![Thunderbird logo](https://assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/media/uploads/products/2024-02-12-07-36-53-599028_1.png)
Unable to load address book file history.mab. It may be read-only, or locked by another application. Please try again later. (win7)
Tb 68.12.1, portable. Safe Mode did not solve the problem. When I write an e-mail, filling in "To", I have to write known addresses again, letters are red! All this happened after reinstalling Win7, but I had Tb as a backup, so this was not the problem. I backupped everything before and I have Windows.old. I read a few posts about the problem in this forums. I even could not find impab.mab. I speculate, the address book is elsewhere or under a different name. The search in mentioned backups yielded no results! Thanx for your advice!
Wayne Mery trɔe
All Replies (2)
more info & choices.
TB profiles are here: "%APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles\" that usually equals to "C:\Users\<WindowsUserName>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\"
then profile folder looks like: xxxxxxxx.<profile-name>
inside that are various types of address-book files: *.mab files (for use with TB v68 series & below version) *.sqlite files (for use with TB v78 series & higher version) ( they can have .bak extension like this way: *.mab.bak or *.sqlite.bak, when newer TB updates an older TB )
atErik trɔe
Reveil said
I even could not find impab.mab.
Sounds like you have been reading https://support.mozilla.org/si/questions/1082235 which may not be applicable (and frankly I don't understand the "solution" there).
FYI - "history.mab" is the file for Collected Address Book.
There is more than one possible reason for your problem. One may be the the file, or related folders, is set to read-only. http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=11574761#p11574761 .... do Help > troubleshooting > profile folder > open profile folder > find history.mab > right click and pick properties ... is the file set to be read-only?