Importing mail into thunderbird
October 11, 2007 8:58 AM   Subscribe

How can I import mail from 1 thunderbird to another?

So my monitor or graphics card went splat this afternoon, I ordered a new computer nearly 2 months ago (not arrived yet but thats another story) so I don't want to waste any more money on my old one. So, I've taken the hard drive out and hooked it up to my laptop, so I have all my files and folders and apart from the lack of ability to game, all is fine and well - except, I need my emails.
I have emails on both my PC and my laptop, I want to import the emails from thunderbird on my PC's hard drive to thunderbird on my laptop, however, when I go to 'import', it lists a bunch of other mail clients but not thunderbird. So how is it done? On windows fwiw.
posted by missmagenta to Computers & Internet (5 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Since you are accessing the file directly, you will need to directly copy the MBOX files from the PC's hard drive.

You will need to locate the Thunderbird profile on the PC's hard drive, which should be in C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ (but replace C:\ with the drive letter assigned to the PC's hard drive when connected to your laptop.

There should be a directory within your profile directory called Mail and in there a directory called Local Folders. This is where the actual files that contain your e-mails reside.

Copy these files to the corresponding profile folder on your laptop's working installation of Thunderbird to access them.
posted by doomtop at 9:17 AM on October 11, 2007


Response by poster: Surely that will overwrite my laptop's emails?
posted by missmagenta at 9:29 AM on October 11, 2007


Best answer: That is true, I didn't quite catch that you needed to keep e-mail on the laptop also.

In that case, you will need to rename the MBOX files. i.e rename "Inbox" to "InboxPC", etc.

Additionally, I think the ImportExportTools extension will allow you to import the MBOX files without the need for renaming them.
posted by doomtop at 9:41 AM on October 11, 2007


Also, if you do need the e-mail currently on your laptop, please back it all up before attempting any of these things.
posted by doomtop at 9:42 AM on October 11, 2007


Response by poster: ImportExportTools did the trick, thanks
posted by missmagenta at 10:13 AM on October 11, 2007


« Older PDF, TXT, WTF?   |   You're as cold as ice! And hot as fire! Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.