Sync Mozilla Thunderbird Using Dropbox
Overview
I have had a Dropbox account for a while now but never really used it till now. There have been really good tricks and uses to Dropbox posted on the Internet and I finally decided to try my hands at synchronising my emails.
Dropbox Setup
Install Dropbox and create an account. I am using the free 2GB as my total mail folder size is less than 2GB. Head over to https://www.getdropbox.com and follow the instructions for installing Dropbox. I will assume the Dropbox folder is set to default which is ~\username\My Dropbox in Windows or ~/username/Dropbox in Ubuntu Linux.
Mozilla Thunderbird Setup
I am assuming this already exists. If not go to http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/ and install it.
Sync Setup On Windows
Close down Mozilla Thunderbird program. I would recommend creating a directory for your emails within the Dropbox directory. I named mine Thunderbird e.g C:\Users\username\My Dropbox\Thunderbird
At a minimum the default profile needs to be copied to the Dropbox directory. Copy: C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles to C:\Users\username\My Dropbox\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default
xxxxxxxx.default = a random filename with .default at the end of the folder name.
Other files may be copied under the My Dropbox\Thunderbird directory such as email notification sounds so it is always backed up and sync’d across.
Point Thunderbird to the new location of your profile by starting Thunderbird with the following arguments thunderbird.exe -ProfileManager This can be done by creating / editing a Thunderbird shortcut or Start Menu > Run dialog
Create a new profile and click Next > button on the wizard pop up window. Select Choose Folder… and locate the xxxxxxxx.default directory in My Dropbox directory and press finish.
You may delete the old user or select the new user and click on Start Thunderbird button.
Sync Setup On Ubuntu / Linux
All the steps are the same as Windows setup except for the different file paths and to start the profile manger user mozilla-thunderbird -ProfileManager in the command line.
The default profile directory in Ubuntu is located in /home/username/.thunderbird/xxxxxxxx.default
Summary
It's really easy and now it allows me to user Thunderbird from anywhere so long as the files have been sync'd to Dropbox. I generally take periodic copies of the profile directory in case something terribly goes wrong with the sync.
I have ran into problems using this setup including my Trash file size became larger than the 2GB allowed on my free account. I tried emptying it from within Thunderbird but it failed so I deleted the Trash.msf file and it solved my problems.
