2 Fast Ways to Export Your Thunderbird Email & Profile

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A step-by-step guide to saving Thunderbird Mail as individual files and backing up your profile
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If you want to back up Thunderbird Mail, it's easy. You can export individual messages and folders or your entire Thunderbird profile as a backup. Read on to learn how.

Things You Should Know

  • To export Thunderbird mail, select the messages you want to export, right-click or control-click the selection, click "Save as," then choose a folder.
  • To export your profile (all mail, calendar, and settings), go to ☰ > Tools > Export > Export, select a folder, then click "Save."
  • Exporting email messages saves them as EML files you can import into other mail apps. Exporting your profile backs up all data in a Thunderbird-only format.
Method 1
Method 1 of 2:

Exporting Mail Only

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    If you want to export one or more email messages from Thunderbird, you can save them to a new folder as EML files. EML files are easy to import into most other desktop email apps (including Outlook and Apple Mail) by simply dragging and dropping them into a folder in the email app.
    • Whether you're on a Windows PC or Mac , right-click (or control-click) the desktop, select New Folder , enter a name for the folder, and press Enter or Return .
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    Click a folder in the left panel, then highlight the messages you want to export.
    • To select all messages in the folder, click one of the messages, then press Ctrl + A (PC) or Cmd + A (Mac) to select all .
    • To select multiple messages (but not all messages), hold down Ctrl (PC) or Command (Mac) as you click each message.
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    This opens your computer's file browser.
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    This exports the selected Thunderbird messages to the folder.
    • You can now repeat these steps to export mail from other folders.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 2:

Exporting Your Profile

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    The hamburger menu is the three horizontal lines at the top-right corner of Thunderbird .
    • Use this method to export all your Thunderbird mail, address book(s), calendars, and settings to a ZIP file. [1] This is a great option if your goal is to back up Thunderbird.
    • If you're backing up the files, you may want to connect a flash drive or external hard drive to your computer now.
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    This opens Thunderbird's profile export tool in a separate tab.
    • The Export tool will only work if your Thunderbird emails and other information are less than 2 GB.
    • If the folder is larger than 2GB and you're unable to export it:
      • Click Open profile folder on the Export screen.
      • Select everything in the folder by pressing Ctrl + A (PC) or Command + A (Mac).
      • Press Ctrl + C (PC) or Cmd + C (Mac) to copy the entire selection.
      • Open the folder you want to save the files to. You can create a new one by right-clicking or control-clicking the desktop (or another location) and selecting New Folder .
      • Press Ctrl + V (PC) or Cmd + V (Mac) to paste the copied files.
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    This opens your PC or Mac's file browser.
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    This exports all mail and other Thunderbird data to the selected folder.
    • If you want to import the exported profile back into Thunderbird (either on the same computer or a different one), click the hamburger menu and go to Tools > Import .
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      Tips

      • If you're planning to reinstall Windows or macOS, it's best to export your profile instead of individual email messages.
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      • To import an EML file into another mail app, open the mail app, enter a folder or mailbox, then drag and drop the EML file directly into the app.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-export

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