Hi, so I installed thunderbird portable on my flash drive, downloaded my emails from google to the same flash drive, then transferred everything from the flash drive(including the app) to a DVD via a MAC computer. I did NOT install the App on the DVD. When I open the DVD it shows that the files are all there as far as I can tell. I did NOT install the app on the DVD since it was being transferred using a friends computer and I didn't want the app to install the temp files on his computer.
Now i want to use the App which is on my flash drive in the following way:
I want to open up the app and have it call up all the files from the DVD instead of the files from the flash drive or from the internet (which are exactly identical), so that I can go back to my google account and compare the two files to be sure I have all the info/emails/attachments and then begin deleting the emails on the google account. My goal is to take all my emails from my google account and store them on a DVD and then shut down my google account. However I have so many emails in google that I can only fit a certain amount on a DVD. I have about three DVD's worth of emails. I installed THunderbirdPortable2ndprofile to see if I could tell it to read off the DVD instead of the Flash drive or the internet, however, that doesn't work as far as I can tell it still needs an email address. Is there a way that I can tell the App to look on the DVD instead of in the internet or the flash drive? Or , for that matter, tell it to look on any of my drives where I have the email files stored or even on a mobile phone?....
thanks
Beth
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accessing emails stored on DVD via Flash drive i.s.o. via C;/ drive
September 26, 2011 - 3:14pm
#1
accessing emails stored on DVD via Flash drive i.s.o. via C;/ drive
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but I think there will be solution finally
however, I do not know in which format you have your e-mails on the DVD.
Also somehow confusing: you copied all mails including the app (Thunderbird??) to the DVD, but then you say you did not install it to DVD. Well I do not know what would mean to install something to DVD, but if you are talking about portable Thunderbird, then if it is copied, it is installed.
However it is not directly designed to work from a DVD directly.
Now, Thunderbird is an e-mail client software, so it communicates with e-mail servers and not with file servers which we can say the DVD would act as.
So mails arrive via 'internet' in completely different format then they are later stored locally.
So Thunderbird can not 'receive' or look for mails other then via one of the established e-mail protocols.
Different may be if you just want those mails to be imported into the profile. But still here , you have to set up a mail account in the Thunderbird, this will then create certain file structure and will be able to search and sort things in it and it will be able to import all the mails you have stored elsewhere.
In Thunderbird portable, the profile is in the data folder, but this could be changed for your special purpose.
But an account has to be set up and mails have to be imported and thus converted into a format Thunderbird can handle. In fact you will find that they will be kind of stored in one big file as a kind of plain text. Attachments will be converted to ascii code too.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
HI thanks, I opened up thunderbird portable2ndprofile and clicked on local folders, browse, and then found the folder where the emails are stored and used that one. then I had to close the app and reopen it for it to take. yeah. Thanks I think this is the solution.
HI, I thought I had the problem solved, however it still isn't working.
here's what I did
1. I downloaded a bunch of emails from gmail to my flash drive via thunderbird portable.
2. Using a MAC computer, I clicked and dragged all the files from the flash drive to the DVD and burned it.
3. I set the settings on thunderbird portable (which is on my flash drive) to stay offline upon startup and to search the "local folder" for emails, on the DVD drive (E:)
when I open thunderbird, it shows the folders are all there from the DVD in the left hand column, and indeed I can see/hear that the DVD drive is spinning. However, when I click on one of the folders to open it so I can access and view the emails, it keeps churning and churning and nothing ever happens. the folders don't open up. the main window shows me only a few options -
Thunderbird Mail-Local Folders
Accounts
View settings for this acount
Create a new account
Advanced Features
Search Messages
Manage Message Filters
When I look at the folders on the DVD drive, it shows there is plenty of emails in there, so I know they are there.
I also tried to "import" the emails (Clicking on a folder, tools/import/), however that doesnt work either. It asks me what I want to do, so I clikck on "Import Mail, then it gives me the options of "from Eudora, Outlook or outlook express. None of which the emails are stored in since I used thunderbird to download the emails.. directly to the flash drive. Either 3way, I click on Outlook Express which then opens a window to browse to "Computer/DVDdrive(D:)/ThunderbirdPortable/Data/Profile/ImapMail/imap.Googlemail-1.com/ . Then I click, finish and it tells me "No mailboxes were found to import". I also tried it with the "Mail" Folder instead of the "Imapmail" folder and also tried the [Gmail} folder inside the imap.google-1.com folder. none of them seem to be accessable by the program.
So then I tried File/Open Saved Message/ - that doesn't work since it doesn't recognize the mail (msf files), only the folders.
When I click on "search Messages" I get nothing, too.
what am I doing wrong please?
thanks
Beth
is the way I did what you did, though I did it with a larger USB key. I think you probably could make the non-portable one do it choose the DVD, but the portable version would just rewrite the file location once you moved usb keys as they want it to be within the em. To manually do it, go to Account Settings - Local Folders. Under Message Storage, click on Browse and then point it to where the Emails that you pulled from google.
I moved all the google emails to the Local Folders so that when I moved the Thunderbird to my non-internet backup drive, it would have all the emails. That particular tbird would have no servers configured but I could still access the emails that were in the Local Folder.
