Storing user profile over internet/using IP or domain based path to navigate to profile directory
I know this will probably sound unusual, but I am wondering whether it's possible to have a user profile that is located on the internet, or otherwise use a domain address in the profile configuration file (such as 'https://mydomain.com/thunderbirddatabase/').
The goal is to essentially create a Thunderbird server that would enable a consistent experience across multiple devices that an individual might need to be able to occasionally use, without needing to duplicate changes, updates, and so on. For example, if I create a signature file, but later make changes to the signature, I would have to copy those changes on every device. If I use a desktop to install Quicktext for email templates, then create email templates, I'd have to repeat the process on a laptop before I could have those templates at my disposal. If I were to add new templates, or edit existing ones, I'd have to repeat the process on every machine. Meanwhile, calendar and contacts data also has to be constantly exported and imported. This constant duplication may not be convenient, and the need to use an alternate device might present itself with little warning.
Obviously, if a user wanted to do something like this for storage on a home network they could simply move their profile to something like H:\thunderbird\database and point each respective machine there. But that would only be usable when connected to the home network, which is not very suitable for portability. And yes, I realize that it's somewhat of a peculiar idea to have all your emails come from the original mail server to a second internet based server, just to serve them to the client user. But Thunderbird is far more than just a mail client (all modern mail clients are, really). It's serving up the "everything else" that would be useful.
All Replies (3)
That is what webmail is, software written to run from a webserver. However, you might create a virtual drive on your pc and set the profile there. That would provide a disk address, which is what TB wants, as long as you could establish the virtual drive from wherever you were. And, no, TB is not more than a mail client. What it does, it does very well, but let's not attempt to make it a web-driven content management system. These are my comments, and I'll leave it at that.
Wow, what a ridiculous reply!
First of all, you are flatly wrong when you say that Thunderbird is only a mail client. Email does not involve a calendar. Email protocols do not involve using an html file as an automatic signature. Email does not involve saving contacts information. Email does not involve message templates, or spell checkers with custom dictionaries, or choosing which pretty colors a person looks at, or any of the other various things that Thunderbird provides, either natively or through extensions. In fact, email itself does not involve any user interface whatsoever. While all of these things may be relevant to a person's use of email, the contents of those emails, or the purpose of the emails, they are not themselves email anymore than an automobile is a dentist just because that's how you got to your appointment.
After having lived through a time when Donald Trump was elected President and spent four years in the White House, your post is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever heard someone say. Nobody said anything about converting Thunderbird into Wordpress.
And I fully well know that I could create a logical drive on my computer to store my Thunderbird profile. Do you think I would talk about storing the profile on a network attached drive and yet not realize that the drive could also by on my device itself? I mean, come on! Your response isn't even directed to me! You're pandering to an external audience that might wander in here from a google search result but who doesn't understand what's being said in the first place, hoping that you will somehow look like an expert to the unknowing.
Hell, if I really, really, really wanted, I could map an FTP connection to my computer, use that as logical drive, and accomplish the end result I'm looking for that way. But that adds a layer of complication that would be easily circumvented if I could point to a domain address for my profile.
You know the funny (SAD!) thing is that you come in here acting pretentious, as if you're some kind of grand expert, but your stubborn response only really makes sense if you don't understand very simple and basic facts.
Thunderbird already supports network profile storage. The internet is just a network. So one might ask, why only limit Thunderbird to the local network? A domain address is really just a disk address that has to be translated first. So why shouldn't Thunderbird support domain addressing? Your reasoning seems to be that it would be too newfangled to take the next logical step.
If Thunderbird doesn't support it, then it doesn't support it. No big deal. All you had to say is that it's not supported. Maybe there would be technical difficulties involved in enabling such functionality (though I'm not sure why exactly that would be--if Thunderbird can display web pages don't see why it would be so difficult to look to an internet location to serve its profile). I really don't know, and it really doesn't matter. Because all I was doing was asking whether it's possible to do. But your obtuse reply points to something far bigger, and something quite laughable at that. For whatever reason, you are terrified of any idea that would expand Thunderbird's usability to keep up with modern methods of how humans use computers. You're like an angry old guy shaking his fist at kids enjoying a snow day because back in your day you had to walk to school uphill both ways in three foot snow drifts without any shoes on. What next? You want everyone to revert to the abacus?
But hey, maybe you're right. Maybe, instead of using Thunderbird we should all stop. Maybe that is the solution to doing things in Thunderbird. It makes perfect sense, right? Right?! No? Then shut up.
Modified by Just Nobody
Touched a nerve, huh? Well, you've got your name right - just nobody. And what TB does is what mail clients do: no more, no less. If you're unable to discuss topics (which it seems you cannot, then you should avoid forums.) What I gave you was an honest assessment to your post. There. Done.