Yes, it goes by the name. You shouldn't have a problem in copying it elsewhere, but do it when TB is not running.

Thanks for quick reply, David. I'll give it a try and post my experience and results.

You can only copy and paste specifc files because only the default address books are also by default in the prefs.js files. re : abook.sqlite-shm and abook.sqlite-wal

If you see those files then Thunderbird is still running. You must Exit Thunderbird first before copying or pasting.

The 'Personal Address Book' is 'abook.sqlite' The 'Collected Addresses' is 'history.sqlite'

when you paste them into the 'profile name' folder on other version of Thunderbird, please make sure you are running the same Thunderbird versions as these address books have been modified several times recently.

Please note these sqlite files must also replace the default ones when pasting, so whatever you have already in the second computer, you will lose those address book contents and it will show only the pasted ones - which is probably what you hope to achieve.

All other address books must be exported and then imported into other computer. Start Thunderbird In Address Books Select address book (not 'All Address Books' as it is a virtual search and not a true address book) Tools > Export Choose where to save Save as either: Comma Separated *csv files OR LDIF Click on 'SAve'

Repeat for other address books

When importing: Tools > Import Select 'Address Books' and click on Next Select 'Text file (LDIF, .tab, .csv, .txt) and click on Next locate saved file and click on 'Open'

The replies from David and Toad-Hall were both helpful. The latter was more complete and accurate. It's too bad that Thunderbird is a bit schizophrenic with respect to how it treats the preordained address books (Personal and Collected) differently than other user defined address books. Perhaps consistency will occur some day. In the meantime, the move away from the MAB files to SQLITE is a welcome and very much appreciated improvement! Thanks to all of you who have worked on this!

re: It's too bad that Thunderbird is a bit schizophrenic with respect to how it treats the preordained address books (Personal and Collected) differently than other user defined address books.

The reason is this: The 'Personal Address Book' and the 'Collected Addresses' are default so there is an automatic reference in the 'prefs.js' file. All other address books that get added by you are only specific to you, so when you create them a load of preferences that specifically refer to the address book you created are added to the 'prefs.js' file. This means even if you copy paste them into 'profile name' folder, Thunderbird has no knowledge of their existance. Hence the export and import option which then creates the references in the 'prefs.js' file.

If you were wanting to set up a complete identical copy of Thunderbird including mail accounts, preferences, address books etc on new computer, then you could copy the entire Appdata/Roaming/'Thunderbird' folder on old computer over to the 'Roaming' folder on new computer - replacing the default created 'Thunderbird' folder. This would need to be done whilst Thunderbird was not running and it is advised you have same version of Thunderbird program installed on both computers.

Thank you Toad-Hall for the explanation. I understand what you're saying (and it's been this way in Thunderbird for a very long time). From my perspective I see the design as being flawed. There are no good reasons for the inconsistencies; it's just carrying forward a bad design decision. Thanks again for all of the help and the work so many of you have done to keep Thunderbird alive and the genuine efforts at making it a better product.

I believe there are plans to be able to import sqlite files in the next big 102 update. Now that would be very welcome. The change to use sqlite format is very recent and therefore it has a couple of versions to get code created for import purposes. Apparently, there will be significant changes when it comes to import/export in general.

But the bottom line is this - Thunderbird in a new installation cannot guess what every individual user might choose to call their address books or how many address books they may use. It can only know what the default address books are called as they are created by default.

You may not be interested...but you never know who might read this :) If you want to see what gets added into a 'prefs.js' file - you can open that file using 'Notepad'. Just don't edit anything - close without saving. Look for all the lines that start with 'user_pref ("ldap_2.servers.....' There are several entries per addess book linking the actual address book names you see in 'Address Book' with correct abook files that contain data. Geek stuff, but some people may be interested.

Side Note to Toad-Hall: I always enjoy reading your responses because I always learn something new. david