

I still had no idea it was 64bit when I installed it.

Since Mozzilla never advertised the 64bit when I reformatted my PC and downloaded the latest Thunderbird, it was Version 68. Folder switching seems a lot faster and folders display emails more quickly to before. I don't have scientific proof but it seems to me that the 64-bit version of Thunderbird is more responsive than the 32-bit one on my system with a good number of emails in the database (120k). Go back to the 32-bit version if you notice any issues afterward. Thunderbird should start up normally and you can check that you are running the 64-bit version now by selecting Help > About Thunderbird. Note though that both installations will use the same user data. You could select custom installation at one point to install it to a different directory than the 32-bit version so that you could go back to the 32-bit version without installing it anew. The installer does not reveal to you that you are installing the 64-bit version of Thunderbird. Click on the download link to download the 64-bit version of Thunderbird to the local system.Select the most recent version, then win64, and then the locale to open the download folder. Head over to the official Mozilla FTP site and download the 64-bit version of Thunderbird for your locale from there.You can also use MailStore Home to backup all mails locally. Since you are installing a version that is not supported officially, you may want to back up the Thunderbird data folder or even the entire system partition before you start the process.
