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Importing old email folders from backup hard drive

  • 3 replies
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  • Last reply by david

Laura Rhoads
Laura Rhoads
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Hi, I am trying to import some old T-Bird email folders backed up in 2014 on an external hard drive. Since then I had a computer failure and rebuilt my T-Bird account but now I am looking for pre-crash emails. From the backup profile I can dig down to the Local Folders in the Mail and they are all there but when I try to import as a new local folder (even if I rename it as that's not important) a new empty T-Bird folder shows up in the side bar. Someone also suggested that I could just click on "open" under T-Bird as the default directly from the ext hard drive but that creates an empty T-Bird import folder. I also tried compressing as a zip file and importing but that doesn't seem to work either. Any insight/advice would be appreciated!

Hi, I am trying to import some old T-Bird email folders backed up in 2014 on an external hard drive. Since then I had a computer failure and rebuilt my T-Bird account but now I am looking for pre-crash emails. From the backup profile I can dig down to the Local Folders in the Mail and they are all there but when I try to import as a new local folder (even if I rename it as that's not important) a new empty T-Bird folder shows up in the side bar. Someone also suggested that I could just click on "open" under T-Bird as the default directly from the ext hard drive but that creates an empty T-Bird import folder. I also tried compressing as a zip file and importing but that doesn't seem to work either. Any insight/advice would be appreciated!

Chosen solution

My approach would be to use Windows File Explorer (assuming you use Windows) to copy the files from old profile to the Mail\Local Folders folder.

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All Replies (3)

david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

My approach would be to use Windows File Explorer (assuming you use Windows) to copy the files from old profile to the Mail\Local Folders folder.

Laura Rhoads
Laura Rhoads Question owner
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Hi David, Thanks for your reply. unfortunately I'm on a Mac... :/

david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Well, the same solution should apply. I presume the Mac has a file manager and, with Thunderbird not running, locate the old folders on the external drive and copy to the Mail\Local Folders folder on the Mac. You can find the specific location by clicking help>troubleshootinginformation, scrolling down to 'profile folder' and click 'open folder' - that places you in the profile and the Mail folder should appear.