reinstall Thunderbird on new OS from backup
Hello, I was forced to reinstall Linux Mint 20.3 which has overwritten (wiped out) the old setup of Thunderbird. I took backups from my HOME folder so that I still have the 'old' profile folder.
What do I have to consider to rebuild my full TB installation (incl. server connections, addresses and foremost my local email folders)? Is it sufficient just to restore the contents of the 'old' profile folder into the 'new' profile folder or is there additional data beside the profile folder in "/home/.thunderbird/<profile folder>" on the system?
Any help is much appreciated. TIA
Alle svar (7)
Just to clarify terms: you should 'replace' the default folder, not 'restore into it.' No, there is no additional data needed; everything is in the profile folder.
Hi David,
Thanks for your reply.
Can you please be more specific what you mean by 'replace'? Should I restore the contents from the backup into the newly created profile folder? Or do you mean I should replace the folder with the 'old' profile folder and change the reference to the profile folder?
Thanks for clarifying this.
Never merge profiles unless you're an expert. If your profile works, leave it alone. Thunderbird 102 has Tools>Import>Import from another Thunderbird Installation. That process should be all you need.
well David,
that really doesn't answers my question and neither helps in my situation.
It appears that even If I copy the content of the 'old' profile folder 'into' the new profile folder it still has no server connections. These must be somewhere else as in the profile folder.
Maybe there is someone else who can answer my question, no matter whether that's the 'normal' approach for the problem or not.
Thanks anyway.
My theory is that if I a) create the mail server connections (for my 3 email accounts), b) copy from the backup-ed profile the sub-folder 'ImapMail' to the new profile folder, c) copy from the backup-ed profile the sub-folder 'Mail' to the new profile folder (incl sub folder 'Local Folders')
That would be a way to save all my emails, in particular the saved emails in the local email folder(s).
Any thoughts about this?
TIA
a) I created the server connections and all emails from the servers were accessible again b) was not necessary since the emails were downloaded from teh IMAP server again c) I copied the sub folder 'mail' from the 'old' profile to the 'new' profile. It worked. All saved mails in local folders were accessible again.
Mission accomplished.
Tools menu > Import and import your old profile using the wizard. (new in V102 BTW)