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How can I merge folders from 1 Thunderbird account on 1 user account in Windows 10, to the same Thunderbird account on a different Windows 10 user account

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  • Last reply by Tristen

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I set up a Thunderbird (TB) email account for someone on their new Windows 10 machine - in a standard-user Windows 10 account. In order to use their business software, they went ahead and set up the same Thunderbird email account in a different Windows 10 account (Admin) on the same computer and proceeded to send/receive emails on the Admin account. So now I am tasked with moving the folders from the Standard-user/Thunderbird account, into the Admin/Thunderbird account. Is there an easy way to accomplish this?

Back in the Outlook Express days, it was simply a matter of finding the location of the folder files in the old account (.dbx - or some such), copying the required files onto a removable disk, then pasting the files into the folder location of the new account. I'm hoping to find a similarly simple solution in Thunderbird.

Since emails have been downloaded from both Standard-user/TB and Admin/TB accounts, I can't simply write over one folder with another - or else will loose messages. So I assume that some renaming of folders (probably destination) and subsequently moving emails into the correct folders may be involved - but I hope that is simple enough if necessary.

I found a possible solution of syncing the accounts with gmail; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer But this article is not well written for those of us new to Thunderbird. Also, It is not ideal to have to upload Gigabytes of emails, in order to be able to download them again on a different account on the same computer. But if that's the best solution, then a more detailed instruction set would be appreciated.

Once the folders have been merged into the Admin/TB account, the Standard-user/TB account will no longer be used. Thanks in advance for any help.

I set up a Thunderbird (TB) email account for someone on their new Windows 10 machine - in a standard-user Windows 10 account. In order to use their business software, they went ahead and set up the same Thunderbird email account in a different Windows 10 account (Admin) on the same computer and proceeded to send/receive emails on the Admin account. So now I am tasked with moving the folders from the Standard-user/Thunderbird account, into the Admin/Thunderbird account. Is there an easy way to accomplish this? Back in the Outlook Express days, it was simply a matter of finding the location of the folder files in the old account (.dbx - or some such), copying the required files onto a removable disk, then pasting the files into the folder location of the new account. I'm hoping to find a similarly simple solution in Thunderbird. Since emails have been downloaded from both Standard-user/TB and Admin/TB accounts, I can't simply write over one folder with another - or else will loose messages. So I assume that some renaming of folders (probably destination) and subsequently moving emails into the correct folders may be involved - but I hope that is simple enough if necessary. I found a possible solution of syncing the accounts with gmail; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer But this article is not well written for those of us new to Thunderbird. Also, It is not ideal to have to upload Gigabytes of emails, in order to be able to download them again on a different account on the same computer. But if that's the best solution, then a more detailed instruction set would be appreciated. Once the folders have been merged into the Admin/TB account, the Standard-user/TB account will no longer be used. Thanks in advance for any help.

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https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/

That add-on will make it possible to import individual folders from the profile folder stored in the original user account.

For the future be advised that IMAP mail accounts remove this issue as the mail remains on the server. So setting up the account on another device leads to automatic synchronization of mail

I think it is quite important that your explain to the persons involved that if they are running software that is so poorly written that it requires the user to log in using the local machines admin account that when they get hacked (not if) that it is that software that is directly responsible. It is the use of local admin accounts that is largely responsible the the success of ransomware.that encrypts whole drive machines and servers.

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Thanks Matt for the quick response.

I won't have access to the computer for a week or so - but when I do, will give your solution a try and let you know how it goes.