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Thunderbird as offline .eml viewer ONLY. How?

  • 3 replies
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  • Last reply by Matt

firefox.raro
firefox.raro
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Hi,

I just want to start Thunderbird offline and open existing messages as .eml files.

It seems to be impossible to create a mail folder view without a entering a mail account.

Why is this so difficult and what's the best way to hack Thunderbird into performing this seemingly trivial task?

I use Linux.

Ps: I've managed to start Thunderbird in offline mode, as per instructions here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1364783

There seems to be some way to do this by mungeing 'Local Folders' but seems to trigger infinite recursion and other bugs.. Ideally, for my use case, Thunderbird should not try to import the messages, simply allow me to view them. I want to use it as a viewer, not an agent.

Still experimenting. I'll update if I have a breakthru.


Cheers, Raro

Hi, I just want to start Thunderbird offline and open existing messages as .eml files. It seems to be impossible to create a mail folder view without a entering a mail account. Why is this so difficult and what's the best way to hack Thunderbird into performing this seemingly trivial task? I use Linux. Ps: I've managed to start Thunderbird in offline mode, as per instructions here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1364783 There seems to be some way to do this by mungeing 'Local Folders' but seems to trigger infinite recursion and other bugs.. Ideally, for my use case, Thunderbird should not try to import the messages, simply allow me to view them. I want to use it as a viewer, not an agent. Still experimenting. I'll update if I have a breakthru. Cheers, Raro

Modified by firefox.raro

All Replies (3)

Matt
Matt
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Use an EML viewer and not a mail client would be the best approach. Thunderbird no longer supports mail spool files, so current version are not suitable for the task.

firefox.raro
firefox.raro Question owner
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Matt said
Use an EML viewer and not a mail client would be the best approach. Thunderbird no longer supports mail spool files, so current version are not suitable for the task.

Thanks for this, but I've looked for an .eml viewer and found nothing open source for Linux, only 'Doze.

Can you suggest anything? I use mu for reading and standard tools for searching, etc, but something with a gui would be less fiddly, especially for dealing with attachments..

Modified by firefox.raro

Matt
Matt
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I really have no idea as I use a mail client on windows connected to the relevant mail account and do not use EML files, except for diagnostic issues. So a viewer for nix is not something I would be familiar with.