When you look at the DVD, you may be still seeing it or are you just seeing the headers. Maybe it's just the headers that are displayed but not the full emails when you click on them?
Have you thought about getting a bigger USB flash drive, a lot of the usb sticks are still small enough for a key chain and hold more than DVDs.
Oh, and as for just comparing the emails, when I had it on the larger backup harddrive, it works out like that too as you can copy all the google emails into the Local Folder, and then have both in email client. Then while the google account was open, I right-clicked on the Local Folder version and clicked Open. That opened a new window of just the Local Folder version, so you can compare side by side.
Don't be an uberPr∅. They are stinky.
yeah it works, thanks
HI, I thought I had the problem solved, however it still isn't working.
here's what I did
1. I downloaded a bunch of emails from gmail to my flash drive via thunderbird portable.
2. Using a MAC computer, I clicked and dragged all the files from the flash drive to the DVD and burned it.
3. I set the settings on thunderbird portable (which is on my flash drive) to stay offline upon startup and to search the "local folder" for emails, on the DVD drive (E:)
when I open thunderbird, it shows the folders are all there from the DVD in the left hand column, and indeed I can see/hear that the DVD drive is spinning. However, when I click on one of the folders to open it so I can access and view the emails, it keeps churning and churning and nothing ever happens. the folders don't open up. the main window shows me only a few options -
Thunderbird Mail-Local Folders
Accounts
View settings for this acount
Create a new account
Advanced Features
Search Messages
Manage Message Filters
When I look at the folders on the DVD drive, it shows there is plenty of emails in there, so I know they are there.
I also tried to "import" the emails (Clicking on a folder, tools/import/), however that doesnt work either. It asks me what I want to do, so I clikck on "Import Mail, then it gives me the options of "from Eudora, Outlook or outlook express. None of which the emails are stored in since I used thunderbird to download the emails.. directly to the flash drive. Either 3way, I click on Outlook Express which then opens a window to browse to "Computer/DVDdrive(D:)/ThunderbirdPortable/Data/Profile/ImapMail/imap.Googlemail-1.com/ . Then I click, finish and it tells me "No mailboxes were found to import". I also tried it with the "Mail" Folder instead of the "Imapmail" folder and also tried the [Gmail} folder inside the imap.google-1.com folder. none of them seem to be accessable by the program.
So then I tried File/Open Saved Message/ - that doesn't work since it doesn't recognize the mail (msf files), only the folders.
When I click on "search Messages" I get nothing, too.
what am I doing wrong please?
thanks
Beth
if it matters but why did you use a Mac computer to copy the files? Does Mac copy / save tehn inot a Windows Compatible format? I do not know the answer just asking
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss
I kept getting error messages on the PC saying file names were too long to transfer them over to the DVD. Yet on the MAC computer - it took them without issue.
As far as I can tell from my prior experiences with MACs, whenever I've had this issue, it usually works to run it on a mac and then use it in a PC. NO problems. Not sure why PC's think the files names were too long when they were regular size. Perhaps that is where I erred?
That's why I used a MAC.
any ideas as to how to get the emails to be opened in Thunderbirdportable2ndprofile?
When I go into Files/Open Saved Message/Show all files/ and then choose a folder inside the imap.gmail-1.com folder - then it calls up a new window and opens up 1 email. It doesn't give me a choice of which one. and it doesn't let me advance to the next email.
When I go into Tools/Import recognizes the folders on the DVD when I set the "Local Folders" in the APP (Via Account Settings) to the imap.gmail-1.com folder,(It shows them all in the side window) yet it keeps churning as it tries to open the emails themselves (it doesn't show the emails, only the folders). I've let it sit and churn for hours thinking perhaps the amount of emails was too large and to let it finish churning. However, it never seems to get there and open them.
I also tried Tools/Saved Messages (which is only a search window with no results)
I tried File/Open Saved Messages/"show all files" which lets me get to the folders directly. Yet, when I click on the imap.gmail-1.com.msf it brings up a new window in thunderbirdportable2ndprofile with this:
{1:^9F {(k^A0:c)(s=9u)}
[1(^AC=1)(^AD=1)(^AE=)]}
@$${1{@
// (f=iso-8859-1)
(B1=charSetOverride)(B2=charSet)>
@$$}1}
When I go into Tools/Import I select "get Mail" from "Outlook Express" (since that's the only one that let's me get to the DVD drive instead of the flash drive or the net), then I find the folders and it keeps giving me the message - "No Mailboxes were found". I have tried to set the folder to Mail/Local, Mail/Local-1, and imap.gmail-1.com . None of them work. yet I know there are emails in the folders there.
Does it matter if the Thunderbird Application is on the Flash drive and the Email files are on the DVD? It seems like ThunderbirdPortable ought to be able to pull the files from any external source.
Does it also matter if the Application I am running to pull the emails into is actually the ThunderbirdPortable2ndProfile App instead of the Regular Thunderbirdportable? After I read the instructions on both I was of the opinion that ThunderbirdPortable2ndprofile seeks out and works with Thunderbirdportable the regular app, on it's own without me having to do it manually myself. they both look identical when I use them.
Thanks
Beth