Free Thunderbird Mail Viewer

A Brief Information About Thunderbird and Its Email Files!

If you are a new user of Mozilla Thunderbird and don't have more idea about this mail client or its files then this section will make sure all your doubts.

Thunderbird is a free open source desktop based mail client developed by Mozilla and offers E-mail and Newsgroup functions. It is a cross-platform mail client available for Windows, MAC OSX and Linux operating systems. The Mozilla Thunderbird store all mails in a plain text file that is called .mbox which is supported by almost 20+ email clients. But when user need to open old thunderbird email files independently that time a Thunderbird mail viewer is required. You can also use these files with MS Outlook by converting MBOX files to PST format.

Default Location of Mozilla Thunderbird Files

• For Windows OS:
  C:/Documents and Settings/username/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/biwqp6xu.default/Mail
• For MAC OSX:
  /Macintosh HD/Users/Library/ Thunderbird/Profiles/
• For Linux and Unix: ~/.thunderbird/

File Formats with Their Extensions

Each mail folder (Inbox, Sent, etc.) is stored as two files one with no extension and one is with .msf extension.

• Inbox (without extension): This is the main file of Thunderbird mail that stores all your inbox email messages which is the mail file itself (in 'mbox' format). So you can directly use this file for viewing emails. Otherwise use Thunderbird ImportExport tool to export Thunderbird folders to MBOX format.
• Inbox.msf: This is another file which is the index (Mail Summary File) to the mail file that contains summary of emails.

Note: Without extension file contains your all messages and attachments so view thunderbird mailbox file (Inbox) with this tool