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How to Save Thunderbird Emails as PDF with Attachments?

Mark Wills ~ Modified: 15-03-2022 ~ Save ~ 4 Minutes Reading

Summary: Considering data portability as the major issue, the purpose of this blog is to provide some insights on how to save Thunderbird emails as PDF documents.

Whether you wish to convert, save or batch print Thunderbird to PDF file format, we have you covered. Here, in this write-up, we will mention the best available solutions to ease your entire process. But before that, we will read about the formats in brief.

Know about Thunderbird and PDF?

Mozilla Thunderbird is one of the most popular desktop-based email clients. It is used by a large number of users as it is available for free. Thunderbird stores its entire mailbox in an MBOX file. Each mailbox folder like Inbox, Sent, etc, corresponds to an MBOX file. So, this file has the same name as the associated folder and does not have any extension.

On the other hand, PDF is the most widely used format to store data securely. This can be used in legal cases because it is difficult to alter it. It offers mobility, versatility and is compatible with all the devices without any issues. Apart from this, one can easily put the password to encrypt the desired PDF file to prevent it from any illegal access.

3 Methods to Save Thunderbird Emails as PDF Format?

Whenever a user is looking for a solution to export Thunderbird folder to PDF file format then there three feasible ways come into mind. The first two methods are free manual methods and the last one is an automated technique. Using the solution solely depends on user preferences.

Technique 1. Utilize Thunderbird Print Command

This method is the most suitable when you have less number of emails to export. It makes use of the Print command to save emails in PDF files on your computer.

The exact steps are as follows:

  • Launch Mozilla Thunderbird.
  • Select the email message that you want to save to PDF.
  • Hit the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+P to open the Print window.
  • Select Save as PDF option from the dropdown menu.

print option in thunderbird

  • After that, click the Save button.
  • Select the location where you want to store the PDF files and click on the Save button.

save pdf file

  • It’s done! You can now work with your PDF documents as you desire.

Technique 2. Utilize Free Thunderbird Add-on

Please follow the steps to export Thunderbird emails to PDF with utmost care. Any wrong step would lead to data loss.

  • Launch Thunderbird and install the ImportExportTools NG addon (it is a free add-on).

install addon

  • Right-click on any of the desired folders (Inbox, Outbox, etc.).
  • Then, select ImportExportTools NG.
  • Afterward, select the Export all messages in the folder option.
  • From here, choose the PDF format option to save Thunderbird emails as PDF file format.

save thunderbird emails as pdf

  • Once done, a new pop-up will occur saying “If you export in this format, the attachment is not saved”. For saving the attachments, you need to choose some other file format.
  • Next, you have to click OK and then choose a location of your choice to save the file.

destination location

  • Wait for Thunderbird to export all the messages from the selected folder.
  • That’s it! You can now work with the PDF documents as per your choice.
Important: The manual methods (both print and add-on) do not support saving attachments with the PDF file. So, use them if the attached files are of no importance to you. In case you wish to batch convert Thunderbird data to PDF with attachments, opt for the next solution.

Technique 3: Save Thunderbird Emails as PDF with Attachments

This part of the blog helps you to overcome all the drawbacks offered by the former method. NXT Software is an error-free, robust, and reliable solution for exporting emails from Thunderbird to PDF documents. It will allow you to keep the attachments intact during and after the conversion. Also, it preserves the data integrity and metadata intact.

Besides this, users can also perform bulk or selective importation as per their requirements. Apart from that, it also has a free version to know the functionality of this intuitive utility without investing any money in it.

Other functionalities of the software related to Thunderbird:

The Final Verdict

We have suggested the top two solutions for How to Save Thunderbird Emails as PDF file format in this blog. If you are having bulk Thunderbird emails with attachments then, we would advise you to go for the automated solution.