Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete source

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Runningws
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Joined: January 31st, 2008, 12:04 pm

Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete source

Post by Runningws »

Hi there,

First up. I am a total newbie to TB. Completely green!!!!!!

My webmail from my ISP is approaching its online quota. I want to download it all to my local workstation and delete the online.

The wrinkle for me, is that I want to move the default mail location (my C: drive) to an external drive.

I found this post:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_m ... underbird)

and followed it. There were a few differences from what's in the post (e.g. when I restarted TB it was already back in online mode).

So far it looks like the copy worked. I changed the location of the mail folder to my external drive. I'd like to:

- confirm that mail is ending up in the new location (from the date stamps it looks like it)
- delete the mail in the original (C: drive location)

From the surface of it, looking at date stamps, it looks like both old and new folders are receiving the mail downloads.

As I say, I'm a total newbie here.

I tried to search the previous posts for intel on this issue, however, the sheer volume of the posts makes it a bit of a non-starter.

Thanks in advance for any help which you can offer.

Cheers,
Runningws
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tanstaafl
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Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by tanstaafl »

That shouldn't occur, you can only have one "local directory" for an account. Is this a POP account?

Do you have any other accounts other than the "Local Folders" special account? One reason I ask is I wonder if you accidently set two different accounts to use the same local directory (where any accounts stores its files).

When you change a important setting in Thunderbird its generally a good idea to exit and restart it so that there is no question that its using the new value.

If you have a quiet period where you don't expect to fetch any new mail for a couple of minutes look at the current inbox and then temporarily change the local directory setting back to the old value. Does it look the same? When you're done change the local directory back to the new location.

Another possibility is to move the entire profile to a new location. If you want to do that I can explain how to do that.
Runningws
Posts: 10
Joined: January 31st, 2008, 12:04 pm

Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by Runningws »

Thank you for the speedy reply.

The account is an IMAP account.

I don't believe I have any other accounts other than the "Local Folders". The install for me was following a Youtube TB setup. I just let TB do the "Voo-doo it needed to do".

I exited TB when I "copied" the folders to the external drive. As I mentioned, the copy deviated from the "move folders" script I was using, in that when I restarted TB it was already back in Online mode, through nothing that I consciously did.

In trying to sort out this updating, I purposefully haven't started TB in two days, wanting to see where the date stamps would end up.

I hadn't thought about moving the entire profile to a new location. I'm not married to running it from my C: which I want to keep as clean as I can. I do use Firefox as a secondary browser. I don't know if all Mozilla apps share the profile. I add the Firefox intel only for completeness, not trying to muddy the waters.

So, if I can:

- get rid of the copied folders onto my external drive
- move TB from my C: drive to the external drive

That would be great. I'd like to take you up on your offer explaining how to do it.

Currently, I have:

- installed TB
- it handshook with my ISP and downloaded all my web based mail to TB
- I copied the folders to my external drive
- I haven't deleted anything yet
- To sort out the date stamps I haven't run TB for 2 days now

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Runningws
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tanstaafl
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Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by tanstaafl »

1. Reset the local directory setting back to the old location within the profile. I assume you didn't delete or move those files, you just copied them.

2. Help -> more troubleshooting information. Then click on the about:profiles link. Its near the bottom of the application basics section. This brings you to a profile manager (which is better than the old command line argument version of the profile manager).

3. Find your old profile and write down its location.

4. Use the "create profile" button to create a new profile on a different drive. Write down its location.

5. Exit Thunderbird.

6. Copy the contents of the old profile to the new profiles location. Be careful to only copy the contents, not the actual directory. For example if it used to be stored in ..\xyz.dir you shouldn't see a xyz child directory in the new profile.

7. Start Thunderbird. It should use the copied profile. If things look okay you can use about:profiles again, find the old profile, and use the "remove profile" button to safely delete it. You want to delete the old profile this way to avoid creating problems with the profiles.ini file (used to list where the profiles are and identify which is the default profile). If you just deleted the old profiles files using windows explorer Thunderbird might quietly exit whenever you try to start or else report a profile in use error and exit.

8 If you run into problems (perhaps it claims your profile doesn't support the current version) use about:profiles again, find the new profile and press the "set as default profile" button for it.

If any of those steps are unclear, just ask.
Runningws
Posts: 10
Joined: January 31st, 2008, 12:04 pm

Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by Runningws »

I believe I may have found the cause of my dilemma. I made a rookie mistake which I'll blame on my newness to TB.

When I set TB to the folders I'd copied and pasted on my external drive, from the account settings, I set them on the "Local Folders" tab.

I didn't see the folders on the top level tab "Server Settings".

So on the "Server Settings" tab the Local Directory is and always has pointed to the original folder on my C drive.

On the "Local Folders" tab the "Message Store" points to the external drive location. I am unable to change this location back to the original folder on the C drive.

I get this error message:

Server Settings

The Local Directory path "C:\Users\nnnn\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\mmt22izi.default-release" is not suitable for message store. Please choose another directory.

So here's a question for you:

Given that:

- it's a new TB install, vanilla, aside from the mistake with the external drive
- I haven't deleted any of the mail from my ISP's web based e-mail

Would it be easier for me to uninstall TB, reinstall, and follow your latest instructions?

It would sure be nice if this board software supported attaching screen shots, or PDF's with screen shots.

Your assistance is much appreciated.

Cheers,
Runningws
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tanstaafl
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Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by tanstaafl »

Re-installing doesn't help. It just adds a chance for error if you do a custom setup and install in a different location because of the "dedicated profile per installation" feature. Your problems are due to your profile, not your installation. Your PM asked:

"Is there any way to:

- install TB without downloading all the mail messages from my ISP's
webmail
- configure TB to put mail on my external drive
- download all the mail messages from my ISP
"

If its a IMAP account any downloading will be due to synchronizing remote and local folders based on the settings in synchronization & storage. If that is enabled (it is by default) it already occurred. You could temporarily disable it (offline folders) if you want by unchecking "keep messages in all folders for this account on this computer".

