Maybe if you explain, step by step, how you transferred your profile, we can help. Local folders live within the profile, so they are normally included when the profile as a whole is moved.

Hi David,

Thanks for you support. This is what I did:

On the old pc, I started Thunderbird and opened the profile folder. I closed thunderbird. I went up 3 levels from the profile folder, and copied the folder to a USB drive.

On the new PC, I installed Thunderbird. I started Thunderbird and opened the profile folder. I closed thunderbird. I went up 3 levels from the profile folder, and copied the backup into the new directory.

I am thinking maybe I did not need to install Thunderbird on the new PC. Should I delete it and then copy and paste again?

Henry

First, yes you do need to install TB on new PC. Just keep in mind that it creates a 'dummy' profile that you won't need.

Second, I have found that people who open the profile folder to copy it while TB is running find themselves with missing folders. My suggestion is to never copy folders while TB is running. When you say you went up three levels, I assume you mean the folder at c:\users\yourID\appdata\roaming\thunderbird. I need specifics. Here are suggested steps: 1. with TB not running, copy the above-mentioned folder 2. after TB is installed on new pc, but not running.. copy that folder to c:\users\yourID\appdata\roaming\thunderbird. That will prompt for an overwrite of profiles.ini. You will now have two profiles. 3. your userid on new PC is probably different from what it was on old PC. The simplest solution is to now edit the profiles.ini file, changing the PATH statement to use the new userid, as the path statement is correct otherwise. (If you do NOT want to edit the file, see optional step below: 4. now start TB and all should be okay. You may now delete, via FIle Explorer, the unused profile.

OPTIONAL approach to change profiles.ini: a. start TB b. when it prompts to create email account, click Home tab at top c. right-click near top and activate 'Menu bar' d. click help>moretroubleshootinginformation e. scroll down to 'Profiles' and click 'about:Profiles' f. locate your profile and click to activate. g. all should now be okay and you can now delete the unused profile.

I don't see exactly where to change profiles.ini FYI: below is my profiles.ini that I can make changes to with notepad. Please tell me exactly what to change:

[InstallD78BF5DD33499EC2] Default=Profiles/hsdkzhl3.default-release Locked=1

[Profile1] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/n9bzykmv.default Default=1

[Profile0] Name=default-release IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/hsdkzhl3.default-release

[General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2

Use the optional route I specified. It's guaranteed to work. If you know the exact name of the profile folder and if it's in the Profile directory, just overtype the shown name following ...Path=Profiles/ with your profile folder name on all of those shown.

That didn't work. FYI: Here is the location of my "local folders" on the old PC:

C:\Users\hlyun\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\i5podztl.MYNEW3\Mail\Local Folders

I'm thinking of trying to change to OUTLOOK, if I can get these folders to migrate properly.

I will assume everything else works? I think everything will work if you copy C:\Users\hlyun\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\i5podztl.MYNEW3 with TB NOT running and place on new PC anywhere. Ideally, in c:\users\<yourID>\appdata\roaming\thunderbird. Then follow these steps: a. start TB b. when it prompts to create email account, click Home tab at top c. right-click near top and activate 'Menu bar' d. click help>moretroubleshootinginformation e. scroll down to 'Profiles' and click 'about:Profiles' f. locate your profile and click to activate. g. all should now be okay and you can now delete the unused profile.

Yes everything else works. I'll try it today.

Thanks.

David,

It didn't work. Honestly at this point I have spent so much time I would rather pay someone for support and have them do this with teamviewer.

If you can do it, or know someone who can, you can IM me on facebook with phone numbers and contact info.

Henry Yung

David,

What if I use the Thunderbird "EXPORT" and "IMPORT" utilities to transfer my local folders?

That has worked successfully for many. I wouldn't expect a problem.

I tried and got an error: "Migration failed"

I don't know the details of what you did, but maybe the easiest is to use my earlier suggestion to copy the local folders with File explorer and paste into the local folders section of new profile when Thunderbird is not running. Try that.

David,

That worked. FINALLY!

In the future I will simply copy my local folders and not worry about migration at all. Everything important gets filed into the local folders anyway.

Thanks for you help.