Mozilla Firefox Web browser and Thunderbird E-mail application, are used by many users in recent years for their daily work. This tutorial contains instructions on how you can backup (and restore) easy all the important information (Personal Data & Settings) that Firefox or Thunderbird stores on your computer. The backup operation of Firefox or Thunderbird is important whenever you want to troubleshoot Firefox’s or Thunderbird’s problems (like freezes, damaged profiles, corrupted mailbox folders) or in the case that you want to transfer (migrate) your personal data from Firefox or Thunderbird to your new computer (or OS installation).
The personal data that stored from Firefox, contains important information about you (like your bookmarks, passwords, history, etc.) and all the Firefox settings (preferences, plugins, etc.). By default all these data are stored into a profile folder, which is located at the following folder on your computer: *
- C:Users<username>AppDataRoamingMozillaFirefoxProfilesxxxxxxxx.default
In the other hand, Thunderbird stores all your Emails, Account Settings, Address books, Passwords, etc., into a different profile folder on your computer, which is located at: *
- C:Users<username>AppDataRoamingThunderbirdProfiles<Profile name>
Note *: To navigate directly to your Windows profile folder “C:Users<username>AppDataRoaming” :
1. Press Windows 
+ R keys to open the run command box.
2. Type %appdata% and press Enter.
This guide can help you to easily backup and restore Firefox or Thunderbird Profile Data (Bookmarks, Passwords, Emails, Account Settings, History, Preferences).
How to Backup & Restore Firefox & Thunderbird Personal Data.
Step 1. Install MozBackup utility.
MozBackup is a simple to use utility for creating backups of Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mozilla Sunbird, Flock, SeaMonkey, Mozilla Suite, Spicebird, Songbird and Netscape profiles. With MozBackup you can easily perform:
- Firefox Backup & Restore of the following data that stored in Firefox: General Settings, Bookmarks, History, Extensions, Saved Passwords, Cookies Certificates, etc.
- Thunderbird Backup & Restore of the following data that stored in Thunderbird: General Settings, Emails, Account Settings, Address Book, Bookmarks, History, Extensions, Saved Passwords, Cookies, Saved Form Details, Certificates, etc).
1. Download and install the MozBackup utility.
2. When the installation is completed, run MozBackup.
Step 2. Backup Firefox or Thunderbird Personal Data with MozBackup.
1. At the first screen of MozBackup utility, choose the operation that you want to perform: Backup or Restore a profile. (e.g. “Backup a profile“).
2. Then select which user profile you want to backup: Mozilla Firefox or Thunderbird. (e.g. “Mozilla Firefox”).
3. Then press Next.
4. Then press Browse to specify (if you want) a different location to save the backup file and press Next. *
* Note 1: By default the backup file** will be stored at your “Documents” folder (“C:Users%username%Documents“).
** Note 2: By default the backup file has the name: “<Mozilla Application Name><version number> <Year-Month-Date>.pcv”.
(e.g. ” Firefox 38.0 (x86 en-US) – 2015-07-25.pcv”.
5. At the next window press No (unless you want to specify a password for the backup file).
6. Then, will be asked to choose what details you want to backup. Leave the default options and press Next.
7. When the backup operation is completed press Finish.
– To Restore the saved backup profile (from Firefox or Thunderbird), just run the MozBackup utility again, but this time select the “Restore a profile” option. Then browse and select the saved backup profile and follow the on screen instructions to finish the restoration.
That’s all folks! Did it work for you?
Please leave a comment in the comment section below or even better: like and share this blog post in the social networks to help spread the word about this.
