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How can I take an old employee's folders and move them to a new Employee's email in thunderbird?

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

Kathy71
Kathy71
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We had an IT person for another software come in and could not get his software running so he created a new windows user and when he added my users Thunderbird email he just created a new profile instead of bringing the old one over. That employee is gone and I would like to take his folders he has organized with years of emails and some how get them into the new user's email.

We had an IT person for another software come in and could not get his software running so he created a new windows user and when he added my users Thunderbird email he just created a new profile instead of bringing the old one over. That employee is gone and I would like to take his folders he has organized with years of emails and some how get them into the new user's email.

All Replies (2)

Kathy71
Kathy71 Question owner
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I think I found a long way. Pretty easy but will take time. Open the old profile and note down the folder names. Then open one folder select all emails and say save as. Save them to a location with the same folder name. Then open new user Thunderbird and create new folders with the names you noted. Now open explorer and open one folder and select all the email. Drag them to the same folder in Thunderbird. Done it works, but if you have hundreds of folders I hope there is an easier way.

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Make hidden files and folders visible. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders

Access the old User Account and locate the Thunderbird profile name folder. Usually located here: C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ click on 'Mail' to see pop mail accounts and Local Folders. click on mail account You should see files. mbox files (with same name as folders in folder pane) they contain emails. They do not have any extension. .msf files are for indexing purposes and do not contain emails. .sbd folders are created when subfolders are created. They may contain subfolder mbox files and indexing files.

Options: 1) Close Thunderbird and then..... Copy and paste the mbox files from old profile into the new Windows User /Appdata/roaming/Thunderbird/ Profile name folder/Mail/Local Folders.

2) Download and install 'ImportExportTools' addon https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/installing-addon-thunderbird

In Thunderbird Right click on 'Local Folders' folder and select: 'ImportExportTools' >'Import mbox file'

If only wanting to import mbox files choose first option. If there are subfolders and you want to import full strcture then select the second option. click on OK

Locate old profile mbox file and click on 'Open'


Note: Alternative quick method for locating current Profile name folder. In Thunderbird Help > Troubleshooting Information click on 'Open Folder'