Saving Thunderbird emails is not a compulsion but a need of all users. The main purpose of backing up Thunderbird emails is to preserve your precious data from unnecessary damage and hard drive disasters. For instance, if your computer is physically disabled, you will possibly not be able to access your Thunderbird data at all. In such situations, if you’ve backed up your Thunderbird emails to an external drive, you can efficiently restore them to the new computer.

Why Users Backup Thunderbird Emails To An External Hard Drive?

During the cases of data theft and loss, data security has become one of the main concerns of users. Therefore, securing the data is the only accurate option from theft and sudden data loss. An email backup has even become essential for desktop clients such as Mozilla Thunderbird.

Manual Method To Backup Thunderbird Emails to an External Hard Drive

Here below we will mention some methods which will be quite helpful for the users. These different methods,  backup and restore your thunderbird Emails in different file formats. To backup and restore thunderbird emails follow the steps given below.

1. Transfer Thunderbird Emails to different file format
2. Backup Thunderbird Emails Manually

Method 1. Transfer Thunderbird Emails to different file format

1. First launch Thunderbird in your system.
2. Tap to the “display Thunderbird Menu” icon at the upper right corner of the tool’s interface.
3. Select Add-ons >> Add-ons . It will open a new window on the tool’s interface.
4. From the Ads-on manager window, click on the Get Add-ons Manager button.
5. Now, pick the ImportExportTools plugin from the list of plugins offered or you can click the Browse All Plugins button and then search for the ImportExportTools plugin.
6. After that, tap the Add to Thunderbird button.
7. Click on the Install Now button when mentioned.
8. After you’ve successfully installed the plugin on your Thunderbird client, go back to the Add-ons Manager window and click the Restart Now button to complete the process.
9.  Now, select Import/ExportTools >> Export all messages in the folder >> (desired)EML format.
10. Choose a destination to save backup files and click the Select Folder button. Here your backup will be completed at the desired destination.

Method 2. Backup Thunderbird Emails Manually

1. First, start the Mozilla Thunderbird.
2. Now, choose and open the email that you want to backup on your hard drive. you can also select all emails in a specific folder.
3. Click the Menu button to reveal the drop-down list.
4. After that, tap the Save As option.
5. On the Save As tab, select the file and tap it.
6. Then select the destination and set the folder name for the selected e-mail.
7. Finally, click on the Save button to save the selected email in the system.

Limitations Of The Manual Methods

Before using the manual method, users are not aware of quite a few limitations. During processing, users may have to face many problems like data loss and taking more time. Here are some of the major limitations are mentioned below :

• The manual method of Backup Thunderbird email takes a lot of time. The whole process of backup and restore thunderbird emails requires a significant quantity of time and effort.
• There are several steps in this method. Users should follow all the steps carefully otherwise due to misconceptions, the whole method may have to be done all over again.
• The method cannot be processed without any expert supervision. Users need to expertly control the entire process.
• Manual methods often associate it with simple formats so users cannot save data in popular formats like PST, MSG, PDF (with attachments), etc.

Professional Method To Backup Thunderbird Emails to an External Hard Drive

After using the manual method, users may face many complications which are mentioned in the above lines. That’s why users need a simple solution, which can be possible to solve with only a professional method. Therefore, The Cigati Thunderbird Backup Tool is a smart way to Backup Thunderbird Emails to an External Hard Drive. Thunderbird email backup tool enables users to save emails from the Thunderbird mailbox into various file formats such as PST, MSG, MBOX, EML, EMLX, CSV, HTML, and MHTML. It also exports emails from the Thunderbird account to AOL, Gmail, HostGator Mail, Yandex Mail, Zoho Mail, Amazon Webmail, etc.

Wind-up

Learn about the process of Thunderbird email backup in the entire article here. We looked at both manual and professional methods and found out which method is best and which creates issues. So, according to the article, only a professional tool proves to be beneficial to backup Thunderbird Emails to an External Hard Drive. The demo version of this tool migrates 50 emails which are great for beginner users.