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copying emails

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f2003305
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copying emails

How do I copy emails from one instance of TB protable to another? When I tried copying the Local Folders of one into another after renaming it, all the folders came into view, but none of the emails.Is this not the right thing to do? If not, please help. Also how do I archive emails from USB's TB into PC's TB?

Thanks
Merrin

John T. Haller
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Mail folders

TB uses standard mbox format for its mail folders... essentially big text files. If you head into ThunderbirdPortable\Data\profile\mail\Local Folders you'll see one file for each folder (ignore the .msf files... those are TB's index files for the folders). You can copy those folder files (with no extension) into any other TB instance and they'll work. On a local PC, it would be C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\????.default\Mail\Local Folders.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

f2003305
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Last seen: 18 years 1 month ago
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Mail folders

Thanks for the reply.

But if we simply copy those files from one instance of TB into another, will it not overwrite existing files? I wanted to append emails.
My requirement is to copy emails from USB to PC and vice versa.

Suppose, if we check emails using TB of USB, and if we want to copy them to TB of PC, what do I do? Copying the whole Mail folder works fine, but it will overwrite whatever emails present in TB in PC, right?

I wanted something like importing Outlook emails. Create a separate folder called 'emails of USB' and then have its own inbox,sent,trash folders etc. What I tried is just what you said.

I copied the folder in Local Folders, changed its name to 'emails of USB' and pasted them in the Mail folder of the PC's TB. What happened is that all those folders(inbox,sent etc.) are getting created. Even those files corresponding to each folder(mbox files for inbox etc.) is present with the same size. But then, no emails are visible in any of the folders.

Have I overlooked something? Is there anything I should do with the pref.js or user.js files?

Thanks in advance
Merrin

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