Try this: Windows key+R, type thunderbird.exe -p --allow-downgrade

This will bring up Profile Manager and a list of installed profiles. If all your data is in the one that was used in 72, select it and it should open with 68.

You may decide to create a new profile with 68, and then copy your mail, address books etc. from the old profile to the new one. In that case, 68 would open the new profile without needing the downgrade argument.

Worked. Thank you.

Seriously??? Why is is so easy to load a beta just by saying load the beta, but then having to jump through so many hoops to get away from the beta. This is stupid. Why can't you just go to the upgrade list and say revert to an earlier version? I don't trust having to do all that gingerbread just to get back to an earlier version.

It used to be easy. Lots of things changed between version 60 and 68. It is well documented here and other places if you want to search it out.

Bottom line.. if you do not keep up with the development of the software, you probably do not have any business running beta software.

I did not plan on using beta software but I was having trouble with the version that was installed on my system. It would not allow me to upgrade to the latest release version of the software so I tried to install the next in line beta which was beta 68. It now messes up so bad I cannot use it. So that is the only reason it was installed on my computer. But it will not allow me to revert. I also tried searching for how to revert to an earlier version and ended up with a bunch of things to TRY that I do not trust. I am right in the middle of a job search and cannot afford to have my current e-mails deleted. So I do not trust trying to do the double back flips suggested in order to get back to where I was. Seriously???? All I had to do to install the beta for version 68 was click install. Why can't it be that easy to revert back to the earlier version?

As stated there were major changes in this new version that made changes to the profile that need to be reversed to go back to older versions. I have not seen this since I have been using thunderbird so you just picked a bad time to throw a dart and install whatever it hit. Personally I do not even use the latest version until it has been out for a month or two. This has been more true than normal with version 68.xx.

A release version of 68 is out so not idea why you decided beta version was the way to go. The instructions to go back are above.

I closed TB and typed the thunderbird.exe -p --allow-downgrade command. When I restarted TB it now says I am running 75b when I was at 68b. I don't want either. I want to return to 68. So why did it go forward instead of backward and why does it still tell me I am on the Beta track instead of moving me back to the regular path?

How many versions are installed? Uninstall all versions, 32-bit and 64-bit, then download and run the TB 68 installer. If you already have 68 installed as well as other versions, you must enter the full path to the 68 exe, not just thunderbird.exe, which will apply the default version.

I only had the one version installed. I did as you said above but after installing the version 68 it would not allow me to use that profile I even used the command you provided, thunderbird.exe -p --allow-downgrade

Because this did not work I even tried creating a new profile. I then went in and copied my whole old profile from the User directory that contained both the new and old profile names to the new profile. That did not work either. At this point it looks like I have lost everything in my old profile, all the jobs I had applied to and their responses. EVERYTHING.

I don't think you have lost any of the mail in the old profile, but instead of copying everything into the new profile, it's better to add things incrementally. Add your accounts manually to the new profile, then copy the mail folders. The mail folders are mbox files - large files named after the folder and with no extension - in the Mail/Local Folders, Mail/<popservername> and ImapMail/<imapservername> subfolders of the old profile folder. Copy mbox files into the Mail/Local Folders location of the new profile, with TB closed. Copy the .mab files from the old profile to the new one to restore Personal Address Book and Collected Addresses.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Thunderbird