is there any way to open mails from 2000 to 2012 thunderbird?

[ELY M.]

those files are in .msf format. I dont trust any files outside of github.

I tried this app and it cant see them.

[zigm]

I don't have account via Thunderbird but the below is when searching Internet. Also, take a look at other two open tickets with regard to Thunderbird. I am working to support mbox mail files without extension but currently you need to append .mbox extension to Thunderbird mob file.

The Thunderbird stores user data (Email) in two parts. The first one is an MBOX file (without extension), which is a standard format of Mozilla Thunderbird client to store Email content. The second is an MSF file, which is also known as a Mail Summary file with .msf file extension. This is the index file of Mozilla Thunderbird, which contains only headers and summary of Emails. Thunderbird view MSF File (only index) to locate the emails stored in .mbox format.

Other sub-containers like Draft, Sent, Trash, and may be stored within .sbd directory. In this folder, you can find the pair of each container like Trash.msf & Trash, Draft.msf & Draft etc.

As per the above description in order to read MSF File we must know about MSF file. MSF is an index file, which does not hold the text content of Email message. Therefore, in the above scenario the user only placed the header and summary of emails and not the whole data (mbox file). Instead of reading Thunderbird MSF files, you need to check for MBOX file in your Thunderbird, which is without an extension. To verify if the file is of MBOX type or not, follow the tips:

Check the File Extension: The file like **"INBOX, OUTBOX, etc."** will be displayed without any file extension.
Check the file size: The MSF file are sized only a few KBs whereas the MBOX email file of Thunderbird will be of a larger size (If your Mailbox contain emails)

Where are Emails Stored in Mozilla Thunderbird

In Thunderbird the location of a MBOX file should be in similar location :

C:\Users<User Name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles<Profile name>

Here you will find the INBOX file, which is the MBOX file of configured account. Now, you need to copy this Inbox file and place it to a different location on your PC, then Rename it as Inbox.mbox. Since .msf does not hold any email you cannot view msf file, but you can read emails through below methods.

Or try the following:

Launch the Thunderbird application on your system.
Go to Tools > Account Settings > Server Settings.
Now check the Local directory row of the settings and copy it.

If you already have INBOX, etc file, just append .mbox extension to INBOX, etc files.

Let me know if that helps.

Thanks,
Zbigniew

[ELY M.]

Thank you and I am closing this.

[zigm]

Just curious. Did it work for you or you don't have INBOX, etc mbox files without .mbox extensions from Thunderbird?

Are you looking for a viewer which will be able to process .msf file directly? You might be able to leverage the latest Thunderbird if it understands old .msf file format.

Mbox Viewer will recreate custom index files from mbox files. Mbox Viewer index files are build based on email message headers. However they may not have the same metadata as .msf files.

[zigm]

The latest release v1.0.3.28 should address the issue you raised.