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Obsolete files in Profile

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  Obsolete files in Profile knuttle <keith_nuttle@yahoo.com> - 2025-04-25 07:59 -0400
    Re: Obsolete files in Profile Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-04-25 08:28 -0400
      Re: Obsolete files in Profile knuttle <keith_nuttle@yahoo.com> - 2025-04-25 08:37 -0400
        Re: Obsolete files in Profile Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-04-25 12:09 -0400
          Re: Obsolete files in Profile knuttle <keith_nuttle@yahoo.com> - 2025-04-25 13:19 -0400
            Re: Obsolete files in Profile Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-04-25 22:38 -0400
          Re: Obsolete files in Profile Frank Miller <miller@posteo.ee> - 2025-04-26 02:04 +0200
    Re: Obsolete files in Profile "Alan K." <alan@invalid.com> - 2025-04-25 09:53 -0400
      Re: Obsolete files in Profile knuttle <keith_nuttle@yahoo.com> - 2025-04-25 10:18 -0400
      Re: Obsolete files in Profile Mr Xi Ji Ping <ping@china.cn> - 2025-04-25 23:45 +0000
    Re: Obsolete files in Profile "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-04-25 21:22 +0200
      Re: Obsolete files in Profile Nobody <jock@soccer.com> - 2025-04-25 15:55 -0700
      Re: Obsolete files in Profile occam <occam@nowhere.nix> - 2025-04-30 12:10 +0200
        Re: Obsolete files in Profile knuttle <keith_nuttle@yahoo.com> - 2025-04-30 07:27 -0400
          Re: Obsolete files in Profile occam <occam@nowhere.nix> - 2025-04-30 14:21 +0200
        Re: Obsolete files in Profile "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-04-30 21:33 +0200
          Re: Obsolete files in Profile occam <occam@nowhere.nix> - 2025-05-01 12:38 +0200
            Re: Obsolete files in Profile "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-05-01 19:53 +0200

#16449 — Obsolete files in Profile

A week or two ago I asked how to scrub unused files from my Thunderbird 
Profile folder.   I had over 20 Prefix files.

This is what I found.
https://kb.mozillazine.org/Files_and_folders_in_the_profile_-_Thunderbird

I removed all of the file that the above said were obsolete or replaced 
by another file in the profile.

It is not on this page but I found the only valid Prefs file was the one 
with the highest number.  I remove all of the Prefs files except the 
highest number.  ie Prefs1, Prefs2, Prefs3 ...   I removed all but Prefs3.

Lastly, I looked at the abook.mab files, and realized there are three. 
abook.sqlite, abook.sqlite-shm, and abook.sqlite-wal.
I remove all the abook files that did not have all three files.

When finished I had deleted over 20 obsolete files from the profile.

Since I did this while transferring Thunderbird to a new faster 
computer, I do not know if it affected the operating speed of Thunderbird.

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#16452

On 4/25/2025 7:59 AM, knuttle wrote:
> A week or two ago I asked how to scrub unused files from my Thunderbird 
> Profile folder.   I had over 20 Prefix files.
> 
> This is what I found.
> https://kb.mozillazine.org/Files_and_folders_in_the_profile_-_Thunderbird
> 
> I removed all of the file that the above said were obsolete or replaced 
> by another file in the profile.
> 
> It is not on this page but I found the only valid Prefs file was the one 
> with the highest number.  I remove all of the Prefs files except the 
> highest number.  ie Prefs1, Prefs2, Prefs3 ...   I removed all but Prefs3.
> 
> Lastly, I looked at the abook.mab files, and realized there are three. 
> abook.sqlite, abook.sqlite-shm, and abook.sqlite-wal.
> I remove all the abook files that did not have all three files.
> 
   I don't have multiple prefs files. And the abook files are
tiny except for the actual address book. I clean up by
weeding out old email and attachments, so that the whole thing
is maybe 40-50MB.

   My question is why there's also a profile in Local, and it seems to
copy much of what's in Roaming.

