Correct way to migrate Thunderbird email

[Ambrosia7177]

Hi. I haven't done this in like 10 years, and could use some hand-holding so I don't trash things!

I bought a new MacBook Pro this summer, and am still migrating things.

On my old MacBook Pro, I have Thunderbird installed, with 5 Thunderbird email "profiles" - 1 for an old AT&T email account, and the other 4 profiles each associated with various webmail/domain names on a web host.

I *had* notes for a lot of this on my old laptop, but the notes are lost somewhere!

As I recall the last time I had to do this, it was a real PITA getting my AT&T email to work, because I needed some security key and AT&T phone support wouldn't explain how to do the migration and set up.

Here are my questions/concerns:

1.) Is there a way that I can grab a directory and migrate over all of my Thunderbird "profiles" and related email accounts / local email folders / contacts / etc. manually?

2.) Any experience on how to make AT&T work with Thunderbird?

3.) Any gotchas that I should know about?


I would like to think migrating over my email accounts and emails should be a fairly easy process, but since I set up Thunderbird "profiles" - and I can't find my notes - I want to be much more careful.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[hobowankenobi]

Have not done it in years...have you reviewed this process?

Sounds like you are doing a manual migration, which can get pretty technical. The easy way would be to use the Migration Assistant, to copy everything from old to new Mac. That would have moved everything automatically.

When you say ATT to work on TBird...is there a specific problem you are having?

ATT settings for Mac Mail...TBird should be similar (IMAP is the preferred protocol):

Verify or update AT&T email settings​

1. Select Preferences > Account Information.
2. Choose your mail account.
3. Select POP3 or IMAP.
4. Confirm User name.
5. Enter your password or secure mail key.
6. Confirm or enter the following settings:
   • Incoming Mail Server - inbound.att.net (POP3) or imap.mail.att.net (IMAP)
   • Outgoing Mail Server - outbound.att.net (POP3) or smtp.mail.att.net (IMAP)
7. In Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP), choose Edit SMTP Server List.
8. Confirm:
   • Server Name - outbound.att.net or smtp.mail.att.net.
   • Use default ports - 25, 465.
   • Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is selected.
9. Select OK.
10. On Advanced tab, confirm:
    • SSL checkbox is selected.
    • Authentication field is set for Password.
11. Close window.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

Have not done it in years...have you reviewed this process?

I found that after my OP.

Sounds like you are doing a manual migration, which can get pretty technical. The easy way would be to use the Migration Assistant, to copy everything from old to new Mac. That would have moved everything automatically.

Yeah, but I don't trust automated stuff.

When you say ATT to work on TBird...is there a specific problem you are having?

ATT settings for Mac Mail...TBird should be similar (IMAP is the preferred protocol):

I was able to manually get things migrated over to my new MacBook Pro, and apparently get around the AT&T issue I feared...

I closed Thunderbird on my old MBP, used Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) to make a backup, and then plugged that external drive into my new MBP, and copied everything from the backed up Thunderbird fodler into the same place on my new MBP.

Presto!

It not only brought over my Profiles and Emails and Fodlers, but apparently all of the Inbound/Outbound settinsg and even passwords.

When I did this many years ago from an even older MBP to my old MBP, AT&T wouldn't let me connect, and apparently wanted me to set up some "security key" but AT&T wouldn't explain how to do it, and it was a real nightmare for like a week until I figured out how to do it on my own.

No saying this won't happen again, but as right now, Thunderbird works for all of my emails (including AT&T) on my new MBP. Yeah!

Tomorrow we will see if I can get my VoIP working again after it started failing on my old decrepit MBP...

Thanks!

Verify or update AT&T email settings​

1. Select Preferences > Account Information.
2. Choose your mail account.
3. Select POP3 or IMAP.
4. Confirm User name.
5. Enter your password or secure mail key.
6. Confirm or enter the following settings:
   • Incoming Mail Server - inbound.att.net (POP3) or imap.mail.att.net (IMAP)
   • Outgoing Mail Server - outbound.att.net (POP3) or smtp.mail.att.net (IMAP)
7. In Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP), choose Edit SMTP Server List.
8. Confirm:
   • Server Name - outbound.att.net or smtp.mail.att.net.
   • Use default ports - 25, 465.
   • Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is selected.
9. Select OK.
10. On Advanced tab, confirm:
    • SSL checkbox is selected.
    • Authentication field is set for Password.
11. Close window.

 

[Fishrrman]

Next time, give setup assistant a try (and use a backup drive for the migration).
You will be surprised at how well the process goes.

Having said that...

Try looking in (on your old Mac):
home/library/thunderbird/profiles/default/xxxx

The "xxxx" will be a folder with a gibberish name.
This contains most of your personal settings and content for Thunderbird.

If it was me, I'd just move the entire "Thunderbird" folder from home/library on the old Mac to the same location on the new one.

WARNING WARNING WARNING
You MIGHT encounter permissions problems when doing this.
There are ways around that, which I will provide if you ask.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Glad you sorted it.

If you think about it, CCC did part of what MA does...so not much different. Another way, similar to CCC, would be using Time Machine and restoring the pieces and chunks you need, all the way up to the entire user directory.

The best thing about MA is that permissions are always handled, which, as noted, can be a problem when some data is copied or moved manually.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

If it was me, I'd just move the entire "Thunderbird" folder from home/library on the old Mac to the same location on the new one.

I just copied all subfolders within the Thunderbird directory on my old MBP and pasted that in the Thunderbird directory on my new MBP - after cleaning out the new Thunderbird directory first.

I didn't just copy over the Thunderbird directory for fears it was a protected directory.

As mentioned, do this copied over all profiles, emails, email folders, contacts, as well as email settings, usernames and passwords.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

Glad you sorted it.

If you think about it, CCC did part of what MA does...so not much different.

True, but I think there is a lot to be said for manually copying/pasting/moving files when doing migrations.

Doing so puts me in complete control.

Of course, I wouldn't do that to restore an OS or apps, but for application config files and application data, it is my preferred way.

Another way, similar to CCC, would be using Time Machine and restoring the pieces and chunks you need, all the way up to the entire user directory.

True.

The best thing about MA is that permissions are always handled, which, as noted, can be a problem when some data is copied or moved manually.

Good point.


I have manually done what I described above before, but it has been some time, and I wasn't sure if it would break my profiles and the profile manager.

(I forget how you set up the profile manager for Thunderbird the first time - more lost notes - but once it is set up, by copying over the profile directories and the "profiles.ini" file, it is easy.)