There is an addon to edit subject lines and, to upgrade safely, there are several interim updates that would be needed to ensure your profile is updated for newer services. Upgrading in one step is not recommended.

There is an addon to edit subject lines and, to upgrade safely, there are several interim updates that would be needed to ensure your profile is updated for newer services. Upgrading in one step is not recommended.

Yes, I am using one that appears in the Message dropdown & says "edit email subject." I don't recall the name of that addon, or how to find the list of addons in TB - it doesn't seem to have that function like Firefox does, within Preferences... OK its under the TOOLS dropdown. Edit Email Subject 2.1.1 . There is no "check for updates" function.

And the last time I upgraded TB, it was a major revision that could not automagically work on the existing rev. So I had to first find all the hidden User files (ini, whatever) and copy them to a safe place, do a "clean install" and then manually put the old User files into the new rev, including making changes to one file, which were the pointers to the old User stuff.

I guess there is a Mozilla page with every revision's dmg file, but I want to know which are the "major" revisions that would require a "clean install." Anybody know the URL to that page?

I think my best course is to buy a Refurbished Jan 2023 MacBook Pro from Apple, because they are the last of the "more than 1 TB" hard drives; I should upgrade my 2011 17" MBP w/2TB running El Capitan, to a 4 TB machine. My entire digital life from 1984 is on 1.07 TB !

This is an urgent task; Firefox is showing a blank screen when I try to login to a financial account, and I need to access it in relation to being the executor of someone's estate. Doing a major computer upgrade takes probably days to get everything straightened out.

To upgrade, the safest approach is to upgrade incrementally to the first version of each new release. A list of that is at https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/releases/ All prior versions are available from this site: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/ the addon you would want, once upgraded, is 'editemailsubject' and will be found at the 'addons & themes' link at tools>addons from menu bar. I encourage doing backups periodically throughout the process. Backups are best done when Thunderbird is not running.

To upgrade, the safest approach is to upgrade incrementally to the first version of each new release. A list of that is at https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/releases/ All prior versions are available from this site: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/ the addon you would want, once upgraded, is 'editemailsubject' and will be found at the 'addons & themes' link at tools>addons from menu bar. I encourage doing backups periodically throughout the process. Backups are best done when Thunderbird is not running.

Thank you very much, that saves me a lot of time, which I don't have much of. This morning the wife said "no hot water" and I found a wet basement floor. A solder joint above the water heater developed a "pisser" leak, it dripped on the heater & into the catch pan under it, and finally put out the flame. Must have taken days. Managed to wrap some fusible tape to stop it, and the plumber will arrive early Monday.

"releases" are the major changes, and they get "updates." Terminology good to know. How do I know if a "release" will automagically incorporate my Users, or if it will require a "clean install" and manual insertion of the old Users ?

RE "How do I know if a "release" will automagically incorporate my Users, or if it will require a "clean install" and manual insertion of the old Users ?"

When I click on the page for 68.0 it tells me: "Thunderbird version 68.0 is only offered as direct download from thunderbird.net and not as upgrade from Thunderbird version 60 or earlier. A future version 68.1 will provide updates from earlier versions."

But the 68.1 update says the same thing - the NEXT update will be a direct upgrade... So I have to click on EVERY item until I get to:

"Thunderbird version 68.2.0 provides an automatic update from Thunderbird version 60... requires Mac OS X 10.9 or later" SO I THINK THIS IS THE ONE I WANT TO USE. BUT I SHOULD COPY MY HIDDEN USER FILES ANYWAY JUST IN CASE.

Doing the same with 78, same deal except eventually in 78.2.2,it tells me nothing about if it is a direct update or not.

There is no real difference between downloading the program and installing it and getting an upgrade from the installed application. It will upgrade if you have a profile that is recognized and readable.

There is a subject edit addon for V115 https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/edit-email-subject/?src=ss you limitation may well be your MAC as V115 requires macOS 10.12 or later

There is no real difference between downloading the program and installing it and getting an upgrade from the installed application. It will upgrade if you have a profile that is recognized and readable.

But this seems to indicate that my existing profile would NOT be recognized, which is a big difference: "Thunderbird version 68.0 is only offered as direct download from thunderbird.net and not as upgrade from Thunderbird version 60 or earlier. A future version 68.1 will provide updates from earlier versions."

So would 68.0 be a completely separate application from 60 ? Would it screw up my existing User files? But I would still have to go thru that difficult process of moving the existing Users to 68.0. So I'd rather go straight to one that says it IS a direct upgrade.

The ambigious statement about 78.2.2 is worrisome.

Just to jump in again, new releases are not offered as upgrades, you must request them. 68.1.1 should get you started. And you will need to consciously download each initial of future releases until you get to the current. I encourage doing backups periodically.

Just to jump in again, new releases are not offered as upgrades, you must request them. 68.1.1 should get you started. And you will need to consciously download each initial of future releases until you get to the current. I encourage doing backups periodically.

To double check my understanding of this -

1. when you click on "update, a "new release" will not download a dmg file for you ? Is there an informational popup saying "there is a new release...?"

2. From the wording "version BBB is only offered as direct download from thunderbird.net and not as upgrade from Thunderbird version AAA or earlier. A future version CCC will provide updates from earlier versions." -- I take this to mean that if I install the first iteration of a "new release" it will NOT install my existing User files into itself, and I will have to do it manually. This is the critical thing to understand.

I have to presume that since all versions of Firefox bear the application name "Firefox.app" , a "new release" will overwrite the older filename -- and that would mean that my User files would be gone, or trashed in a hidden manner, or corrupted. The filename SHOULD always include the revision data !!!!! In fact when the Permissions allow it, I rename all my apps to show the version data. Then I can run an older one if needed.

So before I do anything, I must have a correct understanding of how a "new release" installation differs from the usual "upgrade" dmg file that overwrites the existing revision.

I don't know why they used the word "upgrade" and then the word "update." I used to write safety related procedures and I know you should not use synonyms; different words must be presumed to have different meanings in the fine print.

When Firefox or Thunderbird gets an update it is done internally as a software update with a .mar file whether on Windows, Linux or macOS as the update is not done with the setup .exe, tarball or .dmg in this case.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/upgrading-older-version-thunderbird

For example. https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/115.8.0/update/mac/en-US/

If Thunderbird indeed has the same requirements as Firefox on macOS, then Tb 79.0 to Tb 115 requires macOS 10.12, 10.13, 10.14 at minimum while 116.0 or later requires macOS 10.15 or later to run.

So if you indeed have the old EOL macOS 10.11 then Tb 78.14.0 and Fx 78.15.0esr are the latest you can run.

My 2023 Mac should be arriving tomorrow, I probably should upgrade TB & Firefox as much as possible on my old computer before using Migration Assistant to move everything to the new one...

"When Firefox or Thunderbird gets an update it is done internally as a software update with a .mar file..." So when it updates automatically or you select Check For Updates, the .mar file is automagic? Versus when you have to download a .dmg and do the drag & drop routine ?

Thanks for the How To Upgrade page URL : "If you are on version 70 or below Due to changes with how the address book is stored, you will have to manually upgrade to version 78.14.0 first. This will upgrade your address book to the newer format that later Thunderbird versions use. "

https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/releases/ ought to have the link to the How To Upgrade page in its prefatory information.

YOU SAID: For example. https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/115.8.0/update/mac/en-US/

How does that webpage/website differ from: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/releases/ Is Thunderbird.net a mirror site, or vice versa, or just redundancy? Is Thunderbird.net where one is supposed to go for help & info on TB, or is Mozilla.org the definitive site?