How to Export Contacts and Calendar from Thunderbird?

Admin ~ March 26, 2025 ~ 6 Minutes Reading

Mozilla Thunderbird is a widely used email client that allows users to manage emails, contacts, and calendar efficiently. However, there are situations where you may need to export contacts and calendar from Thunderbird for backup, migration to another email client, or syncing with another device.

In this write-up, we will share all tried and tested solutions to export the Address Book and calendar from Thunderbird using manual methods and Thunderbird Converter. After reading this guide, all novice and professional users can easily export contacts from Thunderbird in a CSV file and calendar in an ICS file. So, let’s know the reasons behind this query as we have explained in the upcoming section.

Motives to Export Address Book and Calendar from Thunderbird

  • Regularly exporting the Address Book and calendar from Thunderbird ensures that you have a backup file to prevent unexpected data loss, Thunderbird crashes or system failures. As it allows easy restoration when required.
  • If you are switching to another email service provider such as Microsoft Outlook, Gmail and Apple Mail then it helps you for easier migration.
  • It allows you to import them into cloud services(Google Contacts, iCloud etc.) or sync them across different devices, ensuring accessibility from mobile phones, tablets or other computers.
  • Professionals often need to share contact lists or scheduled events with colleagues or clients.
  • Exporting the data makes it easier to send and distribute information is a universally accepted extension like CSV or ICS.
  • Older Thunderbird versions may not be compatible with newer updates or operating systems. Keeping export Address Book and Calendar from Thunderbird helps you to restore data when facing compatibility issues.

How to Export Contacts and Calendar from Thunderbird using Tool?

If you want to export multiple Thunderbird profiles or export the whole data at once, then we recommend you opt for Thunderbird Phone Number Extractor. This software is completely reliable as it can auto-detect Thunderbird profiles and migrate any size or number of Thunderbird profiles without facing any limitations. Now, to use this wizard, click on the download option as mentioned below.

Procedure to Export Contacts and Calendar from Thunderbird

  1. First, follow instructions to install “Tool” then open it on your system.open software
  2. Click on convert emails and select “Convert configure Thunderbird profile”.Convert configure Thunderbird mailbox
  3. Select “Thunderbird data” as you want to export such as contacts and calendar.Choose Thunderbird data
  4. Choose “Export file type” in the multiple options of saving.Select file extension
  5. Browse destination path and select advanced filter to export Thunderbird data.Select destination
  6. Finally, Press Next to start “Export contacts and calendar from Thunderbird”.start export contacts and calendars from Thunderbird

Pinnacle features of Recommended Software

  • It also allows printing Thunderbird emails, contacts, and calendar at once without facing any challenges.
  • This software can easily auto-detect the Thunderbird profile without being familiar with the Thunderbird default profile.
  • It can also migrate Thunderbird to Outlook, Gmail, Zimbra, Maildir, and all IMAP-supported email platforms.
  • With this wizard, you can also use filter options to export crucial data and stay away from unwanted files, as it allows selecting Thunderbird mailbox data as per date range, subject, sender, blank address, receiver blank address, etc.
  • This software can also convert Thunderbird to PDF, PST, EML, MBOX, and 28+ saving options.

How to Export Address Book and Calendar from Thunderbird Manually?

If you want to export Address Book and calendar from Thunderbird manually without using tools then you can follow the instructions as we have explained below:

Method 1. Export Contacts from Thunderbird

  1. First, open “Thunderbird” and click on the “Address Book”.
  2. Choose “Address Book personal or collected address book” as you want to export.
  3. Click on “Tools” and select “Export” and choose file as LDIF, CSV and vCard file.
  4. Select the destination folder to save the file.

Method 2. Export Calendar from Thunderbird

  1. Open the “Calendar” option in Thunderbird and locate the specific calendar.
  2. Right-click on the calendar and press “Export Calendar”.
  3. Choose “ICS” as file type and save the file to your preferred location.

Challenges of Manual Method

  • Thunderbird only allows exporting contacts in CSV, vCard and LDIF files.
  • If you have multiple address books, then you need to repeat the whole process to download individually.
  • When exporting contacts in a CSV file, fields may get misaligned when importing them into other email clients like Gmail or Outlook.
  • Users need to manually import the exported files into Google contacts, Outlook, or other cloud services which don’t offer real time synchronization.
  • Users find thousands of contacts and multiple calendar may find manual export slow and inefficient.

Best Practices for Exporting and Managing Data

  • Regularly export contacts and calendar from Thunderbird to prevent data loss and also easily restore when required.
  • Choose file extension based on your requirement to easily access it without facing any compatibility issues.
  • Clean up and organize contacts, emails and calendar to avoid duplicates to maintain accurate results.
  • Stored backup file on external drive or cloud storage to keep secure and easier accessibility.
  • Use Encryption or password protection to backup sensitive files or email data to protect from unauthorized users.
Popular Questions about Export Contacts and Calendar from Thunderbird

How do I Export Contacts from Mozilla Thunderbird?

To export contacts from Mozilla Thunderbird, open Address Book, select the contacts or address book you want to export then navigate to Tools and select Export. Choose formats like CSV, LDIF, or vCard and save the file to your computer.


How do I Export all data from Thunderbird?

To export all data from Thunderbird, manually copy the profile folder containing emails, contacts and calendar settings. Locate it by going to help and troubleshoot information then open the folder. Copy the folder and paste into the backup drive or a new system.


How do I Transfer my Address Book from Thunderbird to a new computer?

To transfer your Address Book, export it as a CSV or LDIF file from the Thunderbird Address Book section. Then move the file to the new computer and import it into Thunderbird using Tools and click Import. You can also copy abook.mab or abook.sqlite file from Thunderbird profile.


Where is the Thunderbird local calendar stored?

Thunderbird local calendar stored in the profile folder. The folder is saved as an SQLite database file named calendar named calendar-data.sqlite. You can find it in C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles on Windows or in the respective user directory on MacOS/Linux.

Observational Verdict

If you have reached here then we hope you got the solution to export contacts and calendar from Thunderbird by manually and using a professional tool. As a manual approach you need to export each address book separately and also not reliable for batch export address book and calendar from Thunderbird. So, we recommend you to go with a professional tool as it allows you to convert multiple Thunderbird profile contacts and calendar and can export any size of mailbox data without losing any information.