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

importing/exporting old mails to a new device

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by david

more options

How do I get mail from the 'sent' folder on an old laptop into a new one? I have migrated old received mail and contacts to the new inbox no problem.

Using the export tool is no use - the Zip folder it creates titled 'Thunderbird_profile_backup' is corrupted and nothing can open it. I manually copied all files into an external drive and opened them in the new Thunderbird. That imported contacts but not mail from the old 'sent' folder. How do I get all those old sent mails out of the old device?

How do I get mail from the 'sent' folder on an old laptop into a new one? I have migrated old received mail and contacts to the new inbox no problem. Using the export tool is no use - the Zip folder it creates titled 'Thunderbird_profile_backup' is corrupted and nothing can open it. I manually copied all files into an external drive and opened them in the new Thunderbird. That imported contacts but not mail from the old 'sent' folder. How do I get all those old sent mails out of the old device?

All Replies (1)

more options

I don't know how you migrated, but there are other ways besides the zip approach. It's easier to migrate everything, but since you've done part of it, I'll help with the remaining pieces. - locate the sent folder on old PC. if you're not sure how to find that, let me know. The accompanying .msf file is not needed. copy to external media - if not already installed on new PC, install the addon, importexporttools. - create a folder in Local Folders for the desired sent folder. Name it whatever you wish. - highlight the folder, rightclick, select the importexport option to import mbox - locate the sent folder on the external media and click ok.