How to restore POP folders to use locally with IMAP email
I have made a mess. I have two email accounts. I had them in a single inbox on Thunderbird. I was trying to switch them both from POP to IMAP. However, since my archived emails are huge, I still wanted the option of storing emails on local folders on my computer. Somehow, I ended up switching 1 email over to IMAP, and had a separate "special account" that held all of my old email folders from when I was using POP. That is exactly what I want. (Except I have a weird third email account in my inbox with the name of my old POP account, but doesn't have any emails in it. I can live with that if I can keep access to all my old emails) I converted the second account over to IMAP, but I don't have an associated special account to store emails locally or that have all the old emails associated with that account. The local email directory still exists in my profile so its there. I just some how need to import than into Thunderbird. I can't seem to find an option to create a second special account. Any suggestions?
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Your POP mail will be in subfolders of the Mail folder, named after the account, e.g. pop.gmail.com or pop.yahoo.com. The Mail folder is a subfolder of the profile folder; select Help/Troubleshooting Information, click Open Folder to open the profile in File Explorer. In the account subfolders, look for the mbox files - the ones with no file extension and paired with an .msf file of the same name. Copy the mbox files to the Mail/Local Folders location, while TB is closed, so that when you restart TB, the mail folders appear under Local Folders in the folder pane.
Local Folders is what I think you're calling a 'special account', and while it's possible to create a second one, you should be able to organize the folders under a single Local Folders. Rename the mbox files if necessary after you copy them.
I was thinking I could do something like that. I called my Local Folders a "special account" because that it what TB calls it when I look at it under settings. I just made two sub folders under the Local Folders to simulate the two accounts and then physically moved the saved local email files into those directories. I re-started TB and that seemed to do the trick. Thanks!
I have two follow up questions. My local folder shows up under my Inbox as a third email account, but with no emails in it. It is also listed below (as a separate account) with all the local sub-folders. Is the listing as part of the Inbox necessary or can I get rid of it showing up under inbox? Second, I will probably be getting a new computer soon and will have to port all of these local saved emails to the new computer (and set Thunderbird up again). At that time, how can I create a Local Folder set up similar to what I have now? The Local Folder I have know appears to be a legacy from when I first set up TB (about 10 years ago). I am concerned I won't be able to replicate it on a new computer.
I ccan't say why you have Local Folders under the Inbox, but you can replicate the entire setup on another computer by copying the Thunderbird folder:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer