Profile backup

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Revision as of 17:26, 18 May 2007 by Np (talk | contribs) (add more sections, intro text, update for SeaMonkey and Firefox 2, formatting)
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The profile folder is a folder on your computer that stores all information regarding your settings, mail, bookmarks, etc. for Mozilla applications. You may to back up this folder so you can keep this information in case something happens to your computer. This article describes how to perform a backup and how to restore from backup.

If you want to move your profile to a different place on your computer (possibly because you will upgrade your operating system), see Moving your profile folder.

Full backup

This method will back up your entire profile (or profiles, if you created many).

Backing up

  1. You may want to begin by clearing unnecessary files to reduce the size of your backup.
    • Firefox: "Tools -> Clear Private Data... -> uncheck all except Cache -> Clear Private Data Now".
    • Mozilla Suite and SeaMonkey: Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Cache -> Clear Cache, as well as compacting your mail.
    • Thunderbird: compact your mail.
  2. Exit the application completely by choosing File -> Exit. Mozilla Suite and SeaMonkey users on Windows should also exit Mozilla Quick Launch if enabled.
  3. Navigate to your profile folder. Move up in the folder tree to the folder that matches the name of the application you use ("Firefox", "Thunderbird", or "Mozilla" for Mozilla Suite and SeaMonkey).
  4. Copy the chosen folder to the backup location.

Restoring or migrating

Use this procedure to restore your backed-up profile or move it to another computer.

  1. Completely close all Mozilla programs, including the Mozilla Suite, SeaMonkey, Firefox, and Thunderbird. Again, Mozilla Suite and SeaMonkey users should exit Mozilla Quick Launch if enabled.
  2. Copy the folder you backed up to the exact same location that it was in when you made the backup or to an identical location on the other computer.

Partial backup

In some situations you might want to back up or restore only certain files from your profile folder. See Migrating settings to a new profile for a list of suggested files.

Third party profile backup software

Many programs exist that can automate the backup process for. Below is a partial list. These are third party utilities that have not been evaluated by Mozilla.

  • FEBE: Backup extension for Firefox. (Windows and Linux)
  • Bookmark Backup: Profile backup utility for Firefox. (Windows and Linux)
  • MozBackup: Profile backup utility for the Mozilla Suite, Firefox, and Thunderbird. (Windows only)
  • Email backup: Profile backup utility for Thunderbird under OSX
  • BackupFox: Backup your profiles of Firefox and Thunderbird. (Win32 only)

See also