Best Ways to Perform Thunderbird Desktop Export to Mobile

  Kumar Raj
Written By Kumar Raj
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh  
Modified On August 29th, 2025
Reading Time 6 Minutes Reading

In today’s fast-emerging world, Mozilla Thunderbird is a widely used & popular email client which offered many features for desktop users for many years, like POP3/IMAP support, multiple account management, and other encryption but However, Thunderbird App has been officially launched for Android, not yet for iOS. However, most people are thinking about how to quickly configure Thunderbird desktop export to Mobile device and continue managing the emails on their Android phone.

In this article, we’ll discover the effective methods to export settings to Thunderbird for Android automatically, as it provides a desktop export to mobile feature, which makes the process quicker and error-free for the Thunderbird Android app.

Why Thunderbird Desktop Export to Mobile?

Before knowing the solutions, it’s important to know what the point of doing the transformation methods from desktop to mobile is:

  1. The emails in Thunderbird mobile app can be accessed anywhere, without no required to stay with the PC.
  2. It prevents configuring the account manually with the export settings across the devices.
  3. All of your folders, having contacts, calendar, and emails, are data intact whether you’re using mobile or desktop.
  4. Official support was launched as it launched a new Android app, which makes syncing smoother and secure.

If you’ve been using Thunderbird for many years and have many accounts configured, then the Thunderbird desktop export to mobile feature makes sure that you don’t waste your time in configuring all your details again.

How Does the Export For Mobile Option Work

The desktop version of Thunderbird has introduced an export for mobile feature that allows you to effectively switch your account configurations, which includes:

  • IMAP or POP3 Server Settings
  • Identities & Signature
  • Folder Structure
  • Other Encryption Settings

Check out its steps to export settings to Thunderbird for Android:

How to Quickly Export Settings to Thunderbird For Android?

  1. Open Thunderbird on Desktop.
  2. 1

  3. Navigate to Tools.
  4. 2

  5. Search for this feature “Export For Mobile”.
  6. 3

  7. Select the Export method:
    • Generate a QR Code for Quick Configuration.
    • 4

    • Or save the Config File.
  8. Run the Thunderbird App on Mobile > click on Import Settings > Scan the QR code from Desktop, and it’ll ask for your camera permission and look like this.
  9. Your account has been Successfully set up.

This is the easiest way to export settings to Thunderbird for Android.

Thunderbird Sync Settings Desktop to Mobile

IMAP Accounts: One whose account is configured on an IMAP server, which stores emails on its server as well as in your local, in the form of your inbox, folders, sent emails, along with the settings, will sync between desktop and mobile.
Steps:

  1. Ensure your desktop version is configured with IMAP settings, not POP3.
  2. Open the Thunderbird Android App > Import your Settings > all Email Accounts will appear, and those that have a Key Icon need a Password to configure.
  3. This password must be your AppPassword, and you have to generate an AppPassword.
  4. After entering your password, all folders, emails, and synced Settings will automatically appear.

POP3 Accounts: It’s a bit difficult as POP3 downloads emails on your local system, but while configuring your POP3 account, if you choose “Leave a Copy on Server“, then it’ll act the same as IMAP account settings. But if you select nothing, then by default, your emails from 14 days ago will remain with the server, and other emails will not be exported to mobile.

Steps:

  1. If your account is configured for POP3 Settings.
  2. Launch the app on Android > Import Settings & only your 14-day-old Emails , along with the Account Settings will be automatically transferred to the mobile.
    thunderbird desktop to android

Note: If you’re relying on POP3 server, then it’ll not export your old emails before 14 days, but if you select “Leave a Copy on Server“, then it’ll transfer your account settings, along with your account settings. This is the main point where most users faces a problem.

Let’s discuss more issues like this:

Challenges Faced in Export Thunderbird Profile to Mobile

Whether introducing of new option makes this process quicker, but also contains some limitations:

  1. POP3 local data is not transferred.
  2. Many profiles might not export smoothly.
  3. Local folders or data will remain on your PC only.
  4. There is a risk of accidental deletion of data as no backup option is offered.

So, if you’ve been using Thunderbird with POP3, your old emails will not be exported to your mobile device.

How to Quickly Export all Configured Thunderbird Accounts on your Mobile Device?

Users who are using both IMAP and POP3 accounts in Thunderbird only have to use the built-in export feature, which can help them access their Thunderbird profile in their mobile app. Now, imagine if you want to switch your Thunderbird data to another email client or document file format. Here, you must use a professional approach to bridge the gap, which is using SysTools Thunderbird Converter Software. It’s designed in such a way that it can easily handle Thunderbird desktop data to other clients by converting the MBOX files into multiple formats like PST, EML, MSG, PDF, etc.

Download Now Purchase Now

It’s is go-to option if someone wants to transfer Thunderbird desktop to mobile, where you can blindly trust and choose this reliable solution for your secure data transformation. Let’s walk through to its great features.

Benefits of this Comprehensive Approach

  • It ensures all your data in Thunderbird is accessible and compatible with your Android app.
  • Transfer many Thunderbird accounts in one click.
  • Provides a safe & secure backup before migration.
  • Migrates many MBOX files into other formats like PST, EML, MSG, etc.
  • Also, compatible with POP3 data and IMAP servers like Gmail, Office 365, Yahoo, etc.

Using this software can make your POP3 data accessible from your mobile device.

Error-Free Practices for Smooth Transformation

  1. If you want an effective sync, then you have to enable IMAP account settings.
  2. Always take a backup with the advanced, which keeps your data secure & safe.
  3. Don’t use manual methods as they’re very time-consuming; instead this use the proactive software mentioned above.
  4. Before migrating your main account, first try to test with some other account to check the syncing process.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve covered how to do a Thunderbird desktop export to mobile for accessing. This built-in option in Thunderbird makes the process very quick, especially for IMAP accounts, by simply scanning a QR code. You can also export settings to Thunderbird for Android in just a few seconds. However, suppose you want all accounts to be configured. In that case, you must try the aforementioned utility, which is a reliable & secure solution which makes data accessible on your mobile phone.

  Kumar Raj

By Kumar Raj

Kumar Raj has more than 14 plus years of expertise in migration technology. He likes to create, edit, and optimize web material on topics conversion of email data, and migration of email data. For the majority of the past ten years, he has been a devoted fan of the technology scene.