AOL (America Online) is one of the popular web-based email clients which stores all the emails and contacts in Personal Cabinet File (PFC) format. On the other hand, Mozilla Thunderbird is another email client that stores emails in MBOX file format. Since, both the file formats are different, the emails of AOL Mail can be accessed in Thunderbird by converting the file formats. Thus, migration from a web-based email to the desktop-based email application becomes necessary. With the help of the following article, users can open online AOL Mail in Thunderbird or convert AOL PFC to Thunderbird without any data loss. 

The need to export AOL email to Thunderbird arises due to the following reasons:

• When a user has to create a backup of emails from his web-based email application, then the data is to be accessed from a desktop email client like Thunderbird.
• Thunderbird can be used when the user has to access multiple accounts from a single email client.
  Data cannot be accessed when the server is down. In such cases, the user has to export AOL email to Thunderbird MBOX file format.
• Thunderbird has many attractive features like the message retrieval, large files management, attachment reminder, powerful search option etc which lures the users to go for the desktop email application.
• Security is a big threat in a web-based email client like AOL. Then it becomes vital for a user to convert AOL to Thunderbird.
• Setup AOL Mail in Thunderbird by Simple Steps

1. Open Mozilla Thunderbird in Windows and from the menu select Tools -> Account Settings. Note: Press the Alt key when the menu cannot be seen
2. Click Account Actions and select Add Mail Account from the menu list that comes up.
3. Under Your Name, type the name.
4. In the Email Address section, type the full AOL email Address.
5. Under Password, type in your AOL email password and click Continue.
6. The IMAP (remote folders) is a must and has to be selected. If you select POP3 (Keep mail on your system) to download new emails from AOL, it will not synchronize folders and action.
7. If POP3 is selected, Mozilla Thunderbird will be set up to delete the downloaded messages from AOL after two weeks or after they have been deleted locally. This setting can be changed to your account’s Server Settings which is dealt below in the Mozilla Thunderbird 2 section.
8. Click Done -> OK.

• Access AOL Mail in Mozilla Thunderbird by Configuring Manually

1. Open Mozilla Thunderbird to export AOL email to Thunderbird. From the menu go to Tools -> Account Settings -> Add Mail Account -> Continue.
2. Type your name under the Name field
3. Under the Email Address field, type the full AOL email address, for eg, xyz@aol.com and click Continue.
4. Select IMAP (remote folders) under the title Configuration found in Mozilla ISP database and click Manual config.
5. Now manually enter the settings as follows-
   • Incoming: IMAP -> imap.aol.com -> Port: Either 993 (SSL) or 143
   • Outgoing: SMTP -> smtp.aol.com -> Port: 587 (TLS)
6. Click on Re-test.
7. If the entered items are correct, the task is completed successfully and further you can click on Create Account.
8. Now you can check the AOL emails from your Thunderbird account by clicking on Read messages.

• Properly Set the Sent Folder

1. Go to Thunderbird -> Tools -> Account Settings -> Copies & Folders.
2. In the Copies & Folders window, check ‘Place a copy in’ to “Sent” Folder on mail server.
3. Restart Thunderbird.

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