How to change thunderbird mail storage location

Thunderbird stores its mail data in a profile directory, which by default is located in a hidden directory called .thunderbird in your user directory. To change the storage location of your Thunderbird mail data, you can follow these steps:

Method 1: Using the Thunderbird Profile Manager

  1. Open Thunderbird and go to Tools > Options.
  2. In the Options window, click on Advanced > General.
  3. Click on the Profile Manager button.
  4. In the Profile Manager window, click on the Edit button next to the profile you want to modify.
  5. In the Profile Editor window, click on the Paths tab.
  6. In the Mail section, click on the Directory button next to Mail folder.
  7. Select a new location for your mail data, or enter a custom path.
  8. Click OK to save the changes.

Method 2: Editing the prefs.js file

  1. Close Thunderbird.
  2. Open the prefs.js file in a text editor. The location of this file varies depending on your operating system:
    • Windows: %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\prefs.js
    • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Thunderbird/prefs.js
    • Linux: ~/.thunderbird/prefs.js
  3. Search for the line that starts with pref("mail.server.default.directory",...); and update the path to the new location.
  4. Save the changes to the prefs.js file.
  5. Restart Thunderbird.

Method 3: Using the thunderbird command-line option

  1. Open a terminal or command prompt.
  2. Run the following command to start Thunderbird with a custom profile directory:
    thunderbird -P <new_profile_directory>

    Replace <new_profile_directory> with the path to the new location where you want to store your mail data.

For example:

thunderbird -P /path/to/new/profile

This will start Thunderbird with a new profile directory at the specified location.

Note: When you change the storage location of your Thunderbird mail data, you may need to update any bookmarks or shortcuts that point to the old location. Additionally, if you have multiple profiles, you will need to update the storage location for each profile separately.