How to Export Thunderbird Emails to TXT Plain Text Format

Mozilla Thunderbird is one of the popular email clients out there. It is available for both Windows and Mac. It works with MBOX format i.e., the emails are saved in no-extension mailbox files called MBOX files such as Inbox, Sent, etc. on your local system.

Sometimes, users need their emails in files other than MBOX. While the majority look for Thunderbird to PST conversion and Thunderbird to PDF, some also ask for exporting Thunderbird to TXT format.

In this article, we will cover this scenario of saving emails into Plain Text Format with or without attachments.

First, let’s take a look at some user queries:

Query 1:

Query 2:

Now, let us start with the methods.

Methods to Export Thunderbird Emails to TXT Format

We have divided the methods into two categories:

1. Method for Windows
2. Method for Mac

Users can choose the method as per their OS.

I. Thunderbird to TXT Conversion on Windows

On Windows, you can make use of a free-addon to get your Plain Text files. It is ImportExportTools NG add-on.

Process to download and install ImportExportTools NG add-on:

1. Go to Tools menu and select Add-on in Thunderbird (Press Alt key if menu is not visible).
2. Search for “importexporttools” in the search bar.
3. Find the ImportExportTools NG add-on and click on Add to Thunderbird button.
4. Click on Install Now and restart Thunderbird once the add-on is installed.

Steps to Finally Export Thunderbird Emails to Plain Text Format (TXT):

1. Open Thunderbird and select all the emails that you want to save to TXT format.

2. Right-click on the selected emails and choose Save selected messages >> Plain text format.

Note: You can also choose “Plain text format (with attachments)”. It will create a folder named ‘Attachments’ that will contain the corresponding attached files, while the emails will be saved in the TXT files.

3. Now, choose the folder to save the TXT files.

That’s it.

II. Save Thunderbird Emails to TXT on Mac

For Mac, you will need to use a professional solution to get the job done. MBOX to TXT Converter for Mac is the best way to convert Thunderbird mailboxes to TXT file format. It will also automatically save the attached files in a separate folder that you can choose to use or delete later.

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The software is compatible with Mac OS X 10.8 and all above versions. It has multiple advanced options like:

• Process multiple files at once – Mozilla Thunderbird saves its emails in MBOX format. This software allows you to add multiple MBOX files at once and process their emails into TXT format.
• Date-range filters – You can apply “To” and “From” in the date-filters and the tool will only convert the emails that corresponds to the set criteria.
• Name convention – The tool also has multiple naming options to choose from.

You can download the demo version for free to try our software and then choose to opt for the full version once it satisfies you.

Steps to Convert Thunderbird to Plain Text Format

Step 1: Run the tool on your Mac machine.

Step 2: Add multiple MBOX files using Add Files / Add Folder option.

Step 3: Select the TXT format.

Step 4: Apply Advanced Settings.

Step 5: Click on the Export button.

Step 6: Click Ok once the process is done.

That’s it!

Concluding Thoughts

Regardless of the reasons, a minority of users want to export their emails from Thunderbird to TXT format. To comply with these requests, we have provided this article that contains methods for both Windows and Mac to directly convert Thunderbird to Plain Text format with or without attachments. We hope that it satisfies your requirements.