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What will happen to THUNDERBIRD on my computer if I do a complete reinstallation of the mac OS Mojave?

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  • Last reply by Mark B72

Mark B72
Mark B72
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If I do a complete reinstallation of the Mac Mojave OS, how will this affect my Thunderbird? Will I lose my preferences? Will I lose the folders I've created for sorting incoming mail?

If I do a complete reinstallation of the Mac Mojave OS, how will this affect my Thunderbird? Will I lose my preferences? Will I lose the folders I've created for sorting incoming mail?

Chosen solution

As with any OS reinstallation, all files are removed.

Suggest you perform a backup of your thunderbird profile first. Mac OS X Profile folders are located here: ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/<Profile name>/ Exit Thunderbird first Access the Library and copy the 'Thunderbird' folder to an external drive. The tilde character (~) refers to the current user's Home folder, so ~/Library is the /Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/Library folder.

After reinstalling the OS and performing all necessary updates. Download and install Thunderbird from this link: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/all/ Choose your prefered language and select the download for your OS.

Run Thunderbird the first time and it will create a default profile. Do not bother with creating mail accounts, just Exit Thunderbird.

Access your backup and copy the backed up 'Thunderbird' folder Access the new default profile: ~/Library/Thunderbird Delete that 'Thunderbird' folder. Then paste the copied backup 'Thunderbird' folder into the 'Library' folder.

Start Thunderbird and it should now use your original profile.

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Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

As with any OS reinstallation, all files are removed.

Suggest you perform a backup of your thunderbird profile first. Mac OS X Profile folders are located here: ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/<Profile name>/ Exit Thunderbird first Access the Library and copy the 'Thunderbird' folder to an external drive. The tilde character (~) refers to the current user's Home folder, so ~/Library is the /Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/Library folder.

After reinstalling the OS and performing all necessary updates. Download and install Thunderbird from this link: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/all/ Choose your prefered language and select the download for your OS.

Run Thunderbird the first time and it will create a default profile. Do not bother with creating mail accounts, just Exit Thunderbird.

Access your backup and copy the backed up 'Thunderbird' folder Access the new default profile: ~/Library/Thunderbird Delete that 'Thunderbird' folder. Then paste the copied backup 'Thunderbird' folder into the 'Library' folder.

Start Thunderbird and it should now use your original profile.

Mark B72
Mark B72 Question owner
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Great response. Clear and exactly what I needed to know and how to deal with the issue I asked about. Appreciated how quickly the response was provided.