Thunderbird (TB) notes

Thunderbird (TB) notes

The Thunderbird configuration folder (settings, local mailboxes, address books, etc…) is stored by default somewhere in a hidden section of the user's Windows directory (C:\Users\<your_login>).

It's a good idea to move this folder to another known place, in order to be able to back it up or move it to a new computer later!

The steps for moving/restoring the Firefox (FF) configuration directory are the same as the the Thunderbird steps below, except that the location of the configuration directory is slightly different.

If you are using Linux, go the the Thunderbird and Firefox on Linux page

Using TB for reading LSCE mail

You just have to add a new mail account to TB, using LSCE IMAP and SMTP server settings

Adding a LSCE account can be done before or after moving the TB folder

Prerequisites

Showing hidden directories

You must be able to see Windows' hidden folders in order to access the configuration directory

Initializing TB configuration files

You must have started (and exited) TB at least once (in order to initialize the configuration files)

Finding the configuration files

The location of the TB main directory (where all the configuration files are located) depends on your system

Windows 10 or Windows 7: C:\Users\<your_login>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<your_login>\Application Data\Thunderbird

Debugging Thunderbird

Most people can skip this section!

Starting TB in Safe Mode: hold the Shift key while double-clicking on the TB icon
- You can disable (and possibly) remove extensions
If TB behaves strangely and using the Safe Mode does not help, you may have to remove the configuration files mentioned in the following pages. You very probably won't lose your mailbox(es) settings and your local folder!

Moving the TB configuration directory to a specific directory

Make sure TB is not running!
Go to the TB main directory (see the prerequisites above)
Locate the TB configuration directory in the Thunderbird\Profiles directory (a sub-directory named <random_string>.default)
Are you doing this operation for the first time, or restoring settings from another computer?
1. Restoring: go to the Restoring a TB configuration directory section just below
2. Doing a clean configuration for the first time:
  - Copy the <random_string>.default folder to a fixed and known location on the computer, preferably a sub-directory of the manually created user DATA FOLDER and rename the copied directory to give it a more meaningful name
    - We suggest the following copy/rename: <random_string>.default\ ⇒ <disk:>\Users\<your_login>\Thunderbird\Profiles\<your_login>_TB\
Edit the Thunderbird\profiles.ini file so that TB knows where to look for the new location of its configuration directory
- IsRelative=1
  ⇒ IsRelative=0
- Path=Profiles\<random_string>.default
  ⇒ Path=<disk:>\Users\<your_login>\Thunderbird\Profiles\<your_login>_TB
- When you are finished, the content of profiles.ini should be the following. If there are other settings defined in the file, you can (safely) erase them, and TB will add them again automatically the next time it is started
```
[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=0
Path=Path=<disk:>\Users\<your_login>\Thunderbird\Profiles\<your_login>_TB
Default=1

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
Version=2
```
Start TB and check that everything is the same as before
Later, when things seem to work correctly, remove the original C:\Users\<your_login>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<random_string>.default directory!

Restoring a TB configuration directory

You have copied a TB configuration from another computer to your new computer and want to use it! We assume that the copied TB directory is:

<disk:>\Users\<your_login>\Thunderbird\Profiles\<your_login>_TB

Start and exit TB, in order to have it initialize its default configuration
Go to the configuration directory:
- Windows 7 or Windows 10: C:\Users\<your_login>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird
Do some cleaning:
1. Remove the the Thunderbird\Profiles\<random_string>.default\ directory that was created when you started TB for the first time on this computer
2. Remove the Thunderbird\installs.ini file and the Crash Reports and Pending Pings directories (they will be automatically recreated later)
Edit the Thunderbird\profiles.ini file so that TB knows where to look for the new location of its configuration directory
- IsRelative=1
  ⇒ IsRelative=0
- Path=Profiles\<random_string>.default
  ⇒ Path=<disk:>\Users\<your_login>\Thunderbird\Profiles\<your_login>_TB
- When you are finished (don't forget to save the profiles.ini configuration file!), the content of profiles.ini should be the following. If there are other settings defined in the file, you can (safely) erase them, and TB will add them again automatically the next time it is started
```
[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=0
Path=Path=<disk:>\Users\<your_login>\Thunderbird\Profiles\<your_login>_TB
Default=1

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
Version=2
```
Start TB and check that everything is OK and that you have access to your existing mailboxes and settings

A note about the FIREFOX profile on the Thunderbird page

Firefox configuration special note!

When following the TB steps to restore a Firefox (FF) configuration, it is possible that FF will create a new configuration, instead of the one specified in profiles.ini.

If that's the case:

Click on Continue and don't worry about the creation of a new profile
Open the profile configuration page, by pasting about:profiles in the location bar of FF
On this profile config page, locate the profile stored in C:\Users\<your_login>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox
Click on Define as default to make this the default profile
Restart FF
Open about:profiles again and remove the profile(s) that is(/are) not using C:\Users\<your_login>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox
- e.g. Remove a profile looking like
  C:\Users\<your_login>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\vqtxn50e.default-release

You should be OK if you correctly followed the steps above! You can get extra information in the sections below

Thunderbird

Firefox

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