How To Use A Single Shared Mail Folder For Thunderbird On Multi-boot Systems

Note:  This article was originally prepared for the Xandros Wiki, and therefore, some of the

screenshots may appear different than what you see on Klikit.  The procedure described

should work just fine, however.

If you are running a multi-boot system with say, Windows and Klikit, or Klikit and one or

more other Linux distros, and you are using Thunderbird as the email client on each OS,

you may find it useful to share a single mail folder for all of them. That way, you can check

your email on whichever OS you are currently running, and not have to worry that some of

your mail will be stuck on X3, some on Windows, and some on X4. Since all Os's share a

common folder, all of your mail will always be available. To begin, you will need to locate

your mail folder.

In Klikit, it will be in /home/username/.thunderbird/(string of random characters).default/

Mail/LOcal Folders. To make that folder visible you will have to enable Show Hidden Files in the View menu in

Konqueror File Manager.

In Windows, your mail folder will be located in C:\Documents and Settings \[username] \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default \Mail\Local Folders.

If you are planning to share this folder with a Windows installation you will need to save the folder on a FAT

32 partition accessible to Windows. This can be on your Windows partition, or a separate FAT 32 partition,

used to store important files, for example. In Konqueror File Manager right click on your Local Folders folder, and select Copy from the drop-down menu. Navigate to your FAT 32 partition, right click on an empty spot,

and choose Create New > Folder. Name the new folder something like Thunderbird Mail. Click the folder

to open it, right click and choose Paste. Your Thunderbird mail folder will be copied into your new folder.

Next, you will need to let Thunderbird know where to find the mail folder. Note: You will need to repeat this

step in the Acount Settings control in Thunderbird on each OS on your system.

1.  Click Edit > Account settings. The Account Settings panel will open. 

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Select Local Folders from the left-hand pane. In the right-hand pane, you will see the heading Local

Directory: with an address field below it. Click the Browse button to the right of the address field, and

browse to your newly copied Local Folders folder, click it while holding down the Control (Ctrl) key to select it, and click Open. 

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The file browser window will close, and you will see the path to your mail folder displayed in the address field. Click OK to exit the Account Settings panel. 

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Repeat the above step in Thunderbird on each Operating System you have installed, and you are done. No

matter which OS you are logged on to, Thunderbird will now display the mail in your new folder, and down-

load and store any new mail you receive there as well.

Note:  If, when you open Thunderbird, you can see your Local Folders folder listed in the left pane, but

cannot access the contents, you will need to change the permissions and ownership of the folder.  To do so,

log on as root, open Konqueror File Manager, and browse to your new Thunderbird Mail Folder.  Right-click

on the folder, and select Properties.  Click the Permissions tab.  Check the boxes for Read, Write and Exec,

for Owner and Group, and check the box to Apply permissions to folder and all sub-folders.  In the

Ownership section at the bottom, set Group to Users, as depicted in the illustration below, and check the box

to Apply ownership to folder and all sub-folders.  Click the OK button.  Close and re-open Thunderbird, and check

to see if you can access all your mail.  You're done.

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