DIYers IT Zone

In my previous post, i’ve mentioned about how to backup mails stored in our outlook express mail client. This time, we will move to thunderbird mail client.

Thunderbird stores all of your personal information such as messages, address books and settings in a folder called the profile. Its stored outside of your program directory to make it easier to upgrade without risking losing your data. Your profiles are not deleted if you uninstall Thunderbird.

The first time you start Thunderbird it will automatically create a default profile in a default location if you don’t already have one. You can create additional profiles (in whatever location you want) , delete or rename them, or specify a different default profile using the “Profile Manager”.

The profiles folder is located at different path on different OS.

Windows 95, 98, and ME

Profile folders are in C:\Windows\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ or C:\Windows\Profiles\<Windows user name>\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ .

Windows 2000 and XP

1. Choose Start → Run
2. Type in %APPDATA%
3. Press OK. A Windows Explorer window will appear.
4. In the Windows Explorer window, choose Thunderbird → Profiles. Each folder in this folder is a profile on your computer.

You can also navigate directly to your folder at the path C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows user name>\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ . The Application Data folder is a hidden folder; to show hidden folders, open Windows Explorer and choose “Tools → Folder Options → View (tab) → Show hidden files and folders”.

Windows Vista

1. Open the Windows Start menu
2. In the the “Start Search” box, type in %APPDATA%
3. Click the “Roaming” item that appears on the menu.
4. In the Windows Explorer window that opens, choose Thunderbird → Profiles. Each folder in this folder is a profile on your computer.

You can also navigate directly to your profile folder at the path C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ . The AppData folder is folder is a hidden folder; to show hidden folders, open a Windows Explorer window and choose “Organize → Folder and Search Options → Folder Options → View (tab) → Show hidden files and folders”.