Backing up my T-Bird account

[Nikilet]

Windows 10/v 1709

I have a huge amount of folders/files in my email account that I don't want to lose. I have run into a little glitch on my account which involves stationery that I have been using. In order to get this fixed I will have to uninstall TBird and then reinstall. I've been getting some mixed info about backing up a Thunderbird email account and need a thorough clarification.

I have been going to %appdata%, right clicking on the T-Bird folder and sending to Compressed (zipped) Folder; then storing this zip file on my external HD ... With the understanding that if I have to reinstall my email account for some reason, this zipped file will allow me to get back all of my folders/files by importing.

I talked to someone this morning who said this won't work, that I have to export all my folders and files before I uninstall, then import all back in after reinstall and that this is going to be quite a lengthy process. If this is the way it has to be done, I have found something called ImportExportTools that is supposed to make things much easier.

Can someone please explain to me how I make sure all my folders/files are backed up in case of emergency?

[tanstaafl]

What you are doing is fine since your profiles are in the default location, and you haven't changed the configuration to store mail for an account outside of the profile. You backed up both the profiles.ini file used to find the profiles and the profiles. That has everything you need.

Your profile has your global and account settings, address books, add-ons, saved passwords, all of your downloaded mail, etc. You want to back up a profile (what you actually did when you zipped that directory tree), not an account. help -> troubleshooting information -> open folder will open file explorer at your current profile if there is any doubt where it is stored.

You were given poor advice. The ImportExportTools add-on is known mainly for the ability to import/export folders. That doesn't do anything for your settings and address books which you should also backup. It can be a lot of work to backup folders that way even with the "export folders with subfolders (with structure)" menu command if all of your folders in an account are not underneath the inbox. And you have to do it separately for each account.

Its less known that the add-on has a automated backup facility (which doesn't zip/compress the backup) because that is not in the menu. You have to access the add-ons options button in tools -> add-ons to configure it. Recent versions also have a export/import profile command in tools -> importexporttools. That is probably a good alternative, as I suspect it will automatically update profiles.ini as needed, for you. But I'd stick with what you did as its more complete (includes profiles.ini) and less error prone.

Personally, I like to once a year send one of my IMAP accounts a message with my prefs.js file (settings) and my *.mab files (address books) as attachments as an additional precaution.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Third_party_p ... d_services

[Nikilet]

Thank you so much for this information. It sure sets my mind at rest. So I understand the way I've been doing things is correct and I will be able to recover all my folders, sub-folders and emails within with that zipped folder I've been making if something were to happen.

I don't always get things right away, so if this is wrong please let me know.

While I have your ear, I would like help with something else. How do I set a font size in thunderbird?

Again, thanks!

[tanstaafl]

How you set the font size depends upon whether you are composing a message, reading a message, or looking at one of the toolbars/menus. Which one are you asking about?

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bad_Eyesight_-_Thunderbird
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Font_settings_in_Thunderbird
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Default_HTML_ ... hunderbird