Last updated on September 6th, 2022 at 10:55 am
Summary: In this simplified guide, you will understand and learn the top methods to backup thunderbird emails to avoid corruption of the thunderbird mailbox. By following this blog, the thunderbird users can easily backup their mailbox data into an external hard drive. We recommend a professional tool to backup thunderbird mailbox into PST, EML, MSG, and the MBOX email file format.
There are some obvious reasons of which users think for the Thunderbird backup. Developed by Mozilla Foundation, Thunderbird is an email client, news client, chat client, etc. Thunderbird uses the MBOX file format. The main reason behind the Thunderbird backup is safeguarding the valuable data and creating an extra copy. It is for a bad time if for any reason you are not able to access your Thunderbird data.
Table of Content
Where backup Thunderbird emails?
After clearing the point that why we should backup the Thunderbird, the next basic question is where we should back up our Thunderbird emails. To backup data, it is a must that the target must be easily accessible, easily portable, and safe. The best option for Thunderbird backup is, the .pst file of MS Outlook. It fulfills all the conditions of an ideal storage file. You can store them on a Hard Drive too as per your convenience.
PST files are the data storage file (Personal Storage Table) of MS Outlook. MS Outlook is the most prominent email client in today’s world. It is easy to port, easy to view, and also allows applying a password on the PST file.
Try a trial version of the IMAP Backup Tool to take the backup of thunderbird Emails.
Methods to Backup Thunderbird Emails to External Hard Drive
For Thunderbird backup, we have a manual as well as a professional way. Let’s know about both ways in detail.
Manual Ways:
To backup Thunderbird emails in PST file format, we have three manuals ways and a professional solution:
- ImportExportTools Add-on
- Thunderbird User’s Profile backup
- Backup Thunderbird emails as a Zip file
- Thunderbird backup Using a Professional tool
follow the below-given steps very carefully to execute the backup process using the manual method:
Backup Thunderbird Emails Using ImportExportTools Add-on
Step 1: Firstly, run the Mozilla Thunderbird and open the selected mailbox.
Step 2: Secondly, make the selection of emails that you want to back up in the PST file.
Step3: Make a right-click and go with the “Save As” option.
Step 4: Select the target folder to backup Thunderbird emails by clicking on the “Select Folder” option.
Step 5: Launch the MS Outlook and create a new folder. 
Step6: Using “drag & drop” save the Thunderbird emails by placing them on the Outlook interface. 
Step 7: Now go to the “File” menu.
Step 8: Import/Export > “Open & Export” 
Step9: Go with the “Export to a file” option and click on the Next. 
Step 10: Choose “Outlook Data file” and make a click on the “Next” button. 
Step 11: Then select the folder containing the Thunderbird emails to export in PST.
Step12: Set preferences and click on “Finish” to get the PST files.
Backup Thunderbird User’s Profile
With the Thunderbird Profile’s backup, you can backup your emails. To backup Thunderbird’s profile, simply copy data from the user’s profile folder and paste it into the desired location.
Below are the steps to follow:
- Firstly launch the Thunderbird.
- On the icon named “Display the Thunderbird Menu” make a click.
- Now move to the Help>> Troubleshooting Information. It will launch the Troubleshooting Information window in the new tab.
- Under the Applications Basics section, there is Open Folder (Local drive) button, click on this.
- By clicking the Open Folder button, the user’s profile directory having a specific name format consisting of the line of the random character will be displayed.
- Now come outside the folder. Copy the user’s profile folder, and paste it into the desired directory.
By following the above-given steps, you can easily copy-paste the user’s profile folder to the desired location.
How to Backup Thunderbird emails as a Zip file?
Thunderbird emails backup as a zip file is not tricky; follow the below steps to perform a one-time email backup as a zip file.
- Run Windows Explorer and browse %Appdata%
- Or directly Press the Windows+R key to search %Appdata%
- The full path looks like C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming.
- Scroll down to find the Thunderbird folder
- Right-click on the Thunderbird folder
- Then Select Send>Compressed (Zipped) folder.
- Wait until your Thunderbird folder is copied and compresses as a zip archive file.
Note: Your original Thunderbird folder remains as it is; now copy the compressed zip file and save it to an external hard drive or somewhere other you want. Now you get complete thunderbird backup; if anything wrong happens with your MBOX file, extract the zip folder and import MBOX files using ImportExportTools Add-on.
