How to Backup and Restore Thunderbird Remote Images Whitelist (Clean Install)

Every time I do a clean installation of Thunderbird, I have to manually reconfigure the whitelist for loading remote images from trusted senders. This guide shows a quick and clean way to backup and restore that setting without carrying over unnecessary profile data.

Note: This method is specific to Fedora Linux (and other Linux distributions using the same folder structure). It does not apply to Windows or macOS.

Backup (on your current Thunderbird)

Close Thunderbird completely.

Open a terminal and run:

cp ~/.thunderbird/*.default-esr/permissions.sqlite ~/permissions.sqlite

The file permissions.sqlite will be saved in your Home folder. Copy it to a safe place (USB drive, external disk, etc.).

Restore (on a new Thunderbird installation)

1. Install Thunderbird and open it once (it will create the new profile).
2. Close Thunderbird.
3. Open your file manager and go to your Home folder.
4. Press Ctrl + H to show hidden files.
5. Enter the folder .thunderbird.
6. Open the folder that ends with .default-esr.
7. Rename the existing permissions.sqlite file to permissions-old.sqlite (just in case).
8. Copy your backup file permissions.sqlite into this folder (replace when asked).
9. Open Thunderbird again.

Your remote images whitelist will be restored.