Locating and Using Your Thunderbird Profile

The Thunderbird profile contains everything that makes Thunderbird unique for a certain user, including the user's email, settings, themes, and extensions. The Thunderbird profile's basic structure is similar to Firefox's.

Finding Your Profile

Your profile's location varies depending on which operating system you are using. The location can also vary if the operating system's defaults for certain file locations have been changed as well. Most users find these locations to be representative of their systems:

• Windows 95/98/Me profiles are usually in C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\.

• Windows XP/2000 profiles are usually in %appdata%\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\.

• Linux profiles are usually in ~/.mozilla/thunderbird/xxxxxxxx.default/

• Mac OS X profiles are usually in ~/Library/Application Support/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/.

In all these examples, xxxxxxxx is a series of random letters and numbers. This feature is used to improve security for the user's profile.

What Is in the Profile?

Some of the files and folders located in a typical Thunderbird profile include those in Table 13.1.

Table 13.1. Thunderbird Profile Folder Files and Folders

Filename/Folder Name	Optional	Description
20587344.s		Mail account information
abook.mab		Default address book
cert8.db		Certificate database
chrome		Look and feel folder
compatibility.ini		Version compatibility information
components.ini		Component information
compreg.dat		Component registrations
defaults.ini		Defaults
extensions		Installed extensions folder
history.mab		Collected addresses
Imapmail	Yes	Mail folder for IMAP mail accounts, if any are defined
key3.db		Key database
localstore.rdf		Configuration information
Mail		User mail store folder
mailViews.dat		View rules
mimeTypes.rdf		MIME helper file
panacea.dat		Thunderbird files list
prefs.js		Basic (initial) preferences; it overrides user.js and updates these settings
secmod.db		Security module database
training.dat		Bayesian filter word list file
virtualFolders.dat		Virtual folder's version number
xpti.dat		Thunderbird configuration file
XUL.mfl		User interface cache file
user.js	Yes	Additional user preferences; it overrides prefs.js and updates prefs.js
userChrome.css	Yes	Thunderbird look and feel Cascading Style Sheet file
userContent.css	Yes	Thunderbird content Cascading Style Sheet file

Each subfolder in the profile's mail folder contains files for each account folder in Thunderbird. In Figure 13.4, you see nine accounts defined, with a folder in Mail for each account.

Figure 13.4. This profile's Mail folder has nine accounts configured, although most users usually have only one or two.

For example the Inbox for an account's folder would have

• Inbox A text file that contains all the email stored in this account's inbox.

• Inbox.msf Message header information and an index for each message stored in the account's inbox.

• Inbox.sbd A holder for any subfolders for this folder. If no subfolders exist, this folder is empty.

There is no reason to modify many of these files, but a few are editable, either with the about:config extension or a text editor.