How to Export Thunderbird Settings to a New Mac Computer

If you use Mozilla's free Thunderbird email application on your Mac, you might prefer to export your Thunderbird settings to a new Mac when you start working with a new computer. Thunderbird has a variety of settings preferences that you can configure, including email accounts and folders that you set up to handle incoming mail and drafts of your outgoing mail. Instead of starting from scratch, you can easily export the settings from your old Mac to your new Mac.

Things You'll Need

• USB flash drive
• USB external hard drive
• Blank CD

Instructions

1. Quit Thunderbird on your Mac.

2. Click "File" from the Finder menu, then click "New Finder Window," and then click the icon of the home in the Finder window's sidebar.

3. Double-click the "Library" folder to open it. Double-click the "Thunderbird" folder to open it. Thunderbird's settings are contained in the "Profiles" folder.

4. Insert a USB flash drive into a USB port on your Mac, or connect an external hard drive's USB cable to a USB port on your Mac. The drive mounts on your Mac's desktop.

5. Drag the "Profiles" folder from the "Thunderbird" folder onto the icon of the mounted USB flash drive or the USB external drive to copy your Thunderbird settings folder to it. If you don't have a USB flash drive or external hard drive, you can burn a copy of your Thunderbird settings with Apple's native disc-burning feature.

6. Click on the desktop or in a folder where you want to create a burn folder. Click "File" from the Finder menu, and then click "New Burn Folder." A burn folder appears on the desktop or in the folder you clicked. Drag the "Profiles" folder from the "Thunderbird" folder into the burn folder. This creates an alias, or shortcut to the Thunderbird "Profiles" folder in the burn folder; it does not copy or move the actual "Profiles" folder.

7. Double-click the burn folder to open it. Click the "Burn" button at the top of the burn folder window. Insert a blank CD into your Mac's optical drive. A message appears, asking you to confirm that you want to burn the contents of the burn folder. Type a name for the CD, such as "Thunderbird Settings Export." Click "Burn" to burn the CD.

8. Right-click the icon of the USB flash drive or the USB external drive or the CD you burned, and then click "Eject" from the pop-up menu. Plug the USB flash drive or external drive into a USB port on the new Mac, or insert the CD into the optical drive of the new Mac.

9. Launch Thunderbird on the new Mac and then quit it to create a Thunderbird folder in the new Mac's Library folder.

10. Click "File" from the Finder menu, then click "New Finder Window." Click the icon of the home in the Finder window's sidebar. Double-click the "Library" folder to open it. Double-click the "Thunderbird" folder to open it.

11. Drag the "Profiles" folder from your USB drive or the CD into the "Thunderbird" folder to copy the settings from your old Mac to your new Mac.

References

• Mozilla: Thunderbird Features
• Mozilla: Thunderbird - Profiles -- How To
• Apple: Mac OS X 10.6 Help: Creating a Burn Folder

Resources

• Mozilla: Thunderbird
• Mozilla: Installing Thunderbird on Mac -- How To