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Thunderbird Transfer to New Computer Misses Folders & Filters

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  • Last reply by Stocksight

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Hello, I'm moving a Profile from a Linux (Ubuntu) box (45.7.0) to a fresh Thunderbird install on Windows 10. I have tried both deleting the newly created Profile and copying over my backup and also copied and replaced the new Profile and each time when I start Thunderbird all my messages are unfiltered and in the Inbox. My Filters were also not copied over and none of my Filter destination Folders were created. Also, none of my Sent emails came over with the transfer.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you

Hello, I'm moving a Profile from a Linux (Ubuntu) box (45.7.0) to a fresh Thunderbird install on Windows 10. I have tried both deleting the newly created Profile and copying over my backup and also copied and replaced the new Profile and each time when I start Thunderbird all my messages are unfiltered and in the Inbox. My Filters were also not copied over and none of my Filter destination Folders were created. Also, none of my Sent emails came over with the transfer. Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you

Modified by Stocksight

Chosen solution

Matt, I stumbled upon a similar solution.

I identified in the settings (Tools > Account Settings > Server Settings > Local directory:) the location of the Local directory containing all of my Folders and emails. This was a different location and outside my Profile directory. This directory was over 2 gigs and once copied to the Windows 10 box to it's Local directory which was also separate from the Profile directory everything worked fine including my Filters.

I was surprised that in spite of all the searching I did on migrating TB to a new computer it repeatedly documented the transfer of the Profile, but never mentioned identifying this directory and then separately moving these files.

Thank you for the help.

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check the local directory setting in the account settings. My guess is the mount point is specified in the linux profile and the translation to windows Alpha drive letter is not happening.

You could try the following. But make sure you have backups. Manual editing of the prefs file is not something to take lightly.

in the profile folder you will find prefs.js. This is a text file that can be opened in notepad. Locate any references in the file to Linux mount points and paths and do a universal find and replace to get them all.

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Chosen Solution

Matt, I stumbled upon a similar solution.

I identified in the settings (Tools > Account Settings > Server Settings > Local directory:) the location of the Local directory containing all of my Folders and emails. This was a different location and outside my Profile directory. This directory was over 2 gigs and once copied to the Windows 10 box to it's Local directory which was also separate from the Profile directory everything worked fine including my Filters.

I was surprised that in spite of all the searching I did on migrating TB to a new computer it repeatedly documented the transfer of the Profile, but never mentioned identifying this directory and then separately moving these files.

Thank you for the help.

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We generally discourage users from changing the Local directory setting. Given that it sits there in the UI, it's easy to see why users might think it's an approved and recommended adjustment. In practice, changing it gives rise to problems exactly like those you have encountered; once you detach a message store from the profile, it falls to the user to remember and track this, because that message store will no longer be included in normal profile operations. Some users do this to place the message store (or even the whole profile) into a user accessible location where it might be included in the default settings of a backup utility. The risk is that there is relatively little you can do in a profile that won't damage it. Your profile is best kept out of sight and therefore out of mind, IMHO, and safe from inadvertent tampering.

The only situation where I'd recommend adjusting Local directory is in trying to share email data between different operating systems, where other differences would prevent the wholesale sharing of a single common profile. Even then, I'd point put that IMAP intrinsically shares folders between installations of Thunderbird via its synchronization process. Similarly, address books and calendars can be shared using online resources. Message Filters might work in a shared profile, but only if there are no mismatches betweeen pathnames or inconsistencies in folder structures.

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Zenos,

Thank you for your note.

Unfortunately this seems to be the default installation method. I had no intention or reason to separate the two paths. I just performed another standard server install this time on Windows 10 and it did the same thing.