Need to move Thunderbird to a new computer – with your emails, accounts, passwords, address book and filters? The good news: Thunderbird keeps all of it in one profile folder. Here is how to move it.

Manual copy of your Thunderbird profile

Close Thunderbird on the old computer.
Open this folder:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\
Copy the profile folder (it looks like “xxxxxxxx.default-release”) to a USB or external drive. If you keep years of mail locally, expect it to be large.
On the new computer, install Thunderbird, run it once, and close it.
Copy your old profile folder’s contents over the new profile folder (same location as above).
Start Thunderbird – your accounts, emails and settings should be there.

Doable? Yes. Easy? Not exactly – hidden folders, profiles.ini quirks if the folder names don’t match, and one antivirus false move during the copy can corrupt a decade of mail. And it only moves Thunderbird.

The automatic way – Thunderbird and everything else

The easiest way is to use a dedicated transfer tool – Zinstall WinWin. It transfers Thunderbird – profile, emails, accounts and all – along with your other apps, settings and files, automatically.

How to move Thunderbird to the new computer

Run Zinstall WinWin on your current computer (the one you are transferring from).
Note: You can get Zinstall WinWin here.
Run Zinstall WinWin on the new computer
1. You don’t need to do any configurations for the computers to connect – it’s automatic
2. If the computers are already connect to same router, same Internet connection, or same wireless connection, you don’t need anything else
3. If the computers are not connected at all, connect them with a network / Ethernet cable
If you’d like to select which applications and files you want to transfer, press the Advanced menu. If you just want to transfer everything, you don’t need to go to the Advanced menu.
Press “Go” on the Windows 11 or Windows 10 computer to start the transfer

That’s it!

Once the transfer is done, Thunderbird will be all set on the new computer – every folder, every filter, every account – just like on the old one.

Ready to move Thunderbird and the rest of your stuff to your new computer?

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How to Move Your Thunderbird Profile (Emails Included) to a New Computer

Manual copy of your Thunderbird profile

The automatic way – Thunderbird and everything else

How to move Thunderbird to the new computer

Ready to move Thunderbird and the rest of your stuff to your new computer?

Video tutorial – how to transfer apps and files from one computer to another

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