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.

Migration of Thunderbird on Win11, with mail on D: drive, to Linux Mint - Filters lost

ian191
ian191
more options

After using Thunderbird, since the good old days when it was released on 3.5" floppy disks!!, I have a moderately complex set up. A small C: drive forced me to move my mail file to D: a while ago. My mail is in D:\ThunderbirdMail and my profile is in %APPDATA%\Roaming\Thunderbird\profile.ini

profiles.ini contains:

start of file --------------

[Install8216C80C92C4E828] Default=D:\ThunderbirdMail Locked=1

[Profile2] Name=Ian Hobson IsRelative=0 Path=D:\ThunderbirdMail

[Profile1] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/jgtvh4wi.default Default=1

[Profile0] Name=default-release IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/x1ua9znr.default-release

[General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2

end of file -------------

Judging from the dates on the Profiles directory, I am using x1ua9znr.default-release.

I have tried many times to move the mail to Linux mint, and I usually get the mail to appear, in the right folders. However I am still missing the filters. As you can imagine after using Thunderbird so long, I have many filters and I don't fancy entering them in again by hand. The details appear to be in "D:\ThunderbirdMail\ImapMail\imap.googlemail.com\msgFilterRules.dat".

If I knew where to put this file so that Thunderbird will pick it up, the job would be complete.

Thanks for your help Ian

After using Thunderbird, since the good old days when it was released on 3.5" floppy disks!!, I have a moderately complex set up. A small C: drive forced me to move my mail file to D: a while ago. My mail is in D:\ThunderbirdMail and my profile is in %APPDATA%\Roaming\Thunderbird\profile.ini profiles.ini contains: --------------- start of file -------------- [Install8216C80C92C4E828] Default=D:\ThunderbirdMail Locked=1 [Profile2] Name=Ian Hobson IsRelative=0 Path=D:\ThunderbirdMail [Profile1] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/jgtvh4wi.default Default=1 [Profile0] Name=default-release IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/x1ua9znr.default-release [General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2 -------- end of file ------------- Judging from the dates on the Profiles directory, I am using x1ua9znr.default-release. I have tried many times to move the mail to Linux mint, and I usually get the mail to appear, in the right folders. However I am still missing the filters. As you can imagine after using Thunderbird so long, I have many filters and I don't fancy entering them in again by hand. The details appear to be in "D:\ThunderbirdMail\ImapMail\imap.googlemail.com\msgFilterRules.dat". If I knew where to put this file so that Thunderbird will pick it up, the job would be complete. Thanks for your help Ian

All Replies (1)

Medhasree Suram
Medhasree Suram
more options

Thanks for reaching out! It's great to see your long history with Thunderbird. To migrate your Thunderbird setup and filters from Windows to Linux Mint, you're on the right track with moving the mail data and profile. For the missing filters issue, you're correct that the filters' details are stored in "D:\ThunderbirdMail\ImapMail\imap.googlemail.com\msgFilterRules.dat". To get your filters working on Linux Mint, you'll want to copy this "msgFilterRules.dat" file to the appropriate profile directory on Linux. Since you're using the profile "x1ua9znr.default-release," navigate to your Thunderbird profile directory on Linux, find the corresponding "ImapMail" folder, and paste the "msgFilterRules.dat" file there. After that, when you launch Thunderbird on Linux Mint, it should pick up your filters along with your mail data. If you encounter any hiccups, don't hesitate to ask for more help.