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#16454

On 4/25/2025 8:28 AM, Newyana2 wrote:
> On 4/25/2025 7:59 AM, knuttle wrote:
>> A week or two ago I asked how to scrub unused files from my 
>> Thunderbird Profile folder.   I had over 20 Prefix files.
>>
>> This is what I found.
>> https://kb.mozillazine.org/Files_and_folders_in_the_profile_-_Thunderbird
>>
>> I removed all of the file that the above said were obsolete or 
>> replaced by another file in the profile.
>>
>> It is not on this page but I found the only valid Prefs file was the 
>> one with the highest number.  I remove all of the Prefs files except 
>> the highest number.  ie Prefs1, Prefs2, Prefs3 ...   I removed all but 
>> Prefs3.
>>
>> Lastly, I looked at the abook.mab files, and realized there are three. 
>> abook.sqlite, abook.sqlite-shm, and abook.sqlite-wal.
>> I remove all the abook files that did not have all three files.
>>
>    I don't have multiple prefs files. And the abook files are
> tiny except for the actual address book. I clean up by
> weeding out old email and attachments, so that the whole thing
> is maybe 40-50MB.
> 
>    My question is why there's also a profile in Local, and it seems to
> copy much of what's in Roaming.
> 
> 
> 
I just check the Thunderbird folder in Local.  There are two profiles 
folders, One is empty.    The other looks like it is start up 
information with a cache, safebrowsing, and startupcache floders. All 
have minimal data.

Has someone tried to transfer a profile and copied it to the wrong folder?

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#16461

On 4/25/2025 8:37 AM, knuttle wrote:

>>
> I just check the Thunderbird folder in Local.  There are two profiles 
> folders, One is empty.    The other looks like it is start up 
> information with a cache, safebrowsing, and startupcache floders. All 
> have minimal data.
> 
> Has someone tried to transfer a profile and copied it to the wrong folder?

   Hmm. Both folders have the same random profile name. Could
I have accidentally copied a backup to the wrong place? The
email in the local folder seems out of date by about a year. That
would be from the time I was setting up this system.

   Could you tell me what you see in your Local TBird Profile
folder? I'd like to delete the duplicates but don't want to throw
out something I need. Currently, the Local folder has "Crash Reoprts"
which is nearly empty, and "Mozilla Thunderbird", which is empty.
But the profile folder is like an outdated version of the Romaing
profile folder.

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#16462

On 4/25/2025 12:09 PM, Newyana2 wrote:
> On 4/25/2025 8:37 AM, knuttle wrote:
> 
>>>
>> I just check the Thunderbird folder in Local.  There are two profiles 
>> folders, One is empty.    The other looks like it is start up 
>> information with a cache, safebrowsing, and startupcache floders. All 
>> have minimal data.
>>
>> Has someone tried to transfer a profile and copied it to the wrong 
>> folder?
> 
>    Hmm. Both folders have the same random profile name. Could
> I have accidentally copied a backup to the wrong place? The
> email in the local folder seems out of date by about a year. That
> would be from the time I was setting up this system.
> hav
>    Could you tell me what you see in your Local TBird Profile
> folder? I'd like to delete the duplicates but don't want to throw
> out something I need. Currently, the Local folder has "Crash Reoprts"
> which is nearly empty, and "Mozilla Thunderbird", which is empty.
> But the profile folder is like an outdated version of the Romaing
> profile folder.
The profile with the earliest date is empty. (Remember this is a new 
installation that is less that a week old,so an old installation may 
have some folders.)

The other profile is dated with the date that I last opened TB.  It 
contains three folders

cache2 contains a folder "Entries"  with several folders with random 
character names.

safebrowsing  contains one folder "google4" which is empty

startupCache contains two files startupCache.8.little and webext.sc.lz4

Remember these are from a new installation, and may differ in an old 
installation.

Hope this helps.

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#16468

On 4/25/2025 1:19 PM, knuttle wrote:

> cache2 contains a folder "Entries"  with several folders with random 
> character names.
> 
> safebrowsing  contains one folder "google4" which is empty
> 
> startupCache contains two files startupCache.8.little and webext.sc.lz4
> 

   Thanks. That's good detail. I'll delete
the rest and see how it goes.

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#16466

Newyana2 wrote:
> On 4/25/2025 8:37 AM, knuttle wrote:

>> I just check the Thunderbird folder in Local.  There are two profiles 
>> folders, One is empty.    The other looks like it is start up 
>> information with a cache, safebrowsing, and startupcache floders. All 
>> have minimal data.
>> 
>> Has someone tried to transfer a profile and copied it to the wrong folder?
> 
>    Hmm. Both folders have the same random profile name. Could
> I have accidentally copied a backup to the wrong place? The
> email in the local folder seems out of date by about a year. That
> would be from the time I was setting up this system.