Change the local directory to the new location. You could move the contents of the old local directory to the new one if you wanted to avoid downloading again after you re-enable offline folders. Unless you're using a cellular or satellite connection I wouldn't bother, given the problems you seem to have. Just re-enable offline folders again after you changed the local directory by checking "keep messages in all folders for this account on this computer"

If everything seems to work okay you can delete the old local directory afterwards to free up the disk space.

Be aware that if you are working online it displays the contents of the remote folders. It only displays the contents of the local/offline folders if you are configured to work offline AND enabled "keep messages in all folders for this account on this computer". You can't rely upon the offline folders as a backup since if you delete something in the remote folder when it synchs it will delete it in the local/offline folder too. If you want a backup you need to copy the offline folders somewhere else.
Runningws
Posts: 10
Joined: January 31st, 2008, 12:04 pm

Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by Runningws »

Hi again.

I think child birth is probably an easier proposition.

However, success. I've installed TB. Identified the IMAP folders, copied them to an external drive, redirected the mail to the external drive.

Then I looked at your last paragraph which begins with "Be aware" . . .

The major reason I started with TB, was to have a local copy of my online mail files, which I can use and an archive. I want to preserve all the messages. Testing has confirmed that the local folders are being synced (read - delete it on-line, and it gets deleted in the local files).

Your last sentence "If you want a backup you need to copy the offlines folders somewhere else". Can you suggest the steps to do this, so that I'll have a permanent local copy of all my online e-mails?

Thanks in advance.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by tanstaafl »

Offline folders are enabled by default due to "keep messages in all folders for this account on the computer" being checked in synchronization & storage. There is no problem getting the mbox files created. The risk is that they get modified whenever the corresponding remote folder changes. So you want to store a copy of them somewhere in case you accidentally delete a folder/messages....


All you need to do is either click on the open folder (profile, NOT update history) button in Help -> more troubleshooting information, let it open windows explorer at the current profile, navigate to the local directory of the IMAP account and copy its files somewhere safe. Or go to the server settings section of its account settings, copy the local directory setting at the bottom (next to a Browse button) , paste that string into the address bar of windows explorer and then copy its files somewhere safe.
Runningws
Posts: 10
Joined: January 31st, 2008, 12:04 pm

Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by Runningws »

Thanks again for the speedy reply.

One of my biggest obstacles is my total unfamiliarity with TB. But that's my issue.

Can't see the forest for the trees at times. I finally (* staring me right in the face *) found the profile "open folder" and see the IMAP account to copy its files. GOT IT!

Question for you. Can I use TB to then flip from my "active" email files to the "archive" email files? My concern is that if I point TB at the archive, unless I'm super careful to ensure that I'm working offline, that TB will happily synch up the archive with whats online, merrily deleting thousands of e-mails.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
RWS
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tanstaafl
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Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by tanstaafl »

No.

The remote folder is the master copy . The local/offline folders are sync'd to it, creating a mirror copy. If there is a difference its ALWAYS the local/offline folder which is changed as needed.

In fact if you copy a mbox file to the local directory and there is no corresponding remote folder the mbox file is deleted when Thunderbird synch's the folders. That's why you have to copy the local/offline folders to somewhere safe if you want to rely upon them as a backup.
Runningws
Posts: 10
Joined: January 31st, 2008, 12:04 pm

Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by Runningws »

Thanks.

I think I got off on the wrong foot with TB.

My ISP's web-based e-mail has a storage limit on it. A limit I am rapidly approaching. What started me on the TB path was an article about freeing up space for Gmail, (* It's not Gmail I have the issue with, it's my ISP e-mail, which I have messages going back to 2006 *).

Ideally, what I wanted was to offload thousands of e-mails from my on-line e-mail to a "repository", where I could access the history. I lose some flexibility in that I can only access the history from my local workstation, but that's ok.

After I struggled and finally got TB up and running, I find TB is doing exactly what I don't want. The remote (* my term is on-line *) server is the single version of the truth. The local takes its orders from the remote. So if I delete thousands of messages from the remote, they'll get deleted on my local copy.

I did find a reference to a TB extension for "local folders". It seems this extension does what I want.

Do you have any experience with this extension?

Thanks again for your assistance.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by tanstaafl »

Why don't you just archive a lot of your old mail in the "Local Folders" account? That will store it in mbox files on your hard disk just like a POP account.

You can specify any account/folder as the archive folder in "copies & folders", it doesn't have to be a folder in the IMAP account. You can either use the built-in archive feature/menu commands or do it manually. The built-in archive support is just a user convenience, it doesn't do anything you can't do manually.

The local folders extension at https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/th ... er/?src=ss is a way to create additional local folders accounts. You already have one (though you may need to create the inbox folder using File -> New -> Folder) . I never saw the need for additional ones.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Archiving_your_e-mail
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/archived-messages

You could sign up for a free IMAP account such as Gmail and store a additional copy of your archived email there so that you can access it from any device.
Runningws
Posts: 10
Joined: January 31st, 2008, 12:04 pm

Re: Copied mailbox to an external drive - how to delete sour

Post by Runningws »

Thanks again.

Finally light at the end of the tunnel. Unfamiliarity with the product and starting off on the wrong foot without articulating what it was I was trying to accomplish made this journey a long and bumpy one. However, I got there. Created the local folders (using native functionality) moved a bunch of old e-mails into them, and have reduced my quota on my ISP e-mail.

Thanks for your help.

Case closed.
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