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Want to use email accounts etc. saved in Dropbox on new laptop installation of Thunderbird

  • 5 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 104 views
  • Last reply by Arnie58

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Have a shiny new Laptop and have installed TB, I now want to access all my email accounts, contacts, calendar etc. stored in my TB files from my main PC that are in a DropBox drive/folder. How do I get my new TB install on the laptop to use/import/point itself at my data in DropBox? Done this once before on an old laptop, but for the life of me cannot remember or find how I did it. Thought changing the Profiles location to the dropbox address was how its done, but what I see there makes no sense to a solution now. Can someone please help me solve this. Thanks.

Have a shiny new Laptop and have installed TB, I now want to access all my email accounts, contacts, calendar etc. stored in my TB files from my main PC that are in a DropBox drive/folder. How do I get my new TB install on the laptop to use/import/point itself at my data in DropBox? Done this once before on an old laptop, but for the life of me cannot remember or find how I did it. Thought changing the Profiles location to the dropbox address was how its done, but what I see there makes no sense to a solution now. Can someone please help me solve this. Thanks.

All Replies (5)

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I think this hinges on exactly what you put into your dropbox folder.

Is it your working profile? A copy of a profile? Or an assortment of exported files?

The fact that dropbox is involved is almost irrelevant. What does matter is which files you have available.

I'd use a memory stick. Bigger and faster than a dropbox folder. ;-)

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Using the profile manager to select the dropbox location ought to work.

I think I am starting to understand that you want to use a common profile in both Thunderbirds.

I can't recommend this course of action. You need to keep both (or all) installations of Thunderbird compatible, ideally at the same version. And you can only use one of them at any given time. And be prepared for long waits, as Thunderbird (by default) saves multiple messages head-to-to in a big file, and any change to that file demands it be uploaded or downloaded in full.

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My Dropbox folder as you know is a cloud based storage service, it allows me to use my PC at home, safely store my data off site, and then when out on business etc. access the same email accounts and archived messages on my laptop. Works perfectly (except for my tasks list) for email, and as soon as I close one down the other is ready to go. I have done this about a year or so ago, but can't remember the trick. All the forums seem to miss this out, offering endless advice on creating mulitple profiles, moving profiles, restoring back up profiles. I want my new TB installation to use my profile/data that already exists, but there's no simple 'import' or 'add' or 'merge' option I can recall from last time. Hopefully some one else has done this too and can remember how to activate TB to use the existing 'stuff'.

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Chosen Solution

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The penny dropped in that I create a new profile, and then point it at the common profile account number in the mailbox drive in my DropBox. So I can now start TB and see my stuff all laid out nicely, for about 5 seconds, then TB crashes, over and over again. Now I have a new problem to solve. Drat and double drat. Can you help here too?