Profile folder - Thunderbird

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This article is about Thunderbird's profile folder. See also Profile folder - Firefox and Profile folder - SeaMonkey.

Thunderbird stores all of your personal information such as messages, address books and settings in a folder called the profile. Its stored outside of your program directory to make it easier to upgrade without risking losing your data. Your profiles are not deleted if you uninstall Thunderbird.

The first time you start Thunderbird it will automatically create a default profile in a default location if you don't already have one. You can create additional profiles (in whatever location you want) , delete or rename them, or specify a different default profile using the Profile Manager.

Each profile can have one or more accounts. Thunderbird doesn't let you switch profiles without exiting, unlike Outlook Expresses identities. However, the profile switcher extension will let you do that.

Finding your profile

Profiles are placed in the same area by default but are named randomly for additional security. If you chose a custom location, see Other methods of finding a profile below.

The installation directory includes a folder named "profile" (for example, C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\defaults\profile on Windows), but this folder contains program defaults, not your user profile data.

Windows 95, 98, and ME

Profile folders are in C:\Windows\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ or C:\Windows\Profiles\<Windows user name>\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ .

Windows 2000 and XP

  1. Choose Start → Run
  2. Type in %APPDATA%
  3. Press OK. A Windows Explorer window will appear.
  4. In the Windows Explorer window, choose Mozilla → Thunderbird → Profiles. Each folder in this folder is a profile on your computer.

You can also navigate directly to your folder at the path C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows user name>\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ . The Application Data folder is a hidden folder; to show hidden folders, open Windows Explorer and choose "Tools → Folder Options → View (tab) → Show hidden files and folders".

Windows Vista

  1. Open the Windows Start menu
  2. In the the "Start Search" box, type in %APPDATA% and press "Enter". [1]
  3. A Windows Explorer window will appear (if it doesn't, click "Roaming").
  4. In the Windows Explorer window, choose Mozilla → Thunderbird → Profiles. Each folder in this folder is a profile on your computer.

You can also navigate directly to your folder at the path C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ . The AppData folder is folder is a hidden folder; to show hidden folders, open Windows Explorer and choose "Organize → Folder and Search Options → Folder Options → View (tab) → Show hidden files and folders".

Linux and Unix

Profile folders are in ~/.thunderbird/<Profile name>/ . However, if you're using a third party build from Debian or Ubuntu they store it in ~/.mozilla-thunderbird<Profile name>. Both are hidden folders. To show hidden folders in Nautilus (Gnome desktop's default file browser), choose View -> Show Hidden Files.

Mac OS X

Profile folders are in ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/<Profile name>/, ~/Library/Application Support/Thunderbird/Profiles/<Profile name>/, or /Users/<user name>/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/<Profile name>/ .

Other methods of finding a profile

Every Thunderbird (or SeaMonkey) profile with have a abook.mab file, even if you've configured it to store messages outside of the profile. You could find a profile by doing a file search for that file. However, you need to include hidden files and folders in the search.

  • Windows 2000: In Windows Explorer, choose Tools → Folder Options → View (tab) → Show hidden files and folders
  • Windows XP: Within the search tool, More Advanced Options → Search hidden files and folders
  • Windows Vista: Within the search tool, More Advanced Options → Include non-indexed, hidden or system files

You can also use Thunderbird to find the location of whatever profile it is using. Copy and paste the following code in the field near the top of "Tools -> Error Console" and click on the Evaluate button. It is one very long line ending in path — make sure that you get all of it:

Components.classes["@mozilla.org/file/directory_service;1"].getService( Components.interfaces.nsIProperties).get("ProfD", Components.interfaces.nsIFile).path

The console should display the location of the profile that is currently in use. If you don't see it, select "All" in the toolbar.

Profiles.ini

Thunderbird uses the profiles.ini file to find the location of your profiles, and to determine which profile is the default profile. If you're using Windows the file is located in the parent of the "Profiles" folder. It can be edited to move your profile. If it's deleted, a new profiles.ini file will be created and a new default profile folder created when Thunderbird starts.

This file is the reason why you can't just copy a profile into the "profiles" folder and have Thunderbird discover it.

Files and folders in the profile

Folders

Name Description
Attachments Used when attachments aren't stored in the folder or the desktop.
chrome Its mainly used for the optional userChrome.css and userContent.css files.
extensions Installed extensions and themes.
ImapMail Mail from IMAP accounts.
Mail Mail from POP accounts and Local Folders (Global Inbox)
News News from newsgroups

All of the messages for an account are stored in a subdirectory named after the mail server. For example if you have a Gmail POP account it would create a pop.gmail.com subdirectory in Mail. Your messages would be stored in text files with the folders name and no file extension called mbox files. For example, the inbox folder would be called "Inbox.". There would also be a inbox.msf file (a index file, it doesn't have any messages) and there might be a inbox.sbd subdirectory. The .sbd subdirectories are used to store the folders in a hierarchy, there is no master list describing how the folders should be organized.

If you use a add-on to make a webmail account emulate a POP account the mail server is typically 127.0.0.1 (or localhost). If you have more than one account with the same mail server Thunderbird adds a suffix. So your second yahoo webmail account might be stored in 127.0.0.1-1. The same thing occurs if you have multiple accounts with the same POP or IMAP servers, though thats less common.

Files

See Files and folders in the profile - Thunderbird for a more complete list.

Name Description
abook.mab Personal Address Book
cert8.db Security certificates
cookies.txt Cookies RSS_cookies_(Thunderbird)
downloads.rdf Download history. Can be deleted to resolve slow downloads or program hangs (Bug 159107)
extensions.rdf Installed extension information. It can be deleted to remove "ghost" entries from the extension list [2] and to resolve various other issues.
history.mab Collected addresses
key3.db Key database
localstore.rdf Toolbar and Window_layout_-_Thunderbird window size/position settings. It can be deleted to resolve various issues.
mailviews.dat Defines your current message view (you can customize it)
mimeTypes.rdf Action to perform when downloading certain types of files. Can be deleted to reset download actions.
msgFilterRules.dat in ImapMail, Mail, News Message filters
panacea.dat Mail folder cache. Deleting it sometimes helps get rid of Phantom folders
popstate.dat in Mail Keeps track of which messages have been downloaded and left on the POP3 server
prefs.js All preferences. See: Modify Thunderbird settings
secmod.db Security module database
signons.txt Encrypted saved passwords, requires key3.db to work . The signon.SignonFileName setting specifies this file.
training.dat Custom training for Junk Mail Controls
user.js
(does not exist by default)
User-set overriding preferences

Files without specific names

Name Description
*. in ImapMail, Mail, and News Mbox files. They are text files that contain all of the messages for that folder.
*.mab other than abook.mab and history.mab User-created or imported address books.
*.msf in ImapMail, Mail, and News Index files for mail messages.

See also

External links