Backup Thunderbird

Now that Thunderbird 3 has been released, we want to back up our old 2.x version settings and profiles in case something goes horribly, horribly wrong.

Here’s how.

Windows 7 / Vista

This is the manual way. You can use your favorite backup software in lieu of this method.

1. Navigate to: C:\Users\[YOUR_USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Thunderbird\ (Assuming “C” is the drive where you installed Windows)
2. Using the right mouse button, drag a box around the two folders (“Mozilla Thunderbird” and “Profiles”), release.
3. Select Send To, then Compressed (zipped) Folder
4. Copy this newly created .zip file to a safe location.
5. Optional. You may want to back up your actual install directory as it contains your extensions (add-ons) as well. This is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird. Zip and copy it to a safe location.

Note: Other versions of Windows may have these files in steps 3 and 5 at C:\Documents and Settings\[YOUR_USERNAME]\Application Data\Thunderbird\ and C:\Program Files\Thunderbird respectively.

In case something gets messed up after Thunderbird 3, and you want to get everything back to the way it was:

1. Uninstall Thunderbird 3
2. Reinstall Thunderbird 2
3. Copy the contents of the zip file (from step 3) which contains “Mozilla Thunderbird” and “Profiles” into the C:\Users\[YOUR_USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Thunderbird\ directory. Overwrite any existing files.
4. Copy the contents of the zip file (from step 5) to C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird overwriting any existing files.
5. Fire up Thunderbird. Everything should be as it was!

For Ubuntu

(or whatever variant distro you use)

Using the GUI:

1. Go to your home directory. (From the bar at the top, Places then Home)
2. With the File Browser window focused, hit Ctrl+H, or at the menu, File, Show Hidden Files.
3. Right click “.mozilla thunderbird” folder, Compress…
4. In the Compress window, click Create (this will create a .mozilla-thunderbird.tar.gz file in your Home directory. It will be hidden as it has a “.” as the first character in its filename)

Using Command Line:

Open up a command line window and type the following:

tar czvf thunderbird-backup.tar.gz ~/.mozilla-thunderbird

Mac OS X

For Mac users I’m guessing you use Time Machine, but if you want to do it manually the folder to back up is ~/Library/Thunderbird

This should get you on your way with Thunderbird 3.0 without fear of losing your profiles/settings.

Related posts:

• Encrypted Emails with GnuPG, Enigmail and Thunderbird
• Thunderbird 3 Released
• A Fix For Emesene 1.6 Launch Problem on Windows 7/Vista
• iTunes Switchless, No More Windows Bloat!
• Facebook’s New Privacy Policy