copying and replacing the global-messages-db.sqlite file on the other PC work too?

The sqlite file is not needed for this operation, and neither is an add-on. Select the messages in the folder (Ctrl+A to select all), then Ctrl+S to save them as eml files in an external File Explorer folder. To import them to another PC that has TB, create a subfolder of Local Folders, then add the eml files to the subfolder by drag and drop from File Explorer.

more options

Gekose oplossing

I wanted to copy all emails from ALL folders so I copied the global-messages-db.sqlite file and replaced the existing one and there they were, all files in all their respective folders. It was a piece of cake. Now I need to copy my calendars over.

more options

When you open a message, does it show any content?

more options

When I replaced the sqlite file with the one I copied, ALL of the emails were there, in ALL of their respective folders. Every one I open is correct with all original content. Easy Peasy, eh?

more options

david said

The importexport addon can extract all messages per folder in eml format. You could then copy them all to a USB.

I did not want to bother dealing with individual email file and flders, too messy. I have thousands of them due to businesses, forums, groups etc that I own or manage. All I had to do was to copy and paste ONE file. Maybe others who want to do the same, they will try it to validate what I did.