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New profile folder not being read

  • 10 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Ordog

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Hello!

I have 2 computers with Thunderbird installed.

My home computer has 3 email accounts inside the default profile My work computer has 1 email account inside the default profile.

I want to move all the emails, folders and address book etc from the email account on the work computer and add this to my personal one to make it 4 accounts within the default profile.

I have copied the folders from my work computer \AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profile and put them in the same location on my home computer but they're not being picked up when I restart Thunderbird.

Can you help please with how I can achieve all 4 email account on my home computer please under the one profile?

Many thanks

Hello! I have 2 computers with Thunderbird installed. My home computer has 3 email accounts inside the default profile My work computer has 1 email account inside the default profile. I want to move all the emails, folders and address book etc from the email account on the work computer and add this to my personal one to make it 4 accounts within the default profile. I have copied the folders from my work computer \AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profile and put them in the same location on my home computer but they're not being picked up when I restart Thunderbird. Can you help please with how I can achieve all 4 email account on my home computer please under the one profile? Many thanks

All Replies (10)

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I want to move all the emails, folders and address book etc from the email account on the work computer and add this to my personal one to make it 4 accounts within the default profile.

To clarify, if you want to set up the work account on the personal computer in order to retrieve your work email on it, you'll need to run the 'New Account' wizard. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/automatic-account-configuration

Or do you just want to copy over the messages without setting up the account? Note, there may be legal implications doing that.

In any case, for the work address book, you'd need to export that in a format Thunderbird can import. That's typically LDIF or CSV (comma separated).

I have copied the folders from my work computer \AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profile and put them in the same location on my home computer but they're not being picked up when I restart Thunderbird.

You'll need to copy them underneath 'Local Folders'. Make sure Thunderbird is closed when doing that.

Modified by christ1

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Hi christ1 thanks for the quick reply.

Don't worry I work for myself so there are no legal implications whatsoever :)

On my work account I have lots of folders, rules, and contacts. I wish to merge all these into the default profile that I have on my other computer. I have tried copying the file within the 'profile' folder but it isn't being read despite them all having .default on the end of the folder names.

Hopefully this helps you understand a little better?

Cheers

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Just so we're 100% clear

Personal computer Thunderbird has

  • Ordog@mailaccount1.co.uk
  • Ordog@mailaccount2.co.uk
  • Ordog@mailaccount3.co.uk

Work computer Thunderbird has

  • Ordogwork@mailaccount1.co.uk

What I need is to move my work email with the others so on my personal computer I'd have

  • Ordog@mailaccount1.co.uk
  • Ordog@mailaccount2.co.uk
  • Ordog@mailaccount3.co.uk
  • Ordogwork@mailaccount1.co.uk
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What's the account type gonna be for Ordogwork@mailaccount1.co.uk on the personal computer - POP or IMAP?

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IMAP but it's the folders, message rules and address book that I'll need transferring too

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Are you saying the work account on the work computer is currently set up as POP, and you didn't leave messages on the server?

Otherwise all folders and messages will be picked up when setting up the account as IMAP.

message rules

What are 'message rules'?

Wrt the address book see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1181981#answer-1021922

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It's currently IMAP on the work computer and it will be IMAP when I transfer it but all the folders do not transfer. I tried setting it up as a new IMAP account in the beginning.

RE "Message rules". My apologies I got the terminology wrong a little, they're called filter rules. MESSAGE > CREATE FILTER FROM MESSAGE.

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Does that help?

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I would do this:

1. On the "work" computer:

  • identify the specific folder for the work account and make a copy. The name of the folder can be seen under account settings|{select account}|Server Settings→Local directory.

2. On the "personal" computer:

  • Set this account up on the second computer. File|New|Existing Mail Account. If it's IMAP, the messages will just appear when Thunderbird connects to the server.
  • Close Thunderbird, and overwrite the new account's folders with the contents taken from the copy you made in step 1.

This will transfer your folders and filters. Address Books are not part of email accounts, so you'll have to use export and import with CSV or LDIF files as described by christ1.

Modified by Zenos

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HI Zenos.

I followed your steps exactly and it still didn't work. No folders or message rules were transferred when I copied over the files.

If I create a new profile and override the account with my "work" profile then it works but for whatever reason it won't let me have it as part of my default account.

Sorry to be a pain, do you have any other suggestions please?