Thunderbird backup selectively: account configuration, settings backup, etc and restore
Please - can anyone tell how to backup only email account configuration: mail server settings (server address, port, protocol, etc), usernames, passwords, email account aliases, RSS accounts, etc. Would be good to include here Address Book but sometimes it would be good to be able to backup Address Book separately. Hopefully all email accounts would be possible to backup regardless of authentication type. I mean also email accounts using OAuth2 authentication. Also would be good to be able backup Thunderbird own settings separately. Sometimes is only email account settings important to backup, sometimes also Thunderbird settings, e.g. extensions separately. As usually there are IMAP-protocol used then emails are not needed to backup what most such extensions are offering like ImportExportTools NG. As you can read from https://support.mozilla.org/et/questions/1281340 - backuping whole profile (including emails) requires enormous amount of storage space. Sometimes is needed certainly also email backup itself. It would be very much appreciated if there could be an option to select manually every component that is included into backup and what is not. I've tried to find these files manually what to copy to backup these settings mentioned above but haven't succeeded to figure out which file is connected to which part of settings. Certainly I prefer free and open-source solutions. Certainly also restoring backupped settings flawlessly.
Using currently 64-bit Thunderbird 68.11 under GNU/Linux, manually downloaded as user from Thunderbird homepage. Usually tutorials handle all data (including emails) that are not needed and do not allow to distinguish only required part of data: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer https://www.auralsolutions.com/2012/12/how-to-backup-thunderbird-data-emails-and-contacts/ https://github.com/thundernest/import-export-tools-ng https://www.iperiusbackup.net/en/backup-thunderbird-and-restore-email-and-account/ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder
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Now using Thunderbird 78.4.0 and still no way to export selectively: account configuration, settings :( When opening account main page in navigation pane, there is "Import from Another Program" but missing is "EXPORT" button! Also same choice in Tools menu - EXPORT is missing choice! Why is it so hard to do? Is there any working extension? So far I see only whole profile export, which I don't need as email is over IMAPs and there is lot of emails (many gigabytes). I just need to export mainly email account settings for backup purposes and later restore in same Thunderbird. Certainly there will be need for other email programs as well by other people.
Hi I do not know whether anyone has an easy way to do that. This list of the files in the profile and what they are may help you build a list of what you want to copy as a backup.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Files_and_folders_in_the_profile_-_Thunderbird
Please note that this list may not be up to date, and any future update to Thunderbird may introduce more files that you might want to add to your backups.
That's true, it's a bit outdated and does not reflect new 78.x version files. E.g. address book seems to be now in abook.sqlite and not abook.mab but certainly, some hints it gives. I need to experiment a lot in order to find out the truth... Actually backing up email configuration is usually part of nowadays email program. Even also backing up the program configuration. Let's hope, that at eventually backing up program settings, email configuration will be part of Thunderbird.
The reality is a Thunderbird profile is structured around account numbers and storage locations defined in preferences. So backing up part of a profile and restoring it is not simple and never has been. The simple solution is to back up the entire profile.
There are a number of "export" options in the import export tools that go a long way toward backup up mail. But there is nothing to allow partial backups of say settings and exporting the various SQLITE files into something other that a full backup will never be all that successful. I am not sure any one individual actually understands the relationship to sqlite files to calendars in it's entirety. Although there are a couple who might go close.
I think get used to the idea you must backup your entire profile folder and you will not go far wrong. Anything else is really just a dream. Even the guy that wrote mozbackup gave it up almost a decade ago and things have only become more complex since.
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools-ng/?src=ss
No, you didn't understood the initial question. I don't need any full profile backup. I just need configuration backup. As I mentioned, IMAP-folders are usually used and no need to backup them. Addressbook is important, that can be exported, imported, even put the abook.sqlite* files to cloud-synced folder and make symlink back to profile works, e.g. with pCloud, that doesn't do aggressive sync like Dropbox. With Dropbox such syncing database is not suggested. Anyway - exporting just account settings would be appreciated. Also program settings separately. If I need full profile backup, certainly I can use that importexporttools-ng, which I know and have installed, tested it and not satisfied as I don't need mail, but configuration only. I also plan to use same technic as with address book - put appropriate files to folder synced with cloud and symlinking back to Thunderbird profile folder. As soon as I can figure out, which files are used to store email account settings Same applies also to program settings. Some information can be found at those links I posted initially. But all this data is outdated and it seems like no other way, than experimenting manually to figure out, which files are involved for email settings and which for program settings. Whole profile to sync with cloud is not also meaningful, as using IMAP will keep emails in server anyway. Therefore the need to sync email, program settings only is relevant.