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How to Speed Up Thunderbird Application? Top 10 Techniques

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Published By Karen Chard 
Rollins Duke
Approved By Rollins Duke
Published On April 21st, 2025
Reading Time 7 Min Read

Are you also facing slow or hangs issues with your Thunderbird application and you don’t know how to speed up Thunderbird? Then don’t worry, here in this write-up, we will show you the best and top methods to resolve “Thunderbird slow with large mailboxes” issues. Also, we will discuss the causes, why it happens.

Thunderbird email client is a popular among many experts and users, because it’s free and open-source for all. It is mainly used by large companies, and organization to manage their professional data and sending / receiving emails.

But after sometime it happens when your Thunderbird goes slow and keep hanging while sharing files or messages or while opening the application. And this situation keep frustrating us and stop our valuable work.

And speed up Thunderbird is very crucial for better workflow. But before knowing the best tricks, it is also essential to understand the causes why it happens? What are the reasons? So, without wasting your time, let’s get start the process.

Why is Thunderbird So Slow? Top Reasons

These are the major reasons that contribute to slow Thunderbird performance.

  • Maybe you are using an outdated version of Thunderbird or Windows OS.
  • Or maybe your Thunderbird’s MSF file is corrupted or damaged.
  • If your Inbox or any other folder has thousands of emails, then it will take time to open and load emails.
  • Some of the add-ons/extensions can also affect your performance issues.
  • Also, check your Antivirus applications, because sometimes they can affect your Thunderbird operations.
  • The large size of the address book and calendars can also make your Thunderbird slow.
  • Or maybe you have not connected your IMAP account properly.
  • If your hard disk doesn’t have enough storage space, then your Thunderbird also becomes slow.

What Happens Which Requires to Speed Up Thunderbird?

  • You will not be able to send or receive emails in Thunderbird.
  • Thunderbird is getting hung when starting or doing any activity.
  • You will receive your emails very slowly, like if someone has sent you email at 4:00 PM then you will receive at 4:05 or more time.
  • The searching option will not work properly while searching for or finding any particular emails.
  • Also, there is a high chance of Thunderbird being getting crashed or freezing suddenly.
  • Emails will not be synced from the connected IMAP account.

How to Speed Up Thunderbird Email Client? Top 10 Techniques

After understanding all the related information, let’s understand how we can speed up Thunderbird email client. All the possible tricks and tips are mentioned below in detail:

# 1: Delete All Junk Emails

The junk folder contains promotional and unwanted emails, so deleting them can easily speed up Thunderbird performance. Here are all the steps:

  1. Start the Thunderbird application.
  2. Find the “Spam folder” under other folders.
  3. Right-click on it and choose the “Empty Junk” option.
  4. A confirmation message will appear.
  5. Choose the “Yes” button to delete them.

# 2: Remove All Deleted Emails from Bin/Trash Folder

It happens when we think that we have deleted emails to speed up Thunderbird performance, but we didn’t remove them from the Bin or Trash folder. After normal deletion, your emails move to the Trash folder for the next 30 days, and after 30 days, they will be removed permanently.

  1. Restart your Thunderbird.
  2. Select the “Empty Trash” button.
  3. Again, a warning message will pop up.
  4. Choose the “Yes” icon.
  5. And your “Trash/Bin” folder vanished permanently.

# 3: Speed Up Thunderbird with Troubleshoot Mode

  1. Open your Thunderbird account.
  2. Head to the “Menu” >> “Help”
  3. Select the “Troubleshoot Mode…” option.
  4. Hit the “Restart” icon to start Thunderbird in Troubleshoot mode.
  5. Select the needed option: “Disable All Add-Ons” or “Reset Toolbars and Controls”.
  6. And click on the “Continue in Troubleshoot Mode” option.
  7. After your work is done, choose the “Turn Troubleshoot Mode Off” option.

# 4: Try to Compact All Folders of Thunderbird

  1. Click on the “File” tab in Thunderbird.
  2. Select the “Compact Folders” option.
  3. Wait for some time to compress all your folders.
  4. And your compression process was done successfully.

# 5: Speed Up Thunderbird by Setting Up Automatic Compacting

  1. Click on the “Tools” tab in Thunderbird.
  2. Select the “Account Settings” option.
  3. Find and choose the “Disk Space” icon.
  4. And set up your Thunderbird for automatic deletion according to your requirements.

# 6: Try to Recreate MSF File

  1. Firstly, close your Thunderbird properly.
  2. And head to the Thunderbird profile location.
  3. Find your MSF file and delete it.
  4. Now, restart your Thunderbird.
  5. And, your process is done, now you can open MSF file.

# 7: Try to Uninstall the Antivirus

As we said, some Antivirus software makes Thunderbird slow. So, deleting them for a certain time of period will be a better option. Here are the steps to speed up Thunderbird performance:

  1. Open your Control Panel”.
  2. Select the “Uninstall a Program” option to continue the process.
  3. Find and select your antivirus software and right-click on it.
  4. Click on the “Uninstall” and hit the “Yes” button.
  5. And your Antivirus successfully uninstalled.

#8: Update Your Thunderbird Profile

  1. Again, head to the “Help” button.
  2. Choose the “About Thunderbird” option.
  3. Verify whether your Thunderbird is updated or not.
  4. Select the “Release Notes” for more information.
  5. And finally, upgrade the Thunderbird version.

#9: Safest and Expert’s Choice to Speed Up Thunderbird

As we all know that Thunderbird stores email data in the MBOX format (without a file extension), and if your mailbox contains important emails and data that you don’t want to delete, but still want to speed up Thunderbird performance without removing any information.

Then data file compressor is the only way to do it. And for this, you have to take the help of a professional solution like RecoveryTools MBOX Compressor Tool. This software allows you to compress multiple MBOX files in bulk at the same time without any limitations. Also, it provides multiple advanced filters for better MBOX file compression:

speed up Thunderbird

  • Remove Attachments: You can remove attachments from the uploaded Thunderbird data file for better management and storage space.
  • Remove Email Headers: If you don’t find your email headers important, then you can also remove them by checking this filter.
  • Detach Attachments: This option helps users to extract attachments from the uploaded file into a separate folder.

#10: Migrate Your Old Data to Another Format / Platform

If you have a large mailbox that contains your crucial Thunderbird profile data, and you find the compression method will not work for you, then RecoveryTools Thunderbird Migrator Tool is the best and safest solution to move your data into a standard format or any platform to speed up Thunderbird performance.

This method will help you convert emails and other data into 35+ different file formats and email services, including PDF, PST, MBOX, MSG, EML, EMLX, OLM, Gmail, G Suite, Outlook.com, Office 365, Yahoo Mail, Zoho Mail, Zimbra, etc.

Not only this, but it gives you multiple advanced and different filters to backup of Thunderbird profile data selectively.

speed up Thunderbird

For better information about features and filters, go and check out the official page of this solution or download the tool.

What’s the Final Comment?

Here I have described almost every possible method and information to speed up Thunderbird performance without losing your important data. We have mentioned almost 11 techniques to reduce your issues for better work. Read all the information first, and then choose any method.

For more queries about expert and professional solutions, you can contact us through chat support.