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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Problem Importing a ZIP backup of Thunderbird into newest version

  • 1 reply
  • 0 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by david

kantors3
kantors3
more options

I was having an issue connecting to the ISP thru Thunderbird so I decided to "repair/install" the latest Thunderbird download version. When I ran the install it asked me to create new profiles - it would not let me exit and keep the old - which wiped out all my previous emails, local folders, and Contacts. I had backed up the mail data into a Zip file a day before. But now I have a Zip file and no clear idea as to how to get all the data into my current version of Thunderbird. The Import function references either other email clients or file types that don't exist within the decompressed zip file. What to do?

I was having an issue connecting to the ISP thru Thunderbird so I decided to "repair/install" the latest Thunderbird download version. When I ran the install it asked me to create new profiles - it would not let me exit and keep the old - which wiped out all my previous emails, local folders, and Contacts. I had backed up the mail data into a Zip file a day before. But now I have a Zip file and no clear idea as to how to get all the data into my current version of Thunderbird. The Import function references either other email clients or file types that don't exist within the decompressed zip file. What to do?

All Replies (1)

david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

It depends on what you backed up when you state 'mail data' - was it the full profile or just some message folders? a screenshot of what is in the zip folder may help. If it was the full profile, you can unzip, and use tools>import>import from another thunderbird installation. And, your old profile may still be there, unless you consciously deleted it. You can browse c:\users\<yourid>\appdata\roamingg\thunderbird\profiles to see if there are folders of recent use. Folder size may be a clue.