How do I copy emails from Thunderbird inbox to desktop and retain date and time?
I'm new to Thunderbird. I am trying to drag and drop files from the inbox directly into folders on my HDD but when I do it creates it with the current date and time rather than the "sent" date of the email. I'd like to retain the Sent date as the file date like I used to be able to do when dragging and dropping emails from Outlook Express. Can someone advise me please?
Vahaolana nofidina
I think there are several issues in your logic that is confused to the point of making this difficult to address. So I will start at the begining and try and set the stage correctly.
An email is a bit of text, it is not a file. SO you are dragging emails from Thunderbird into the filing system of your hard disk.
When an email is dragged in that manner it is "converted" into an EML file. Prior to that all of the emails in a Thunderbird folde folder are stored in a single mbox file. So the creation date of the file is the date and time of the drag as no file existed before that event.
That you want the file to have the date of, I assume the, email Date: header is perhaps understandable, but it is also only going to happen if you use some utility to open the files, read the header and close the file again and update that information in the NTFS file system windows uses.
Hamaky an'ity valiny ity @ sehatra 👍 1All Replies (10)
I am trying to drag and drop files from the inbox directly into folders on my HDD
What's the point doing this?
To archive our clubs email history by date and store on CD.
For backup purposes, it is recommended to backup the entire Thunderbird profile. You can burn that onto a CD too, if that's what you want to do. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile
All files and folders on any computer that are newly created will have the date of when they are created.
What you need is to get the date of email added to the name of the .eml file. You could do this manually when you create the file on HDD, however that is a bit laborious.
Try this addon: ImportExportTools
How to install addon extension info:
In the 'Addons Manager' tab, you will see the name of the addon extension.
- click on the ImportExportTools 'Options' button
- click on 'Filenames' tab
Customise the format for Filenames.
- select 'use following format'
- select 'Subject' 'Name(Sender' and 'Date.......But you can set whatever you prefer.
- click on OK
Now your prefernces are set up....
Right click on highlighted email(s) and select:
- 'Save selected messages' > 'EML format'
choose where to save them.
The previous info I gave is only backing up selected emails in eml format. Those emails can easily be opened by clicking on eml file.
But if you follow the advise of christ1 then you will get the entire profile name folder backed up, which includes all mail accounts, address books and preferences etc. It can be used to recreate your profile and mail accounts etc, should the worst happen and you lose everything. This is always good advice.
Thanks Christ1 & Toad-Hall. I will pursue both these avenues and refine my best ongoing methodology.
Thank's again.
Vahaolana Nofidina
I think there are several issues in your logic that is confused to the point of making this difficult to address. So I will start at the begining and try and set the stage correctly.
An email is a bit of text, it is not a file. SO you are dragging emails from Thunderbird into the filing system of your hard disk.
When an email is dragged in that manner it is "converted" into an EML file. Prior to that all of the emails in a Thunderbird folde folder are stored in a single mbox file. So the creation date of the file is the date and time of the drag as no file existed before that event.
That you want the file to have the date of, I assume the, email Date: header is perhaps understandable, but it is also only going to happen if you use some utility to open the files, read the header and close the file again and update that information in the NTFS file system windows uses.
Thanks Matt. I follow your logic. I am transitioning from my old email server (for want of a better word) "Outlook express" to "Thunderbird" as Outlook Express is now not sending emails from my main email address for some reason. Outlook express is a very old email server, as you are probably aware, and my guess is that some ISPs would no longer support it to upload emails. No matter. It is a dinosaur either way. So I figured best to take the opportunity to upgrade to a more modern email server such as Thunderbird. I understand that Thunderbird will have some big data file embedded in it (the mbox you refer to I suppose) that holds all the stored emails as one compressed file, and of course when you drag and drop from it to create individual EML files, then the NTFS /OS will correspondingly create the new file with the current date & time. All that makes sense.
The downside of my transition is that when I was doing the same thing but from the Outlook Express inbox the OS created the files with the "Sent" date and time, which from a historic filing point of view is very convenient to me. I don't know how or why Outlook Express does that but it is convenient that it does.
Interestingly I have discovered, since my last post, that If I drag the emails from the Thunderbird inbox and drop them in the Outlook Express inbox and THEN drag them to my HDD filing system then it does create them with the Sent date and time.
OK, so there is an extra step here, but for the sake of leaving Outlook Express dormant on my system, then I can achieve the desired results with only one extra step. It may be a bit clumsy but not too onerous.
I could use the freeware program "Attribute Changer" to change the date and time but that would have to be done laboriously file by file whereas I can drag and drop the entire contents of the inbox from Thunderbird to Outlook Express and thence to the File System as a group and achieve the desired results.
I will still look at what you, Christ1 and Toad-Hall has suggested and in the end I'm sure that, thanks to everybodies help, it will all settle down into a refined solution for me. I appreciate your help.
re : I understand that Thunderbird will have some big data file embedded in it (the mbox you refer to I suppose) that holds all the stored emails as one compressed file
A bit off topic, but some general info as Thunderbird is new to you. Each folder which you see in the Folder Pane stores emails in an mbox text file, assuming those emails have been fully downloaded into your mail account. Emails are written to that file one after the other in the order downloaded, so the oldest will be at the top. Mbox text files do not have an extension. When you choose to delete an email, it is 'marked as deleted' in the mbox file and hidden fron view. It may appear in the 'Trash' folder. This allows you to retrieve the email and move it back to original folder if deleted in error. When you choose to 'compact' a folder, those 'marked as deleted' emails are fully removed. Compacting is not compressing and should be done on a regular basis to help maintain the folders and recover space. More info on compacting here:
General advise on keeping a healthy thunderbird.
This is info on locating your profile:
Hope this info will be of use to you.
Thanks Toad-Hall. These blogs are really helpful in my getting a factual rather than conceptual view of what Thunderbird is. Otherwise it would be all comparative assumption on my part and you know what they say about "AssUMe"...