So just pack it into a zip file, delete that folder and see how
thunderbird reacts.
*Or* better: first look in Thunderbird, which folder it actually uses:
Help - Troubleshooting Information: Profile Directory - Open Directory

[..snip..]
> But the profile folder is like an outdated version of the Romaing
> profile folder.

Yeah, a typical behavior of MS Windows, the possibility to clutter
personal data and preferences all over the system in different locations.
I always hated this inconsistency.
In *every* Linux system your Thunderbird profiles are located under
"/home/<your account name>/.thunderbird/". Totally transparent and no
doubts.

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#16457

On 4/25/25 07:59 AM, knuttle wrote:
> Since I did this while transferring Thunderbird to a new faster computer, I do not know if 
> it affected the operating speed of Thunderbird.

If the files are obsolete, then they don't get used and don't get accessed so they don't 
slow anything down.

They take up space, that's it.   It's more of a visual thing to us humans since disk space 
has become almost a non issue.   IMHO

-- 
Linux Mint 22.1, Cinnamon 6.4.8,  Kernel 6.8.0-58-generic
Thunderbird 128.9.2esr, Mozilla Firefox 137.0.2
     Alan K.

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#16458

On 4/25/2025 9:53 AM, Alan K. wrote:
> On 4/25/25 07:59 AM, knuttle wrote:
>> Since I did this while transferring Thunderbird to a new faster 
>> computer, I do not know if it affected the operating speed of 
>> Thunderbird.
> 
> If the files are obsolete, then they don't get used and don't get 
> accessed so they don't slow anything down.
> 
> They take up space, that's it.   It's more of a visual thing to us 
> humans since disk space has become almost a non issue.   IMHO
> 
I agree they take up space, but they also clutter the issue, and I don't 
like clutter.

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#16465

On 25/04/2025 14:53, Alan K. wrote:
> since disk space has become almost a non issue.   IMHO
> 

Until tariffs kicks in and cheap computing becomes non existent. IMHO

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#16463

On Fri, 25 Apr 2025 07:59:43 -0400, knuttle wrote:

> It is not on this page but I found the only valid Prefs file was the one 
> with the highest number.  I remove all of the Prefs files except the 
> highest number.  ie Prefs1, Prefs2, Prefs3 ...   I removed all but Prefs3.

This is a bug. I've seen it in my own profile in the past. It's not
Prefs1. It's prefs-1.js (turn on extensions in Explorer), prefs-2.js
etc.

First, make a backup of your profile folder. Then change prefs-3.js to
prefs.js. Check the other files first, the one with the most recent date
should be changed to prefs.js. There should one be one prefs.js file.

-- 
s|b

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#16464

On Fri, 25 Apr 2025 21:22:23 +0200, "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> wrote:

>On Fri, 25 Apr 2025 07:59:43 -0400, knuttle wrote:
>
>> It is not on this page but I found the only valid Prefs file was the one 
>> with the highest number.  I remove all of the Prefs files except the 
>> highest number.  ie Prefs1, Prefs2, Prefs3 ...   I removed all but Prefs3.
>
>This is a bug. I've seen it in my own profile in the past. It's not
>Prefs1. It's prefs-1.js (turn on extensions in Explorer), prefs-2.js
>etc.
>
>First, make a backup of your profile folder. Then change prefs-3.js to
>prefs.js. Check the other files first, the one with the most recent date
>should be changed to prefs.js. There should one be one prefs.js file.

Interestingly when I checked my profile, there were four pref files.
The only one with content was the already-correct prefs.js, dated of
course 2025-04-25.

The others -- all 0kb -- (prefs-1, -2, & -3) were dated scattered
through 2020.  And were deleted.

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#16495

On 25/04/2025 21:22, s|b wrote:
> On Fri, 25 Apr 2025 07:59:43 -0400, knuttle wrote:
> 
>> It is not on this page but I found the only valid Prefs file was the one 
>> with the highest number.  I remove all of the Prefs files except the 
>> highest number.  ie Prefs1, Prefs2, Prefs3 ...   I removed all but Prefs3.
> 
> This is a bug. I've seen it in my own profile in the past. It's not
> Prefs1. It's prefs-1.js (turn on extensions in Explorer), prefs-2.js
> etc.
> 


Hi,

Do you know if this logic also applies to prefs-*.js files in *Firefox*?

When I did a global search for Prefs-*.js , I found lots of them both in
the Thunderbird and Firefox profiles.

