Upgrading Mozilla Thunderbird Email Client from version 1.5 to 2.0

Mozilla Thunderbird version 1.5 stores all your settings, emails and other stuff in ~/ .mozilla-thunderbird/ directory.

Mozilla thunderbird version 2.0 stores all settings in ~/.thunderbird/ directory. So when you download and upgrade your version you will get a blank and new mail client.

To get back your mail and other settings all you have to do is copy everything from ~/ .mozilla-thunderbird/ to ~/.thunderbird/ directory.

#1: Shutdown thunderbird

#2: Open a shell prompt / X terminal and enter:
$ cd .thunderbird $ cp -avr ~/.mozilla-thunderbird/* .

#3 Start thunderbird and it will import everything including mails and other settings :)

#4 Don’t forget to update your extensions for a new version ;)

You should follow me on twitter here or grab rss feed to keep track of new changes.

Featured Articles:

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Arie September 3, 2007 at 7:35 am: you should remove the space between ~/ and .mozilla-thunderbird/* .
so: $ cp -avr ~/.mozilla-thunderbird/* .
2 vivek September 3, 2007 at 9:22 am: thanks for the heads up!
3 Eric March 5, 2009 at 10:31 pm: What the!?
I just upgraded Thunderbird from version 1.0.8 (Fedora Core 4) to 2.0.0 (Ubuntu 8.01).
version 1.0.8 had email in .thunderbird
version 2.0.0 has email in .mozilla-thunderbird
That’s exactly the opposite to what you’re saying
Anyway, if you’re uncertain, try checking email in an account you never use or which you know is (almost) empty. That will avoid having to sort through 3200 email message manually afterwards