Don't Hate Me Thunderbird
Recently I installed the x64 version of Windows XP on my computer and went to import my Thunderbird mail only to find that Thunderbird can import from just about anything but other installations of Windows. I'd already started downloading messages into the new Thunderbird installation with its new profile, so the only way to add my old messages to this installation was to create a second profile and then import my old messages from my old Windows installation into this second profile. I then end up with my default profile that I'd already started to use and another profile containing the older imported messages. After a bit of searching I found a fairly easy solution. Here's how:
1. Open profiles.ini for your new Windows installation at D:\Documents and Settings\mrobinson\Application Data\Thunderbird2. Add a random profile entry to the file and save it, something like this will do fine:
[Profile2]
Name=Old Mail
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/5ef5scgc.Old Mail
Of course make sure that the path, profile heading (Profile2), and the name aren't already used. Also make sure that under [General] StartWithLastProfile=0 (is equal to zero) or Thunderbird won't let you select which profile to load. You might also want to add the following line directly under the others options for your main profile so that it is highlighted by default in the profile selection menu: Default=1
3. Now when you open Thunderbird you should see a profile dialog box, in this box click Create Profile and follow the wizard giving the second profile your creating the name "Old Mail"
4. Now go back to the profiles.ini file, remove the bogus entry you added earlier (be sure not to remove the entry named "Old Mail" that Thunderbird just created when you were playing with the profiles dialog), and save the file.
5. Now enter your old installation and navigate to your old profile, which should be somewhere like C:\Documents and Settings\mrobinson\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\[profile_name_here]\Mail and copy all of the folders in this location.
6. Now navigate to your second profile ("Old Mail") on your new Windows installation which should be somewhere like D:\Documents and Settings\mrobinson\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\fsdghh.Old Mail\Mail and paste all of the previously copied folders into this location. Note that your can determine which profile is which because profile folders are named be a string of random letters followed by a dot and the profile name.
7. When you open Thunderbird you should now have a choice to load both profiles, one of which will include your imported mail and the other of which will include any new mail.
That's it! Please tell me if you have any modifications, suggestions, or problems with this procedure.
1. Open profiles.ini for your new Windows installation at D:\Documents and Settings\mrobinson\Application Data\Thunderbird2. Add a random profile entry to the file and save it, something like this will do fine:
[Profile2]
Name=Old Mail
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/5ef5scgc.Old Mail
Of course make sure that the path, profile heading (Profile2), and the name aren't already used. Also make sure that under [General] StartWithLastProfile=0 (is equal to zero) or Thunderbird won't let you select which profile to load. You might also want to add the following line directly under the others options for your main profile so that it is highlighted by default in the profile selection menu: Default=1
3. Now when you open Thunderbird you should see a profile dialog box, in this box click Create Profile and follow the wizard giving the second profile your creating the name "Old Mail"
4. Now go back to the profiles.ini file, remove the bogus entry you added earlier (be sure not to remove the entry named "Old Mail" that Thunderbird just created when you were playing with the profiles dialog), and save the file.
5. Now enter your old installation and navigate to your old profile, which should be somewhere like C:\Documents and Settings\mrobinson\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\[profile_name_here]\Mail and copy all of the folders in this location.
6. Now navigate to your second profile ("Old Mail") on your new Windows installation which should be somewhere like D:\Documents and Settings\mrobinson\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\fsdghh.Old Mail\Mail and paste all of the previously copied folders into this location. Note that your can determine which profile is which because profile folders are named be a string of random letters followed by a dot and the profile name.
7. When you open Thunderbird you should now have a choice to load both profiles, one of which will include your imported mail and the other of which will include any new mail.
That's it! Please tell me if you have any modifications, suggestions, or problems with this procedure.
posted by unixxx at 3:53 PM
1 comments