Before I do a purge, I'd like to be sure. Some of these go as far back
as 2015, and have 100KB size.

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#16497

On 04/30/2025 6:10 AM, occam wrote:
> On 25/04/2025 21:22, s|b wrote:
>> On Fri, 25 Apr 2025 07:59:43 -0400, knuttle wrote:
>>
>>> It is not on this page but I found the only valid Prefs file was the one
>>> with the highest number.  I remove all of the Prefs files except the
>>> highest number.  ie Prefs1, Prefs2, Prefs3 ...   I removed all but Prefs3.
>>
>> This is a bug. I've seen it in my own profile in the past. It's not
>> Prefs1. It's prefs-1.js (turn on extensions in Explorer), prefs-2.js
>> etc.
>>
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Do you know if this logic also applies to prefs-*.js files in *Firefox*?
> 
> When I did a global search for Prefs-*.js , I found lots of them both in
> the Thunderbird and Firefox profiles.
> 
> Before I do a purge, I'd like to be sure. Some of these go as far back
> as 2015, and have 100KB size.
My GUESS is that it is the same in Firefox as Thunderbird, since they 
share a common base.  I would first copy any thing I was uncertain about 
to another folder and then  proceed to remove files.  If I it caused a 
problem you can alway copy them back.

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#16498

On 30/04/2025 13:27, knuttle wrote:
> On 04/30/2025 6:10 AM, occam wrote:
>> On 25/04/2025 21:22, s|b wrote:
>>> On Fri, 25 Apr 2025 07:59:43 -0400, knuttle wrote:
>>>
>>>> It is not on this page but I found the only valid Prefs file was the
>>>> one
>>>> with the highest number.  I remove all of the Prefs files except the
>>>> highest number.  ie Prefs1, Prefs2, Prefs3 ...   I removed all but
>>>> Prefs3.
>>>
>>> This is a bug. I've seen it in my own profile in the past. It's not
>>> Prefs1. It's prefs-1.js (turn on extensions in Explorer), prefs-2.js
>>> etc.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Do you know if this logic also applies to prefs-*.js files in *Firefox*?
>>
>> When I did a global search for Prefs-*.js , I found lots of them both in
>> the Thunderbird and Firefox profiles.
>>
>> Before I do a purge, I'd like to be sure. Some of these go as far back
>> as 2015, and have 100KB size.
> My GUESS is that it is the same in Firefox as Thunderbird, since they
> share a common base.  I would first copy any thing I was uncertain about
> to another folder and then  proceed to remove files.  If I it caused a
> problem you can alway copy them back.

Thanks. I have followed a similar strategy, the other folder being the
'Delete' folder :-)

Although not as many (or as large) as the TB 'prefs-*.js' files, there
were a dozen that were surplus to requirement. Some of them dated back
to 2017!

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#16500

On Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:10:35 +0200, occam wrote:

> Do you know if this logic also applies to prefs-*.js files in *Firefox*?

Yes.
 
> When I did a global search for Prefs-*.js , I found lots of them both in
> the Thunderbird and Firefox profiles.
> 
> Before I do a purge, I'd like to be sure. Some of these go as far back
> as 2015, and have 100KB size.

Make a backup of your profile folder, delete the files, see what
happens. If it breaks anything, restore the profile folder.

-- 
s|b

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#16501

On 30/04/2025 21:33, s|b wrote:
> On Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:10:35 +0200, occam wrote:
> 
>> Do you know if this logic also applies to prefs-*.js files in *Firefox*?
> 
> Yes.
>  
>> When I did a global search for Prefs-*.js , I found lots of them both in
>> the Thunderbird and Firefox profiles.
>>
>> Before I do a purge, I'd like to be sure. Some of these go as far back
>> as 2015, and have 100KB size.
> 
> Make a backup of your profile folder, delete the files, see what
> happens. If it breaks anything, restore the profile folder.
> 

Thank you both (knuttle, s|b ).  Worked out well. (There were 63 (!)
obsolete TB prefs-x.js, dating back to 2015 - 2020. The mind boggles.)

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#16502

On Thu, 1 May 2025 12:38:16 +0200, occam wrote:

> Thank you both (knuttle, s|b ).  Worked out well. (There were 63 (!)
> obsolete TB prefs-x.js, dating back to 2015 - 2020. The mind boggles.)

Wow! o-: It happened to me once, long time ago. Every now and then I
check the profile folders of TB and Fx for orphans.

-- 
s|b

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