Upgrading Your Mozilla Thunderbird from 32-bit to 64-bit - Without Losing Any Settings

Many users don't think about it, but when you're running a 64-bit operating system, it's crazy to have old software. It may be updated on a regular basis, but you want to avoid all the x86-software, because 32-bit computing IS slower than staying in the 64-bit framework.

I won't bore you with the technical details, but it's much like running a Commodore 64-emulator on a pc to run an old game on your pc, when all you could have done was find a Windows-version of the game...

What You Need

First of all, you need backup software to keep your settings and data intact. Personally, I use a free program called MozBackup, which is available at this location: https://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

It makes sense, since this program can backup both Firefox-profiles (with favourites) and Thunderbird-profiles. I love this program developed in the Czech republic. The guys behind it really know their ballgame, and the MozBackup-team create good software that works!

The only thing that has surprised me is the initial phase of the backup where the program calculates space required. When you have nearly 50Gb free space on your SSD-drive, space won't be an issue, but still makes perfect sense to have an error handling that works if you initiate a backup on a machine with a larger mailbox and less available free space. :-)

Download the latest version of Mozilla Thunderbird No shit, Sherlock! :-)

Well, all kidding aside, you want to have the latest version of Mozilla Thunderbird available locally once you start the process.

The Way to Proceed

1. First, you need to install MozBackup. No worries. It's all very intuitive, and you can easily do this as long as you read what is shown on your screen.
2. Once installed, you need to run a backup of your Thunderbird profile. With my settings this only takes a couple of minutes, and I have about 260 megabytes of data in the resulting backup-file...
3. Once you have backed up your data, you should uninstall your Mozilla Thunderbird program in the Apps section of your Windows Control Panel.
4. Now you are ready to install Mozilla Thunderbird again. Do NOT finish the setup-program by starting up Thunderbird after the install is finished, because you want to do step 5 BEFORE you run Thunderbird in the 64-bit version for the first time!
   
5. Run the restore function on your backup file created by MozBackup in step 1. When finished, you're ready to go ahead... :-)

You are now running the 64-bit version of Mozilla Thunderbird, and welcome to the world of modern computing.