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Profile folder doesn't contain any mail, then how to copy to laptop?

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I read the article, "Moving Thunderbird Data to a New Computer," but here's the problem. My profile folder is shown as C:\\appdata\roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxx.new but the Mail folder within that only has 119 MB. It contains 6 folders Local Folders, pop.earthlink.net, pop.earthlink-?.net, where ?=2 or 3 Most of that is in the INBOX file (no extension) of pop.earthlink.net, 61 MB That might sound like a lot, but it's a tiny fraction of the REAL main INBOX file, which is 3.42GB at D:\Eudora(Thunderbird)Mail\Mail\Local Folders My "REAL" I mean that this INBOX file has a file date of today, but the ones in the purported profile haven't been written into since last July. There are 3 email accounts in the installation and the "Server Settings" for each account specify that the LOCAL DIRECTORY is on D:\Eudora(Thunderbird)Mail\Mail\pop.earthlink??.net There's over 30GB of mail there! So the method given in "Moving Thunderbird..." cannot possibly work. It does not account for the fact that the account settings can redirect the location where mail is stored! So, it seems that after doing the "Moving Thunderbird..." process, I will have to 1. Create a new folder on the laptop LocalMail 2. Select all files and directories in D:\Eudora...(Mail)\Mail on the working installation and copy them to LocalMail on the laptop 3. Go into Account Settings/Server Settings on each account in the laptop and change the directory to C:\LocalMail\pop.earthlinkXX.net

Will this work?

I will certainly pare the directory tree of mail folders on the laptop to eliminate messages over 4 years old, most of which are in large archive folders.

I read the article, "Moving Thunderbird Data to a New Computer," but here's the problem. My profile folder is shown as C:\\appdata\roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxx.new but the Mail folder within that only has 119 MB. It contains 6 folders Local Folders, pop.earthlink.net, pop.earthlink-?.net, where ?=2 or 3 Most of that is in the INBOX file (no extension) of pop.earthlink.net, 61 MB That might sound like a lot, but it's a tiny fraction of the REAL main INBOX file, which is 3.42GB at D:\Eudora(Thunderbird)Mail\Mail\Local Folders My "REAL" I mean that this INBOX file has a file date of today, but the ones in the purported profile haven't been written into since last July. There are 3 email accounts in the installation and the "Server Settings" for each account specify that the LOCAL DIRECTORY is on D:\Eudora(Thunderbird)Mail\Mail\pop.earthlink??.net There's over 30GB of mail there! So the method given in "Moving Thunderbird..." cannot possibly work. It does not account for the fact that the account settings can redirect the location where mail is stored! So, it seems that after doing the "Moving Thunderbird..." process, I will have to 1. Create a new folder on the laptop LocalMail 2. Select all files and directories in D:\Eudora...(Mail)\Mail on the working installation and copy them to LocalMail on the laptop 3. Go into Account Settings/Server Settings on each account in the laptop and change the directory to C:\LocalMail\pop.earthlinkXX.net Will this work? I will certainly pare the directory tree of mail folders on the laptop to eliminate messages over 4 years old, most of which are in large archive folders.

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The standard instructions assume a setup where all mail is in the standard location in the profile folder. But I think your method will work. It's also possible to create additional local folders locations besides the standard one.