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Checking for updates tells me that current version 17.0 is the latest when I know there is a new version. How do I update?

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  • Last reply by krcic

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When I check for updates in Thunderbird, it tells me the version is 17.0 and that this is the latest version. I checked on the Mozilla website and the latest version to download is 24.5.0. How can I upgrade to the new version without having to download the entire program from scratch? I am running OS X 10.9.3 Thanks

When I check for updates in Thunderbird, it tells me the version is 17.0 and that this is the latest version. I checked on the Mozilla website and the latest version to download is 24.5.0. How can I upgrade to the new version without having to download the entire program from scratch? I am running OS X 10.9.3 Thanks

Chosen solution

It's no use downloading the entire program from scratch. I found a way around that by updating through MacKeeper. It has a Updates Manager tab that tells you what needs updating and actually does the update for you. Not good Mozilla that another program updates your software better than you.

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Go to this link and click on the download link.

http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird

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Chosen Solution

It's no use downloading the entire program from scratch. I found a way around that by updating through MacKeeper. It has a Updates Manager tab that tells you what needs updating and actually does the update for you. Not good Mozilla that another program updates your software better than you.

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Why the objection to "downloading the whole program from scratch"?

How do you know this isn't what your Updates Manager does anyway?

If there is no update path using a patch from one version to another, then you have to download the installer for the newer version. In this case there would be no "upgrade" path; it would be a re-install.

It is an ongoing irritation with Thunderbird that occasionally there is a version change which the old version doesn't "see" and so you have to download the new version. Possibly this is deliberate to force a complete reinstallation rather than apply a patch, perhaps because there has been some fundamental change which is beyond the capability of a patch. In the past, some updates have changed the profile structure, and the new version of Thunderbird "knows" how to update the profile too.

But reinstalling "from scratch" is no big deal; your data is stored separately in Thunderbird's profile, which persists from one install to another. Indeed, you can uninstall Thunderbird, install a newer version at some later time, and it'll pick up your old profile and work as if nothing had happened.

Modified by Zenos

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Thanks Zenos. I understand what you are saying. In any case, I was able to update using the update functionality within MacKeeper, so all is well.