What drawbacks manual methods have?
There are various limitations and drawbacks associated with the manual way of Thunderbird backup.
- The manual method consumes a lot of time and it is very tedious too.
- In manual export, Emails often lose their unique SMTP header.
- Doer can’t be assured of correct and complete export of emails.
- Doer must be technically sound to execute the task of Thunderbird backup.
- Chances of human-error are very high with the manual way; a single mistake can ruin the whole process.
Professional Method to backup thunderbird emails to External Hard Drive
Every professional wants a perfect and effortless solution to backup Thunderbird emails, and no one wants to risk the data anyhow. To provide a professional solution for the Thunderbird backup in the hard drive, Shoviv Software has developed an advanced tool. Shoviv IMAP Backup and Restore tool provides an ideal way to backup Thunderbird emails. The software is laced with several user-oriented features, which make the Thunderbird backup process an enhanced process.
Let’s know about the Shoviv IMAP Backup and Restore tool’s features:
- You can backup several Thunderbird mailboxes in a single go and without any restrictions.
- The software has a filter option based on the message date and folder filter. Using the filter option, you can make the backup process desired and exclude unwanted emails from the process.
- You can schedule the backup process for a specific day/time. if required, you can schedule the backup process daily, weekly, and monthly.
- Also, The software works on an incremental basis which means it will not backup item if that is already processed.
- You can choose the desired file format to backup Thunderbird emails. The given file formats are PST, MBOX, MSG, EML, HTML, and MHT.
- Last but not least, if required, you can restore/export files to the Thunderbird mailbox without any extra cost.
These are the few features the Shoviv IMAP Backup and Restore tool offers. Apart from these, there are many more. Shoviv offers a free version of the tool, so you can check its features and compatibility before purchasing it.
Below is its step-by-step process to backup Thunderbird emails, make sure to install the free version of the tool and examine the tool by yourself.
Steps to Backup Thunderbird Emails are as follows
- Firstly, Install Shoviv Thunderbird IMAP Backup Tool.
- Create backup directory & Add Thunderbird Mailbox.
- Select Backup types such as PST, MBOX, EML, etc.
- (Optional) Add Filter such as date, folders, etc.
- Lastly, click on the Export button & Process will start.
Here the process gets complete; as you can see, the tool is the same as using an android application and doesn’t ask for any technical hands.
Final Words:
Everyone has their reason for the Thunderbird backup and the users have a choice of manual and professional methods. The manual method is very long, technically complicated, and also the limitations while the professional Shoviv IMAP Backup Tool is an advanced utility with various functionalities. Using the professional utility you can easily take the Thunderbird email backup on the hard drive. A free trial version of this tool is also available to download, users can easily download and check the working of the software. Also, The free version also allows backup of the first fifty items per folder.
About the author
Stuart Clark is working as a technical content writer at Shoviv Software for the last 3 years. In his free time, he loves to write about new technology and read fiction books, his favorite book is "It ends with us" by Coolen Hoover.
I convert my thunderbird emails through this tool, but rather than archiving PST and save as a backup file; I import backup file into Outlook 2019. Now I easily manage my emails with proper spam filters.
Saving the outlook .pst file as a backup of thunderbird MBOX files is straightforward with the shoviv IMAP Email Backup tool. One of Spiceworks’ IT professionals suggested this tool. I didn’t use any email converter before, but I freely recommend this tool to every thunderbird user.
I get this tool from here: https://community.spiceworks.com/products/66519-shoviv-mbox-to-pst-converter-v18
Thunderbird is a free email client so that it has some flaws, which users face when working on it. From my Personal experience with thunderbird, I won’t suggest this client; instead, I prefer Outlook for business usees.
With Shoviv thunderbird backup tool, I flawlessly export all emails data into office 365. Now I can access my emails from anywhere.
Excellent writeup all the possible methods to backup thunderbird emails are mentioned here. As the author says, manual procedures are risky. It’s true because I tried the manual method first, but honestly, I stuck with these methods and messed up with my MBOX mailboxes. Thanks to my sixth sense, I already took a copy of my MBOX files before using the manual backup. Maybe the manual method works for you, but I go with the shoviv automated tool, safe for email migration.