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What will happen to THUNDERBIRD on my computer if I do a complete reinstallation of the mac OS Mojave?

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  • Last reply by Mark B72

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If I do a complete reinstallation of the Mac Mojave OS, how will this affect my Thunderbird? Will I lose my preferences? Will I lose the folders I've created for sorting incoming mail?

If I do a complete reinstallation of the Mac Mojave OS, how will this affect my Thunderbird? Will I lose my preferences? Will I lose the folders I've created for sorting incoming mail?

Chosen solution

As with any OS reinstallation, all files are removed.

Suggest you perform a backup of your thunderbird profile first. Mac OS X Profile folders are located here: ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/<Profile name>/ Exit Thunderbird first Access the Library and copy the 'Thunderbird' folder to an external drive. The tilde character (~) refers to the current user's Home folder, so ~/Library is the /Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/Library folder.

After reinstalling the OS and performing all necessary updates. Download and install Thunderbird from this link: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/all/ Choose your prefered language and select the download for your OS.

Run Thunderbird the first time and it will create a default profile. Do not bother with creating mail accounts, just Exit Thunderbird.

Access your backup and copy the backed up 'Thunderbird' folder Access the new default profile: ~/Library/Thunderbird Delete that 'Thunderbird' folder. Then paste the copied backup 'Thunderbird' folder into the 'Library' folder.

Start Thunderbird and it should now use your original profile.

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Chosen Solution

As with any OS reinstallation, all files are removed.

Suggest you perform a backup of your thunderbird profile first. Mac OS X Profile folders are located here: ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/<Profile name>/ Exit Thunderbird first Access the Library and copy the 'Thunderbird' folder to an external drive. The tilde character (~) refers to the current user's Home folder, so ~/Library is the /Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/Library folder.

After reinstalling the OS and performing all necessary updates. Download and install Thunderbird from this link: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/all/ Choose your prefered language and select the download for your OS.

Run Thunderbird the first time and it will create a default profile. Do not bother with creating mail accounts, just Exit Thunderbird.

Access your backup and copy the backed up 'Thunderbird' folder Access the new default profile: ~/Library/Thunderbird Delete that 'Thunderbird' folder. Then paste the copied backup 'Thunderbird' folder into the 'Library' folder.

Start Thunderbird and it should now use your original profile.

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Great response. Clear and exactly what I needed to know and how to deal with the issue I asked about. Appreciated how quickly the response was provided.