Thunderbird Tip: Import and Export Mail Filters
It can be quite a task to run Thunderbird on more than one computer, or even run Thunderbird on one computer with more than one mail account as it can cause problems as well at times.
Filters are one of the problems that you may experience when you are using Thunderbird. Mail filters can be global filters that filter all incoming mails, or mail account filters which only filter mails that are sent to the account in question.
One of the issues that you may experience when you use multiple copies of Thunderbird on different computer systems is that the filtering may work differently.
Since there is no option to export filters natively, you need to either create them manually on each computer, use a backup tool such as Mozbackup to create a backup of the profile, or an extension that enables you to export and import mail filters.
Thunderbird Message Filter Import/Export
The Thunderbird add-on Thunderbird Message Filter Import/Export provides you with options to export mail filters from one account or computer to another computer.
Update: Please note that the extension mentioned in the paragraph above does not work properly anymore in the latest versions of the email client. You can use Thunderbird Message Filter Import/Export Enhanced instead which is a port of the extension.
The only difference to the original is that it is compatible with the latest version of Thunderbird, everything else remained the same. Update End
The add-on adds an Export Filters button to the Tools > Message Filters window. Just select the account that you want to export filters from and click on the Export Filters button. All you have to do is select a name for the filter file. I suggest you use the mail account name for it, but that is up to you.
You need to make available the saved files on the new computer. Filters are imported by selecting Tools > Import filters from the Thunderbird menu.
Verdict
Thunderbird Message Filter Import/Export Enhanced provides you with the means to export and import message filters of Thunderbird instances. This is useful if you make use of message filters in Thunderbird, and use multiple devices with Thunderbird.
You said that Outlook isn’t your main email client, so which is your main one?
I think its thunderbird
It is Mozilla Thunderbird.
Awesome! This actually solved my problem… what a stupid bug.
If this is the same bug that I’ve encountered, there may be another fix: (1) hover over open Outlook item in Taskbar, cursor up to hover over Outlook window item, and right-click; (2) this should give you Restore / Move / Size / Minimize / Maximize — choose Move or Size; (3) use your cursor keys, going arbitrarily N/S/E/W, to try to move or size the Outlook window back into view. Basically, the app behaves as though it were open in a 0x0 window, or at a location that’s offscreen, and this will frequently work to resize and/or move the window. Don’t forget to close while resized/moved, so that Outlook remembers the size/position for next time.
THANK YOU Claude!!! I could get the main window to launch but could not get any other message window to show on the desktop. You are my hero!!!!
Solved my issue! 6 years later and this is still problem…
Fantastic. Thank you. Size did the trick.
This solved my Outlook problem, too. Thank you. :)
Thank you so much, this started happening to me today and was causing big problems. You are a life saver, I hope I can help you in some way some day.
You are a god – thank you!
thanks a lot…. work like charm.. :-)
Yah…thanks Claude. I’ve been having the same problem and tried all the suggestions…your solution was the answer. It had resized itself to a 0/0 box. Cheers
Excellent post. This had me baffled even trying to accurately describe the problem. This fixed it for me.
Thank you
Thanks a lot for the article. Don’t know why it happenend, don’t know how it got fixed, but it was really annoying and now it works :-)
Thanks a lot. I was facing this issue from past 3 week. I tried everything but no resolution. The issue was happening intermittently and mainly when I was changing the display of screen ( as i use 2 monitors). The only option i had was to do system restore. But thanks to you.
I’ve been tried to sole this problem for 12hours. Your comment about changing the display of screen helped me a lot!! Thanks!!
Thank you…don’t know why this happened but your instructions helped me fix it. Running Windows 10 and office pro 2007
Great tip! Thanks!
Worked for me, too – thank you!!!
It’s Worked for me, too
thank you very much!
I had a similar issue with Outlook 2013 on Windows 10 and this helped me to fix it. Thank you very much!
Thank you so much. Solved!
Considering you published this in 2012, incredible not been debugged by Microsoft.
Thank you again. M
This problem was faced by only one user logging to TS 2008 r2 using outlook 2010.The issue was resolved.
Thanks.
Great tip. Thank you!!!! If it helps, I had to use the Control Key and the arrow keys at the same time to bring my window back into view. Worked like a charm.
Thank you, this worked !!!!
Man, you are a fucking god. Thanks a lot, what an annoying bug!!
Awesome, this post solved the issue. Many thanks!