How to Migrate Gmail Email to Thunderbird?

Written By Rollins Duke

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Admin

Published On

August 11th, 2023

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7 Minutes

Summary: This is a proper guide to teach How to migrate Gmail Email to Thunderbird. The post tells about several possible ways together with their steps. It also offers the best solution to make a secure & reliable Gmail to Thunderbird migration effortlessly.

Read the complete article to migrate Gmail Email to Thunderbird using multiple ways. There is no doubt that Gmail is the most demanding email service provider. Common users as well as professionals, everyone is using email services to send and receive emails on a daily basis. Just like Gmail but with advanced functionalities and flexibility, there is one more email client which is highly appreciated, which is Mozilla Thunderbird.

Migrate Gmail Email to Thunderbird in 5-Quick Steps:

Launch Gmail to Thunderbird Email Migrator.
Enter Gmail login details in the box.
Choose the Folders you wish to Migrate.
Go to Saving option and select Thunderbird.
Hit the Backup button to Start migrating.

Why Migrate Gmail Email to Thunderbird?

Thunderbird is an open-source desktop-based application, developed by Mozilla Corporation. It helps users to manage their emails, chats, newsgroups, and news feeds in a well-mannered way. Once you are registered with Thunderbird, you get full control and complete ownership over your mailbox. There are several unique traits of this email client that forces users to migrate from Gmail to Thunderbird to have a user experience and improved business collaboration.

So if you are ready to have a remarkable mailing experience with Thunderbird then let’s not waste a single second and let’s move to the multiple methods to migrate Gmail to Thunderbird

Method 1: Migrate Gmail Email to Thunderbird Manually Through Gmail

We have mentioned each and every step to migrate emails from Gmail to Mozilla Thunderbird. Follow the given steps systematically to avoid any mistakes:

Step 1. Enable IMAP in Gmail Account

Open Gmail and Login to your account. If you are already logged in then simply open your Mailbox.
In the right-hand corner, click on you would see a gear icon on the top (this icon signifies settings). Now touch the “see all settings” option.
In the all-setting menu, go to Forwarding and POP/IMAP from the upper tab.
Now go to the IMAP access section, below the Status mark Enable IMAP. Now choose the further options according to your need.
Finally, click on Save Changes from the bottom of the page.

Step 2: Configure Gmail with Thunderbird

Open your Thunderbird account and use your mouse to give a right click on the username.
Click on settings, then a new dialogue box will appear on the screen. Go to Account Actions then the option Add mail account.
Now a new window will pop up to Setup Mail Account. Enter your username, email id, and password here then click the continue button.
Choose the IMAP remote folder then hit Done to move to the next step.
Now modify the directory by clicking on Browse. Now press Ok to finish Gmail to Thunderbird email configuration.
To view the migrated emails, you can go to the new email Id which will appear in the left panel, and click on the Read Messages

The limitation of this process is that it takes so much time to each process process one by one. Although you need to access both Gmail and Thunderbird account at the same time. Moreover, some people would not understand the technical words available in the process, especially beginners.

Method 2: Migrate Gmail Email to Thunderbird Manually with Import/ExportTools

Another manual method to migrate emails from Gmail to Thunderbird is using Google Takeout and Thunderbird Import/ExportTools. Remember this process takes weeks depending your the size of your data. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Download Gmail Email Data Through Google Takeout

Open Google Takeout on your computer and enter your Gmail account access credentials.
Now click on Download your data option then choose Mail and deselect all the other options.
Hit Next and go to Delivery Mode option then choose Send download link via email.
In the File type option select Zip and select the archive size you wish.
Lastly, click on Create Archive button to start the downloading

Google Takeout takes a lot of time to download your data. It totally depends on the amount and size of data you are wishing to download. This process takes a minimum of 2 days and can go up to 1 week. After this process completes, extract the Zip file into MBOX file format.

Step 2: Import MBOX File into Thunderbird

Open your Thunderbird and login to your account then install Import/ExportTools add-on.
After the installation, go to the file menu then choose the extension. Click on Import MBOX file.
Now choose the desired options to add files then choose import directly one or more MBOX files.

Limitations of Manual Procedures:

Avoid Manual Steps as you can lose your data. Read these limitations:

Both of the manual procedures require installation of the application. In the second method, you also need to install the extension and extract Zip file first.
These procedures are lengthy and confusing which is why we divided them into two parts to make you quite easy to understand.
Manual procedures require technical skills which can be only done by professionals.
If you make a mistake while following multiple steps, your files can get corrupt and you can lose your data permanently.
Google Takeout will take a few days to download the data, also the process can fail even after waiting. Then you need to re-begin the process from the start.

If you do not want to face such limitations and want to transfer emails from Gmail to Thunderbird immediately then Method #3 is what you were always looking for. Here we will provide a solution that will directly migrate Gmail emails to Thunderbird without the installation of any other application in just a few seconds.

Method 3: Best Solution to Migrate Gmail Email to Thunderbird

The easiest, most powerful, smart, and most effective solution is SoftTweak Gmail Migration Software. It makes the migration of emails from Gmail to Thunderbird process quick and easy through its ultimate features and innovative techniques. It is too flexible, intuitive, and secure that provides a great user experience. We would inform you a little bit more about the software by introducing you to its features.

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Features of Gmail to Thunderbird Email Migrator

Software office multiple file formats to migrate Gmail email data such as PST, MBOX, PDF, HTML, Thunderbird, Lotus Notes, Zimbra, Gmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo, Office 365, Exchange Server, G Suite, etc.
Migrate only the respective folder by using checking options.
Migrate email to Thunderbird from multiple Gmail user account through Batch mode option.
Migrate components, attachments, and other attributes available in the email folders.
Create a Log report after successfully migrating Gmail to Thunderbird

How to Migrate Gmail Email to Thunderbird

Start Gmail to Thunderbird Migrator and log in to your Gmail account.
Now wait for the software to add all the folders.
Use the checkboxes to migrate only the required folders.
Go to Saving option and choose Thunderbird from the plethora of options.
To migrate the emails based on specific size and date, check Filter option.
Aftwards click Backup button to start migrating Gmail emails to Thunderbird.

Conclusion

We have provided you with a complete guide to migrate Gmail emails to Thunderbird. In the above article, we discussed three different ways to migrate emails from Gmail to Thunderbird. After an in-depth analysis, we found that manual methods are tough to complete. However, we also offered you a professional solution that will directly help you to migrate your email data to your Thunderbird account from Gmail.