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All your data such as messages, passwords and user preferences, and changes made while you use Thunderbird, are stored in a special folder called a profile. Your profile folder is stored in a separate place from the Thunderbird program, so that if something ever goes wrong with Thunderbird your information will still be there. It also means that you can uninstall Thunderbird and reinstall without losing your settings and data. (Most users use the single default profile, but it is possible to have Use multiple profiles in Thunderbird.)

You should protect your data by backing it up using Thunderbird Export or some backup method. Without a backup you risk permanent loss of data from many possible causes. The following are NOT backups: data on mail servers, your Thunderbird profile on your local computer, a Thunderbird profile on a different computer, profiles run in cloud-based storage.

How do I find my profile?

  • Click > and select . The Troubleshooting Information tab will open.
  • Under the Application Basics section, find the Profile Folder row, then click on Open Folder. Your profile folder will open.

Finding your profile without opening Thunderbird

Thunderbird stores your profile folder in this location on your computer, by default:
"C:\Users\<your Windows login username>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\"
Windows hides the AppData folder by default, but you can find your profile folder as follows:

  1. Press Windows Key+R on the keyboard. A Run dialog will open.
  2. Type in:
    %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles\
  3. Click OK. A window will open containing profile folders.
  4. Double-click the profile folder you wish to open. If you only have one profile, its folder would have "default" in the name.
  • Alternatively, you can find your profile by pressing the Windows Key key and then start typing: %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles\

Backing up a profile

You can backup your data using Thunderbird's export tool, or the steps below.

To back up your profile, first close Thunderbird if it is open and then copy the profile folder to another location.

  1. Locate your profile folder, as explained above.
  2. Shut down Thunderbird.
  3. Go to one level above your profile's folder, i.e. to %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles\
  4. Right-click on your profile folder (e.g. xxxxxxxx.default), and select .
  5. Right-click the backup location (e.g. a USB-stick or a blank CD-RW disc), and select .

Restoring a profile backup

You can restore your data using Thunderbird's import tool, or the steps below.

  1. Shut down Thunderbird.
  2. If your existing profile folder and profile backup folder have the same name, simply replace the existing profile folder with the profile backup, then start Thunderbird.

    Important: The profile folder names must match exactly for this to work, including the random string of 8 characters. If the names do not match or if you are restoring a backup to a different location, follow the steps below.

Restoring to a different location

If the profile folder names do not match or if you want to move or restore a profile to a different location, do the following:

  1. Completely close Thunderbird, as explained above.
  2. Use the Thunderbird Profile Manager to create a new profile in your desired location, then exit the Profile Manager.

    Note: If you just installed Thunderbird on a new computer, you can use the default profile that is automatically created when you first run Thunderbird, instead of creating a new profile.

  3. Locate the backed up profile folder on your hard drive or backup medium (e.g., your USB-stick).
  4. Open the profile folder backup (e.g., the xxxxxxxx.default backup).
  5. Copy the entire contents of the profile folder backup, such as the mimeTypes.rdf file, prefs.js file, etc.
  6. Locate and open the new profile folder as explained above and then close Thunderbird (if open).
  7. Paste the contents of the backed up profile folder into the new profile folder, overwriting existing files of the same name.
  8. Start Thunderbird.

Moving a profile

Occasionally, you might want to move a profile or tell Thunderbird to use a profile stored in another location.

  1. Shut down Thunderbird.
  2. Move the profile folder to the desired location.. (If you are reverting to a backed up profile, this step isn't necessary. Just note the current location of the profile you want to restore.)
  3. Open up the profiles.ini file in a text editor. The file is located in the application data folder for Thunderbird:
    • The path is %AppData%\Thunderbird\ for Windows.
  4. In the profiles.ini file, locate the entry for the profile you've just moved. Change the Path= line to the new location.
  5. If you switch from a relative path to a non-relative path, the direction of the slashes may need to change. For example, in Windows, non-relative paths use backslashes, whereas relative ones use forward slashes. Change IsRelative=1 to IsRelative=0.
  6. Save profiles.ini and restart Thunderbird.

Sharing profile data between computers

Simultaneous access to any part of the Thunderbird profile folder, via a file share, cloud storage or any other method, is NOT supported. Doing so risks corruption and permanent loss of data.

Cloud storage

Thunderbird profile stored on cloud synced file storage should work on most cases, but simultaneous access from multiple running instances of Thunderbird, from multiple computers or within a single computer, is not supported. Your Thunderbird profile on cloud storage is not a backup.

See Also

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