Inport/export addon doesn't install.

What add-on are you talking about? Please provide a link.

What version of Thunderbird are you using?

Please explain in more detail what 'doesn't install' means, what you're doing, and what happens.

Should I reinstall TB?

That would be a waste of time.

I`m using 38.3.0. Sorry I realize there are no export addons for TB. I was thinking of outlook or OE that had an import export function. Simply want to copy sent messages from my desktop to my laptop so I have a record of them when Im away from my desktop when traveling. It was a breeze using Outlook Express. Just drag all the messages in a date range to a USB then drag them into the appropriate folder in TB on laptop. Since I installed Win 7 on Desktop I have lost OE so installed TB. Thought it would be easy to export certain emails with TB but except for one email at a time it cannot be done. I guess I can always bcc myself as another option.

You can install this add-on and see if it helps you exporting/importing the stuff you need. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/

Having said that, exporting/importing messages is awkward. A more elegant solution would be to use IMAP on both computers. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/imap-synchronization

Thanks but already tried it but after saying successfully installed I go to tools menu and it is not there. As for Imap my main server is pop and a use it for business since 15 years so it gets confusing for customers when replying or contacting me so rather than risking lost business I prefer not going that route at this stage. Thanks anyway

Not using this add-on here, but I'd expect you need to right-click a folder or message you want to export. What do you expect underneath Tools?

I finally found the answer which I'm surprise nobody on this forum nor in the Mozilla community on google seems to know about. There is an import export tool addon for thunderbird but it doesn't complete the install process before it is enabled under options addons extensions!!! This little tit bit is omitted in the instructions and google inquiries which is indeed disappointing. I found this quite by accident by trial and error.

You found what exactly? I've never had any trouble with the ImportExportTools add-on. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/

The first thing I'd do after installing an add-on is look for it under Tools|Add-ons to make sure it had installed, and check if it had any settings or options that would be useful or important to me. In doing so, I'd enable it, of course if for some reason it was not already enabled. This particular add-on has many settings to ponder over.

using Linux Mint v.17.2, and TB 38.3 (should not matter).

Two links above do not work, not compatible with FF 41.0.2.

Where can I locate the TB emails on my system so I can sync to Dropbox for later retrieval? I use TB as a POP3 client, or is TB entirely web-based email??

Of course it is incompatible with Firefox. It is an add on for Thunderbird. Try installing it there.

Thunderbird is email client software. IMAP or POP are email provider formats. Thunderbird can be configured to work with either.

meaning, the "add-on" (NOT Linux) is incompatible with FF 41.0.2

one would think that FF/TB would create a folder on the computer to access so as to save and for later retrieval // syncing of emails. But no, that's too simple.

Can't even drag and drop into a directory folder.

I am talking about the add-on too.

What part of "the add-on is for Thunderbird and not Firefox" are you having trouble with?

to Airmail---the link is for Moz, and does not load inside TB...I have TB v.38.3 which does NOT allow this add-on, either in

-- a search for TB add-ons (Tools/Add-ons/Search), or

-- under the TB browser with that link

-- no TB/Edit/Preference link

-- no "upper right" three line "tools/export" (just "import")

Unless you can point me in a different direction, within TB, it doesn't work.

if I use IMAP sync, sync emails to my local folder, but were to delete an email on the IMAP server, does the re-synchronization process automatically delete the local copy?

The long and short of it, I need to retain emails locally--not on-line--for local control & security purposes, and if the web goes out.

Thank you

How to install add-ons in Thunderbird.

http://xenos-email-notes.simplesite.com/416814616

I have no idea what your issue is. The download site states that it works with version 38 Thunderbird. You are the one that posted the error message that it is not compatible with Firefox which is entirely correct. That is the error that you get when you try to install a Thunderbird addon in Firefox. https://freeshell.de/~kaosmos/mboximport-en.html

IMAP is server based. If you delete a message it is deleted on the server. You have to move a copy into your Local Folders to keep a local copy. Do not confuse seeing the message in a folder on your computer with moving the message into a folder under Local Folders.

The issue was the "method" of download.

Your prior message above at "9:42" merely gave a download link, which resulted in my reply on it not being compatible with FF41.However, your last message today at "2:00 pm" was by far clearer and a better "how to."

I will try that method. Not all of us know everything there is about computers

As for IMAP v. Local...all I asked was, if I deleted an IMAP email, would that result in a concomitant deletion of the identical email in the local folder after a new sync?

Please forgive me if I am wrong, but I had always thought that the local folder occupied a physical presence on the local device in a tree directory--or is it web-based like a dropbox? You were not clear on this as well.

But thank you

Yes if you delete a message in an IMAP-connected account, the synchronisation process will see to it that it is removed from the server and consequently also from any clients that synchronise to that account. Think of IMAP in an email client as being a remote viewer, looking at messages stored on the server.

If you wish to remove a message from the server, but keep a local copy, move the message into Thunderbird's Local Folders account. Other clients have their own different ways of supporting this functionality.

Yes the folders and their messages in an IMAP-connected account are copied locally to Thunderbird so as to make browsing and searching faster, and to allow offline usage of the messages within. Think of the IMAP-connected account folders as a cache and not long term nor permanent storage. Local Folders, as the name implies, are stored locally, independent of any servers or specific email accounts, and typically on the hard disk of your computer.

You have said several times "local folder" but it's not clear whether you are thinking of the cache or alternatively the Local Folders special account provided in Thunderbird.