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How can I read e-mail messages from a Thunderbird profile from a different computer?

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by friendly

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I'm a longtime user of Thunderbird. A few months ago, the boot disk of the computer (Windows XP Pro x64) that I used for e-mail, on a RoadRunner e-mail account, developed a serious problem that I have yet to get remedied. I am unable to use that computer presently, because I cannot boot it. Soon after that computer became unusable, I started using Thunderbird with the same e-mail account on a newer computer (Windows 7 Pro). Now I would like to import the e-mail messages saved on a data hard drive from the older computer into Thunderbird on the newer computer, if that's possible. If that's not possible, I would like to use Thunderbird on the newer computer to read the e-mail messages on the data drive from the older computer. Can someone tell me how to do one or both of these things? (I know where the Thunderbird profiles are on both computers' hard drives and I am able to access both.) I'm currently using Thunderbird 45.3.0 on the newer computer. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

I'm a longtime user of Thunderbird. A few months ago, the boot disk of the computer (Windows XP Pro x64) that I used for e-mail, on a RoadRunner e-mail account, developed a serious problem that I have yet to get remedied. I am unable to use that computer presently, because I cannot boot it. Soon after that computer became unusable, I started using Thunderbird with the same e-mail account on a newer computer (Windows 7 Pro). Now I would like to import the e-mail messages saved on a data hard drive from the older computer into Thunderbird on the newer computer, if that's possible. If that's not possible, I would like to use Thunderbird on the newer computer to read the e-mail messages on the data drive from the older computer. Can someone tell me how to do one or both of these things? (I know where the Thunderbird profiles are on both computers' hard drives and I am able to access both.) I'm currently using Thunderbird 45.3.0 on the newer computer. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

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https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/

Use that add-on to import messages into local folder on your new computer.

Use the import an MBOX file option and in the second pane select directory and sub directories. then point it at the mail folder on your old profile. .

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Thanks a bunch, Matt. That looks like what I need. Will try it tomorrow and let you know how it went.