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

Backing up Thunderbird

  • 3 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • Last reply by david

more options

Hello, I'm on the point of reinstalling MS Windows on my laptop and as part of the process I backed up Thunderbird to a USB stick using your instructions "Moving Thunderbird Data to a new computer".

I have four email addresses, one I've used for probably 15+ years, another for 8 years, and two more recent additions. In copying the data to the USB stick, there are two Trash transfers taking significant time, one for 70%, the other for 6%.

I've looked for the Trash folders on my laptop but can't locate them. I have empty Deleted folders (I'm in the UK so perhaps that's just a terminology difference). Obviously I don't want to have these Trash folders transferred into a fresh copy of Thunderbird after the Windows reinstall.

So my question is how do I delete these Trash folders before I copy the Thunderbird data to the USB stick, and how do I prevent them reoccurring?

Grateful for any help with my problem.

Regards, Andrew King

Hello, I'm on the point of reinstalling MS Windows on my laptop and as part of the process I backed up Thunderbird to a USB stick using your instructions "Moving Thunderbird Data to a new computer". I have four email addresses, one I've used for probably 15+ years, another for 8 years, and two more recent additions. In copying the data to the USB stick, there are two Trash transfers taking significant time, one for 70%, the other for 6%. I've looked for the Trash folders on my laptop but can't locate them. I have empty Deleted folders (I'm in the UK so perhaps that's just a terminology difference). Obviously I don't want to have these Trash folders transferred into a fresh copy of Thunderbird after the Windows reinstall. So my question is how do I delete these Trash folders before I copy the Thunderbird data to the USB stick, and how do I prevent them reoccurring? Grateful for any help with my problem. Regards, Andrew King

All Replies (3)

more options

To confirm the trash folder, I suggest deleting a message and see what happens to it. if it goes to your deleted folder, that is the trash folder. there should be a trash or delete in left sidebar and a right click should offer option to 'empty trash.' After emptying trash, you could do this to verify what folders you have:

  1. click help>troubleshootinginformaiton
  2. search for 'profile folder' in left side and then click 'open folder'
  3. exit thunderbird
  4. you are now in profile. click the imapmail folder if imap account or Mail folder if POP. click the account name and the various message folders and their sizes should appear. From here, you can see the sizes of all your folders and if there is a trash folder.
  5. another consideration is to click Tools>clear recent history to ensure cache is clear as you don't want to save that either.
  6. if imap, I also suggest rightclicking accountname in main screen and clicking 'subscribe' to see what folders you are using.
  7. TIP: if imap and if you have multi-megabytes of data, you can delete the message files in windows file explorer when thunderbird is not running to save copying them, as thunderbird will repopulate when restarted.

Helpful?

more options

Thanks David for your prompt response.

Sadly I'm not too computer literate. In your step 4 after clicking the imapmail folder where do I find the account name to click on to access the message folders and sizes?

Regards, Andrew

Helpful?

more options

In the imapmail folder, any folder there is an imap account. Click it to see its sub folder and then you will see the message folders, such as inbox, sent, etc.

Helpful?

Ask a question

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.