How do I set up Thunderbird on my new PC to be identical to Thunderbird on my old PC?
What I'm Trying to Do: set up Thunderbird on my new PC so that it's identical (same account, messages, folders, address book contents, etc.-- everything) to Thunderbird on my old PC. (Both PCs have the same OS.) The Problem(s): 1.] I can't fully follow the steps in the article "Moving Thunderbird Data to a New Computer", because I don't quite understand what creating a new profile actually means-- is this going to result in replicating my old PC's Thunderbird setup? Or creating a new setup unlike the old one?; 2.] on my new PC, when I choose Import in Thunderbird, then navigate to my Profile Folder, I don't know what to put in the File name blank and thus can't go any further; 3.] whenever I copy my Profile Folder, and then look inside the copy's folders, there don't seem to be any files there at all; somehow, only the folders have copied (no idea why).
If anyone understands what's going on here, how to fix it, and how to convey this to someone with basic computer skills like myself, please let me know.
Thanks for your assistance.
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There is no support under "Import" for what you're trying to do.
All of your accounts, settings, address books, filters, customisations, extensions etc are stored in your profile. By copying the profile you end up with an identical installation in the new computer.
The profile is simply a bunch of folder and files. You can copy them from one computer to another. I'd suggest you use Thunderbird to find the working profile. Help|Troubleshooting Information, and in that click the button to open the profile folder, which will open in your default file manager.
Now close Thunderbird.
In your file manager, move up until you are one level above the Thunderbird folder. Copy it (the "Thunderbird" folder) to your usb stick or whatever. Note the location (usually under Users\{your account}\AppData\Roaming and copy it to the equivalent place in the new computer. Note it may be many GB in size and may take some time to copy, and some USB-connected drives have given me trouble, going to sleep in mid process.
I had similar issues to yours, I think, when I moved the profile from my last Windows 7 computer to this new one with Windows 10. Windows' copy utility didn't seem to want to walk all the nested folders. I don't recall what I did to fix it. (You'd really think that with every new version of Windows it would get better. Not so.) At that time I was involved in regularly copying large sets of files from one computer to another and had developed batch files to use Robocopy. I may have used that to overcome Windows Explorer's deficiencies, or I may have been using an alternative file manager.
To cut to the chase: if your file copy utility isn't working, that's something you need to take up with its authors, or find a better one.
I'm sorry because I know that will come over as unhelpful, but copying folders and files is a basic function of the operating system and its tools. This is not something we at Thunderbird can fix.
Re: the assumption that this problem's source must be my OS and/or its tools (file copy utility, etc.): while this is of course possible, the explanation which, in my experience, more often applies is that I'm simply doing things wrong (again). (Limited tech skills here, remember?)
If that's the case-- and it usually is-- would you please help me learn how to do this right (i.e., recreate my old Thunderbird setup on a new PC) by clarifying a few things?: 1.] Where exactly would one level above the Thunderbird folder be? (My Thunderbird profile folder is located where you said it would most likely be: Users\{my account}\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\{folder with 8-digit name + .default}.) 2.] Which folder do I actually copy? (The one named "Thunderbird", the one named "Profiles", or the folder inside the latter?) 3.] To what location on the new PC do I copy this folder? (Profiles? The folder inside Profiles? etc.)
Also, just in case this might help clarify the situation, I thought I'd mention a couple of things: A.] Re: my post saying that only Thunderbird's folders (not its files) had copied: turns out this isn't quite accurate-- when accessed via Thunderbird-->Events and Tasks-->Import...-->, nothing shows except the folders, but the files can be seen if you access this copy using some other method. B.] Shortly before posting my original question, I had used Windows Easy Transfer with these two PCs, and then found that none of my old Thunderbird data had been moved to my new computer. Don't know if this failure could signify a problem with my Thunderbird, or be causing one now vis-a-vis transferring the old profile (or maybe Windows Easy Transfer is just inherently incompatible with Thunderbird?), but since it seems inexplicably odd, I thought that I should mention it.
Thanks for your help (and patience).
lets try the simplified version (it might work if all thing are located in default locations.
On your old computer
Press the windows key + R
type %appdata% and press enter.
In the windows file manager that opens locate the Thunderbird folder that appears.
Drag the folder to a USB thumb drive.
Open the Thunderbird folder on the use drive and make sure it contains sub folders. Open one or two to make sure files in them have been copied. Mail in particular. you will open Thunderbird\profiles\something.default\mail
On your new computer. Plug in the USB drive and locate the Thunderbird folder you placed on it.
Now click the start menu Press the windows key + R type %appdata% and press enter.
A windows file manger window will open with a folder names roaming selected. IF it is not selected select it. drag the Thunderbird folder from the USB drive to the Roaming folder. IF you are prompted to replace files to yes to all
This process replaces what you have on the new computer, if anything with all the information on your old computer. This does however presupposes that you did not set any paths in the account settings to other than their default locations and you Thunderbird profile itself is in the default location.