Multiple Instances of Thunderbird?

Oct
17
2005

I've got a problem that I'm trying to find a solution to. I have a theoretical solution, but either can't word my query to Google in such a way to bring out the answer or the answer doesn't exist.

The problem is this. I am using Thunderbird to read my RSS feeds via the RSS2Email script that puts all of the feeds into an IMAP account. I love this solution and it's way better than every RSS reader I've used for how I work. However, there is a problem. Things like the labels (color coding), the spam filtering, etc. are all set up for my email. At this point, these settings aren't the same for my feed reading.

The obvious place to look was to set up another profile in Thunderbird for reading content instead of email. Then, I'd just launch the other profile and configure it more for reading feeds. This would take care of things until Thunderbird gets configurable enough to set these things "per account" instead of app-wide.

And, I did create another profile. Problem is, Thunderbird will only launch one instance of itself at a time. I can launch the chosen profile, but can't have both profiles up at the same time. Does anyone know how I can force Thunderbird to have 2 instances: one in each profile, up at the same time?

thunderbird, email, mozilla, hacking

Posted in General, General Internet, Half-baked Ideas, Web Development |

 

Comments on this post

Feedback is always welcome. Read some from other folks or leave your own below. Just keep things civil and remember that what you post lives on in public. Forever.

Thanks,
J

5 Responses to “Multiple Instances of Thunderbird?”

  1. Beth Says:
    October 17th, 2005 at 8:12 am

    I don't know if this will help you or not, but there are circumstances when Thunderbird will open a second or third instance of itself. When I double-click on my sent folder, it will open a new instance, and if I double-click my inbox from the sent window it will open a third instance.

  2. J Wynia Says:
    October 17th, 2005 at 8:21 am

    Yeah. That does launch another window. Unfortunately, it's the same profile as the one that's already open.

    The funny thing is that I've found articles talking about how it *used* to do this, but people complained and they "fixed" the bug a while back.

  3. Bortel Says:
    December 6th, 2005 at 8:56 am

    Like you, I've being trying to accomplish this for a long time.

    Found this URL that's right on the money:

    http://kb.mozillazine.org/Run_multiple_copies_of_Thunderbird_at_the_same_time

    Also, see the below (excellent) thread on the subject:

    http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=215734

    Good luck!

  4. Andrew Says:
    October 31st, 2007 at 7:47 pm

    I'm having the exact opposite problem. I open a few emails, and now I have 3 instances of Thunderbird in my system tray… I just want one!!

  5. j. Says:
    March 2nd, 2008 at 4:25 pm

    This might help:
    http://kb.mozillazine.org/Run_multiple_copies_of_Thunderbird_at_the_same_time

    I'm still having (other) problems with it, though (opening links).

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