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Local Folder Backup -- Automated process?

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by Al NN4ZZ

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I have about 100 sub-folders in the "Local Folders" with about 20,000 messages. I migrated them over from Windows Live Mail. It was an effort but that's another topic. The Folders and messaged are all good at this point. My question is about backing up all of the folders/messages.

Is there a recommended procedure to back up the "local folder" so in case there is ever an issue I can restore them?

I have the ImportExportTools NG add on, see attached. Is one of those options recommended?

Are there any Thunderbird native and automated options that would create backups on a schedule? (weekly, etc).

Ideally I'd like a process that is automated and creates point backups on a weekly basis with the ability to set the number of backups to keep. Your feedback and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks...

I have about 100 sub-folders in the "Local Folders" with about 20,000 messages. I migrated them over from Windows Live Mail. It was an effort but that's another topic. The Folders and messaged are all good at this point. My question is about backing up all of the folders/messages. Is there a recommended procedure to back up the "local folder" so in case there is ever an issue I can restore them? I have the ImportExportTools NG add on, see attached. Is one of those options recommended? Are there any Thunderbird native and automated options that would create backups on a schedule? (weekly, etc). Ideally I'd like a process that is automated and creates point backups on a weekly basis with the ability to set the number of backups to keep. Your feedback and suggestions are welcome. Thanks...
Attached screenshots

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Is there a recommended procedure to back up the "local folder" so in case there is ever an issue I can restore them?

It is recommended to backup the entire Thunderbird profile. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile

I have the ImportExportTools NG add on, see attached. Is one of those options recommended?

I don't use ImportExportTools NG for backup, so I can't tell.

Are there any Thunderbird native and automated options that would create backups on a schedule? (weekly, etc).

Not that I know of. After all, Thunderbird is an email client, not a backup tool. There are tons of backup programs out there though - Google is your friend. Pick one which fits your needs.

As per the link to the support article provided above, backing up the profile is as simple as copying a folder. So it shouldn't be too hard to automate. Just make sure Thunderbird is closed when backing up the profile.

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Hi christ1, Thanks for the feedback and information. Here is what I have done and found so far.

First I made a copy of the "entire profile" manually which looks good and is about 7.5GB. I have about 20,000 emails in the local folder so that looks right and is a close match to the size of the import source data that I moved over a few days ago.

Next, with the knowledge I gained from the manual transfer, I looked at an add-on I have to see if it would do the backup. It does and also has an automated backup feature. I set it up to back up weekly. So I'll need to watch it over the next few weeks. I will also have to come up with a way to delete the older backups ( at 7.5GB each they will add up). See snapshot for details.

Thanks...Al

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ImportExportTools NG automated backup add-on

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Hi christ1, Thanks for your input and help. I did a manual copy of the entire profile and then automated the process with the ImportExportTools add-on. Will have to see how it works over the next few weeks.

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For reference, here is a snapshot of the manual and automated copies of the profile backups. Note file name has an appended date on the automated copy. The file names are partly obscured for security.