Best Ways to Copy Thunderbird Emails to Local Folder

Many people wish to keep backups of crucial emails on their systems. If you too are planning to save Thunderbird emails to local folder, then this guide will greatly help you, as we explain here some manual techniques to do so that are limited, and then talk about an automated tool that would make this task a lot simpler & much safer.

Why Does Anyone Export All Emails from Thunderbird?

With email services & features applicable for both individual users & professionals alike, Mozilla Thunderbird has been a popular pick for many people over the years. However, there are multiple reasons why users wish to export all emails from Thunderbird to local folder:

1. For creating a backup copy of crucial emails for safety purposes in case of mistaken deletions, inevitable system failures, & unpredictable phishing attacks.
2. For freeing up server space or while changing computers.
3. During email client migrations where users need to download all their emails from Mozilla Thunderbird to some other email client.
4. To share large volumes of emails with other users, specifically in an office setup.
5. For the purpose of moving some emails to another machine.
6. Some firms need to keep communication records for audit purposes, legal proceedings or office needs.
7. To protect crucial emails in case of account failure.
8. For better email data management so that searching emails becomes easy & quick, whenever required.
9. To get offline access to crucial emails so that internet connection is not needed every time to view emails.
10. To have a second backup copy before uninstalling Mozilla Thunderbird.
11. This is also done while closing an old email account so as to preserve emails.

Manual Techniques to Copy Thunderbird Emails to Local Folder

There are 3 different manual styles for doing this task. Let us look at their steps.

1st Method to Save Thunderbird Emails to Local Folder Using Save As

The first method can be done by following the steps given below:

1. First of all, run Mozilla Thunderbird on your machine.
2. After that, you need to select an email folder.
3. Next, you have to press Ctrl + A & then select all emails in the folder.
4. Further, you should right click & then select the option of Save As.
5. Afterwards, you must pick the EML format from the saving options’ list.
6. Lastly, you can choose the desired location & then press the Save button.

2nd Method Using Add-Ons

You can do the second process by carrying out the steps mentioned below:

1. Firstly, you have to open Mozilla Thunderbird on your PC.
2. Subsequently, you need to go to the three-dot icon from the menu.
3. Here, you must select the option for Add-ons.
4. After that, you have to go to the search icon & type ImportExportTools plugin, and then select the option of Add to Thunderbird.
5. Thereupon, you should click on the option of Email Account if you require exporting all email folders, or you can click on the specific Email folder that you wish to save.
6. Thereafter, you need to choose the option of ImportExportTools NG.
7. Afterwards, you must select the Folder Export (mbox) for saving all emails from Mozilla Thunderbird.
8. In the end, select the desired location for exporting all emails.

3rd Method Using Default Location

The 3rd methodology works on the implementation of the following steps:

1. First & foremost, you need to open the C Drive on your machine.
2. Now, you have to go to the Users option.
3. Next, you must tap on the Users Name option.
4. After this, you should go to the option of App Data from the list.
5. Subsequently, you now need to click on the Roaming option.
6. Afterwards, you must select the Thunderbird option.
7. Lastly, you have to go to the profiles option & from there, export all emails from Mozilla Thunderbird to the desired location.

Disadvantages of Doing Manual Techniques

1. Manual techniques are slow and they also prove to be unsuccessful when large volumes of emails are involved.
2. There is very high risk of data loss with these manual approaches. You can lose email attachments, email components, & embedded images, etc.
3. You might encounter errors or experience interruptions that often lead to data corruption, resulting in major unrecoverable loss.
4. Manual mechanisms lack search & filter options, so you can’t select any specific emails based on criteria such as date range/subject/email id etc.
5. You might lose folder structure as well as email formatting because such ways can’t keep these intact.
6. Beginner-level users with no such technical background might face multiple complexities in carrying out the steps of manual processes, which might result in data-damaging human errors.

Get Best Results by Availing the Better Option of a Good Professional Tool

As you can see, there are several ways to try this conversion manually, but most of them have the major drawbacks described above. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to deal with all these problems manually. We recommend avoiding these manual methods and relying on a professional solution. BitRecover Thunderbird Backup Tool is the best option.

Multiple Capabilities Making the Software Unique

The software is truly one-of-its-kind, which reflects in its unique features given below:

1. This software allows converting Thunderbird emails (*.mbox/*.mbs/*.mbx) with no such data loss, while preserving formatting, metadata & folder hierarchy.
2. With dual options to select files/folders in Mozilla Thunderbird for choosing individual or multiple folders with all Thunderbird emails.
3. Selective email conversion is even possible as there are several advanced filter options.
4. The desired location can be chosen for saving output files straight from the software panel itself.
5. There is no need for any extra tool to be installed for converting email data.

The Final Talk!

Emails are crucial, emails are precious, emails have to be preserved. So, it is important to know how to save Thunderbird emails to local folder. Manual techniques fall short most of the time, but the automatic tool generates successful results.