How to Change Thunderbird Profile Folder Location? Ultimate Tutorial

Summary: In this blog, we are going to talk about Mozilla Thunderbird which stores user data, including emails, settings, extensions, and address books, in a profile folder section. By default, this folder is located on the system drive, which is usually the C: drive. If the user finds himself running out of space or just wants to store data in a separate location as backup or for organizational purposes. There will be a need to change Thunderbird profile folder location. This article walks you through the necessary steps to do so from the following paragraph.

Also, you might find this guide useful import Google Takeout to Thunderbird

Why Move the Thunderbird Profile Folder Location?

Here are some common reasons why users choose to change Thunderbird profile folder location.

• Moving the profile to another drive (like D: or an external drive) helps free up system space.
• Keeping personal or work-related data separate from system files.
• Easy to back up the entire profile if it’s stored in a known custom location.
• Use the same Thunderbird profile on different installations or machines.
• Preserves Thunderbird data if the system drive is wiped or formatted.

Change Thunderbird Profile Folder Location - Manual Ways

In this section, we are going to tell you four steps to move your Thunderbird profile folder location. Follow them in order to successfully move your profile.

Step 1. Retrieving Your Present Thunderbird Profile Folder

• Open Thunderbird application.
• Click on the "menu" icon > Help > More Troubleshooting Information.
• Under Application Basics, search for the Profile Folder and click on Open Folder.
• Note the path and close Thunderbird completely.

Step 2. Copy the Profile Folder to a New Location

• In the opened profile folder (e.g., C:Users[YourName]AppDataRoamingThunderbirdProfilesxxxxxxxx.default).
• Copy the entire folder to the new location (e.g., D:ThunderbirdData).
• Wait for the copy process to finish.

Step 3. Edit profiles.ini to Point to New Location

• Head towards:
• C:Users[YourName]AppDataRoamingThunderbird
• Open the profiles.ini file with a text editor, such as Notepad.
• Look for the profile entry, update the path, then change:
• Path=Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default IsRelative=1
• To:
• Path=D:ThunderbirdDataxxxxxxxx.default IsRelative=0
• Save the file and close the editor.

Step 4. Restart Your Thunderbird

• You have to reopen Thunderbird.
• Now, it must open the profile at its new home.
• Check if all your emails, contacts, and settings are intact at the same place.

Professional Solution to Change Thunderbird profile Folder Location

To change the Thunderbird profile folder location and for safer handling of data, use our automated tool to import MBOX to Thunderbird especially when files are stored in a rather different location or on a different system altogether. You get the full control of intelligently selecting the MBOX files to be imported and it would even auto-detect for the default Thunderbird profiles for easy import. So instead of going through the manual job of moving folders and the risk of getting misconfigured, use this secure and automated approach to keeping your data in order.

Final Words

To change Thunderbird profile folder location is both useful from the perspective of managing space and securing your email data. Following the above steps will enable you to transfer your profile safely to a new drive folder. This helps you in better organizing your data and in avoiding possible data loss due to system crashes or uninstallations. Always backup your profile while changing anything to be on the safe side in avoiding a chance of corrupting or losing it.