Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

Failure to import ZIP of old emails

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by david

more options

Hi folks!

I had to configure a new email which I run from the Thunderbird platform. I backed up a year's worth of emails in a ZIP file before deleting the old email (apparently I had to) and I have followed the instructions to import the old emails. The imported file appears in my 'local folders' section in Thunderbird but these files appear to be empty. I cannot find information or previous questions addressing this issue so I would appreciate any suggestions. The ZIP folder is smaller than 2GB.

Many thanks in advance!

Hi folks! I had to configure a new email which I run from the Thunderbird platform. I backed up a year's worth of emails in a ZIP file before deleting the old email (apparently I had to) and I have followed the instructions to import the old emails. The imported file appears in my 'local folders' section in Thunderbird but these files appear to be empty. I cannot find information or previous questions addressing this issue so I would appreciate any suggestions. The ZIP folder is smaller than 2GB. Many thanks in advance!

Chosen solution

use the addon, importexport. Unzip the file somewhere on disk drive, in thunderbird, highlight the designated folder to contain the messages, and click tools>importexporttools>import messages.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (3)

more options

It will help to see a screenshot of a listing of the contents of the zip file. The tools>import is intended to restore a full profile, and what you describe appears to be something else.

more options

Thanks a lot for your reply David. I've attached a screenshot of the folder contents of the ZIP file, which as you can see are a list of individual emails (it's not the full contents obviously, but the other 100s of email files are the same format). As I said earlier, the ZIP is less than 2GB. Let me know how/if this clarifies anything, much appreciated. Gavin

more options

Chosen Solution

use the addon, importexport. Unzip the file somewhere on disk drive, in thunderbird, highlight the designated folder to contain the messages, and click tools>importexporttools>import messages.