Comment 3 for bug 1710515

OK so you could use duplicity directly. But first, let's try using deja dup again. Deja dup doesn't have a mode that lets you restore just some files to a new location. But it does have a mode that lets you restore just some files to the original location.

So try this. Move your thunderbird directory out of he way (mv .thunderbird .thunderbird.bak -- or some such). Then use Files to restore missing files in your Home folder (or just call deja-dup --restore ~/.thunderbird). That should let you restore just a few files without dealing with whatever permission issue is there with your thunderbird dir.