Email, Messaging, & Video Calls > Email Guide to Exporting Mail From Thunderbird A command line approach to exporting mail By Heinz Tschabitscher Heinz Tschabitscher Writer University of Vienna A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on May 12, 2021 Email Yahoo! Mail Gmail Trending Videos Close this video player What to Know Download mbx2eml and extract it to your Desktop. Use Command Prompt and mbx2eml to move the files to a folder on your Desktop, from which you can move them to another application. Changing email programs can be challenging. To make sure it isn't accompanied by a loss of data, take your existing contacts, filters, and—most importantly—emails with you in a smooth manner. Mozilla Thunderbird stores your messages in Mbox format, which can be opened in a text editor and converted to other email programs. Export Mail From Thunderbird to Another Email Program To export messages from Mozilla Thunderbird to a new email program: Download mbx2eml and extract it to your Desktop. This application converts Mbox format files to EML format using the Command Line. Right-click the Desktop and choose New > Folder. Type Mail in the field provided and press Enter. Open Windows Explorer or File Explorer and go to your Mozilla Thunderbird Profile directory. This directory is where Thunderbird keeps your settings and messages. Open the Local Folders folder. Highlight all the files named like folders in your Mozilla Thunderbird store folder that have no extension. Exclude msgFilterRules, Inbox.msf, and any other .msf files. Copy or move the highlighted files to the new Mail folder on your Desktop. Open a Command Prompt window via Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt. In Windows 10, open the Start menu, enter cmd in the empty field, and select Command Prompt from the results. Type cd in the Command Prompt window. Drag and drop the Mail folder from your Desktop onto the Command Prompt window. Press Enter in the Command Prompt window. Type mkdir out and press Enter. Type ..\mbx2eml * out and press Enter. Open the Mail folder from your Desktop. Open the Out folder. From the subfolders of the Out folder, drag and drop the .eml files onto the desired folders inside your new email program. If your Local Folders folder has any subfolders with mailboxes you want to keep, repeat the process for each of these folders. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit