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How to Migrate AOL to Thunderbird – With One stop solution

Michael Scofield ~ Modified: July 25th, 2017 ~ Backup, Email Client ~ 4 Minutes Reading

How to Migrate AOL to Thunderbird – With One Stop Solution

In This informative post, we are going to discuss the AOL mail and the Mozilla Thunderbird Along with the need and requirement to Migrate from AOL to Thunderbird Application.

The AOL Mail

AOL Mail is a Free web based mail service provided by AOL (America Online). AOL Mail is a Free web based mail service provided by AOL (America Online). It is a free mail service which provides features such as unlimited storage, virus protection, spam protection, spell checking.

The Mozilla Thunderbird Email Client

The Thunderbird is a free desktop based email client application developed by the Mozilla Corporation in 2004. It is one of the most popular desktop based email clients available. It also bundles up as news, RSS, and a chat client. The Thunderbird application uses the file format “MBOX” file format to store all the user emails.

In today’s day by day changing scenario, There have been multiple queries from the evident users Regarding the migration from the AOL to Thunderbird Application. Some of the queries are as follows:

“How can I migrate my AOL mail data to the Thunderbird Application, as I am having multiple email accounts and I want to use all my emails and data into a single application. Please suggest an appropriate method to transfer my data in the AOL Emails to MBOX file used in the Thunderbird email client. ”

“How can I come transfer the AOL Emails data to the MBOX file format. As I require keep the backup of my email account onto the local drive of my system. Please provide an appropriate way to perform the necessary.”

The Need to Migrate AOL to Thunderbird:

Below mentioned are needs/reasons that can be considered:

  1. If the user wants to create backups for the data in stored in the AOL Emails. Then a desktop based email client is the best option for the user.
  2. In cases of server failure a web client such as the AOL becomes inaccessible for the user. But in cases of the desktop based email client. This limitation is completely removed.
  3. Multiple Emails client can be configured and used in a desktop based email client.
  4. The Thunderbird email client also provides many features such as activity manager, reminder, message archive, large file library management, etc. All of these features make the Thunderbird email client more advisable while handling user email account data.
  5. Also, while using the web based email client there is always a question of the user’s data security.

 

How to Migrate the AOL to Thunderbird email client application

The Manual method

The following steps can be followed in-order to move all the AOL emails and contacts to the Thunderbird Application:

  1. Launch the Mozilla Thunderbird Application. Go to the Tools >> Account Settings >> Account Actions.
  2. On the Menu, Click on “Add Mail Account”.
  3. Now, On the next menu provide the necessary credentials i.e. the email address and the password of the AOL email account. Click on “Continue”.
  4. Select the IMAP option in the server settings. al Config. & provide the following settings:
    • Incoming: imap.aol.com/port: Either 993 or 143(For SSL) or 585 (SSL).
    • Outgoing: smtp.aol.com/port: Either 25 or 465 (SSL) or 2525 (used rarely).
  5. Click on “Retest”.
  6. Click on “Create account”. You can check all the mails in Thunderbird.
  7. Now set up the sent folder properly by Thunderbird by Tools>> Account settings>> Copies files & Folders. Create the copy of the sent items on the mail server.

 

Automated Method

The limitation of the above method is that it requires IMAP/POP3 configuration that can turn out to be very difficult for non-technical users. Thus, now arises the requirement for an automated methodology for to migrate the AOL to Thunderbird email client application.

One such effective utility is the AOL Backup software that can easily create the America Online Mail backup that can be imported to the Mozilla Thunderbird application. Following are the features of the software:

  1. Supports single account backups for all emails, inbox, sent-items, etc.
  2. Export AOL email to MS Outlook, Thunderbird, Windows Live mail, etc.
  3. Date filters applicable along with “To” & “From” Customized filter.
  4. Custom Bandwidth Options for improved backup management.
  5. Successful backup support for America Online 9.7/9.6/9.5/9/8 & below versions.

 

The Conclusion

In this informative post, we discussed the AOL mail service along with the Mozilla Thunderbird desktop based email client. We cam across the need to migrate from the AOL mail to the Thunderbird application by converting the data stored in the AOL emails to MBOX file format. We illustrated two methods for accessing the AOL mail data one manual and one automated. Any one of these can be utilized by the user in-order to transfer the AOL mails to Thunderbird.