Transferring data to a new profile

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Revision as of 18:38, 25 October 2005 by Alice Wyman (talk | contribs) (→‎Files)
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This article describes how to copy data and settings from one profile to another and lists a suggested set of files. This process will not migrate extensions, themes or toolbar/window customizations.

Completely close Firefox/Thunderbird/Mozilla Suite, and copy the following from the source profile's folder to the destination profile's folder. This process will overwrite existing files of the same name so you may wish to back up the profile data beforehand.

Files

  • abook.mab and history.mab (Mozilla Suite and Thunderbird) - Personal Address Book and Collected Addresses. For migrating other address books, see this article.
  • bookmarks.html (Firefox and Mozilla Suite) - Bookmarks
  • cert8.db - Security certificates
  • chrome/userChrome.css and chrome/userContent.css (if they exist) - User-defined styles
  • cookies.txt (Firefox and Mozilla Suite)- Cookies
  • formhistory.dat (Firefox) or (number).w (Mozilla Suite) - Form history
  • key3.db and signons.txt (Firefox) - Saved passwords.
  • key3.db and (number).s (Mozilla Suite and Thunderbird) - Saved passwords. If you do not migrate the prefs.js file, use about:config to modify the signon.SignonFileName preference value to match the copied (number).s file name.
  • history.dat (Firefox and Mozilla Suite) - Browsing history
  • hostperm.1 - Cookie, image, and extension install permissions
  • mimeTypes.rdf - Actions to perform on downloaded files
  • training.dat (Mozilla Suite and Thunderbird) - Custom training for junk mail controls
  • user.js (if it exists) and prefs.js - User Preferences. Note: In most cases, migrating the prefs.js file from one profile to another is not recommended. If you choose to do so, you may need to manually edit the paths in prefs.js to reflect the new profile location. Additionally, you may need to remove preferences that refer to extensions that are not installed in the new profile.
  • virtualfolders.dat (Thunderbird) - Virtual folder settings

Other

  • ImapMail and Mail folders (Mozilla Suite and Thunderbird) - E-mail messages and settings. See this article.
  • News folder (Mozilla Suite and Thunderbird) - Newsgroups messages and settings. If necessary, create a new "newsgroup" account for each news server in the new profile ("File -> New -> Account"), then close Mozilla Suite or Thunderbird and copy over the "News" folder contents.
  • searchplugins folder (Mozilla Suite and Firefox) - Search plugins. Copy the .src and .gif/.png pairs of files from the searchplugins folder in the source installation directory) to the destination searchplugins folder in the destination installation directory. Note: Starting with Firefox 1.5, newly-installed search plugins will be added to the profile's searchplugins folder, so you may have search plugin files in both the installation directory and the profile.

See Also