In an earler comment I asked if you could Enable the following so you can see size: 'View' > 'Layout' > select 'Folder Pane Columns' Then enable the 'Size' column in Folder pane. See image below as guide.

Then post image of Folder pane so I see the sizes.

re : E:\Data\Thunderbird\844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net folder

You say you have an older backup of 844wiobk.default profile name folder? If yes, please leave it where it currently is located and provide some images of contents of:

• Mail\mail.cerrillos.net folder
• Mail\Local Folders
• and also any folders inside those folders.

'Clubs, Groups, and Magazines' folder is empty - clip enclosed

ok, deleted & then recreated GEARs & its subfolder Rides in Biking folder - clip enclosed

Win10 folder view settings not sticky. I enabled & set as default in the root Data directory, yet as I navigate down the directory tree this is not always followed. Don't know what you want a snapshot of..

re : E:\Data\Thunderbird\844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net folder backup

Inbox is 1.94GB, extensively nested subfolders, seems like what I had. Can't follow & clip them all, here is a sampling

Note E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.mozmsgs – these go back to 2011 – I think this is it.

This is my last message until tonight. I have to leave for a bit

One last thought... If we do want to rename exist files we're using (as backups) & copy & rename backup files & attempt to use them, should I recreate the entire folder structure in my Local Folders directory before Import? Or just the root directory of each category?

In Thunderbird In the 'Local Folders' mail account.

• Right click on 'Clubs,Groups, and Magazines' folder
• select 'ImportExportTools' > 'Import mbox file'
• Select 'Import directly one or more mbox files'
• click on 'OK'

Locate backup ~844wiobk.default profile: E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd\Clubs,Groups, and Magazines.sbd folder You need to import these mbox no extension files.

• Alternative Radio
• BEST
• City club
• DaVinci Days
• Ham Radio
• InMotion
• LAB
• LiveMove
• PopularScience
• Scientific American
• SRTSea0ee233
• Washington Post

The wdseml files were created so that Windows Search could search contents of Inbox. We can see what you have in this mozmsg folder.

Exit Thunderbird. Access: E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net

Copy the 'Inbox.mozmsg' folder to your desktop. This folder contains files with extension .wdseml. For each file, you need to change the .wdseml extension to .eml.

Start Thunderbird Assuming you want to import into the cerrillos mail account:

• right click on mail account name and select 'New folder'
• Create a new folder and call it 'OldInbox'
• Right click on 'OldInbox' folder
• select: 'ImportExportTools' > 'importMessages'
• Select and open the 'Inbox.mozmsg' folder on desktop.
• Select the *.eml files.
• click on 'Open'.

In Thunderbird In the 'Local Folders' mail account.

• Right click on 'Inbox' folder
• select 'ImportExportTools' > 'Import mbox file'
• Select 'Import directly one or more mbox files'
• click on 'OK'

Locate backup ~844wiobk.default profile: E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd You need to import these mbox no extension files.

• 01-Duncan
• Biking - this one can overwrite the current empty one
• Computers
• IEEE & TAPPI - this one can overwrite the current empty one
• Personal

In Thunderbird In the 'Local Folders' mail account.

• Right click on 'Biking' folder
• select 'ImportExportTools' > 'Import mbox file'
• Select 'Import directly one or more mbox files'
• click on 'OK'

Locate backup ~844wiobk.default profile: E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd\Biking.sbd folder You need to import these mbox no extension files.

• 1new gear
• E-Bikes
• GEARs - this one can be allowed to overwrite the current empty one
• LiveMove

What is in these folders ?

• E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd\Biking.sbd\E-Bikes.sbd folder
• E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd\Biking.sbd\GEARs.sbd folder
• E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd\Computers.sbd folder
• E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd\Government.sbd folder
• E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd\IEEE & TAPPI.sbd folder
• E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd\Personal.sbd folder

If there are mbox files: In the 'Local Folders' mail account. Use the following method to import mbox files into various folders. Obviously selecting the correct folder each time as appropriate. eg:

• Right click on 'E-Bikes' folder
• select 'ImportExportTools' > 'Import mbox file'
• Select 'Import directly one or more mbox files'
• click on 'OK'
• Locate E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd\Biking.sbd\E-Bikes.sbd folder
• Select all the no extension mbox files in that folder and click on Open.

ok, taking these in reverse order... clips of 844wiobk.default

I decided to use: E:\Data\TBird BU\Thunderbird\844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd - 844wiobk.default dated 2/12/18 2:51 pm since it has the most detailed file structure

Should I recreate these folders in all details in Local Folders, or just the top levels???

I won't import anything until we decide this.

re: The wdseml files were created so that Windows Search could search contents of Inbox. We can see what you have in this mozmsg folder.

Accessed: E:\Data\TBird BU\Thunderbird\844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\ Inbox.mozmsgs Copied the 'Inbox.mozmsg' folder to desktop. This folder contains files with extension .wdseml. For each file, you need to change the .wdseml extension to .eml. Found 154 of these files. Changing the extensions to .eml This could take a while...

Imported all my old inbox emails into OldInbox... seemed to work fine!

Still awaiting your answer on whether I should or should not recreate the entire nested directory structure into Local Folders. I have created all the subfolders, but I can delete if needed.

BTW, is there any good summary of TBird file structure & the meaning of the different file types? I can't find anything...

created complete file structure (although many subdirectories appear partially duplicated) - see clip

Imported per "Right click on 'E-Bikes' folder

   select 'ImportExportTools' > 'Import mbox file'
   Select 'Import directly one or more mbox files'
   click on 'OK'

Used E:\Data\TBird BU\Thunderbird\844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd 'Inbox' "

Never got any files imported, tool just kept drilling down.

I also tried importing all files from a directory using same directory, which has 3 mozmsgs subdirectories - messages in all. Nothing was imported.

Shall I just give up on recovering any of my old email?

re: Imported per "Right click on 'E-Bikes' folder' select 'ImportExportTools' > 'Import mbox file' Select 'Import directly one or more mbox files' click on 'OK' All of the above is fine. But then you go and look in the wrong place.............. 'Used E:\Data\TBird BU\Thunderbird\844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd 'Inbox' "

You really need to read instructions and follow them. I did not tell you to look somewhere where there are no files. You have just told me all about the ~844wiobk.default folder showing me all the mbox files, so you need to import them.

Try again.

eg:

• Right click on 'E-Bikes' folder
• select 'ImportExportTools' > 'Import mbox file'
• Select 'Import directly one or more mbox files'
• click on 'OK'
• Locate E:\Data\Thunderbird\~844wiobk.default\Mail\mail.cerrillos.net\Inbox.sbd\Biking.sbd\E-Bikes.sbd folder
• Select all the no extension mbox files in that folder and click on Open

RE: Imported all my old inbox emails into OldInbox... seemed to work fine! That is good news.

The first image shows a load of imported folders, but it does not show the top section, so I cannot see which account and top level folder they are imported into. Nor does it show 'Size' of folder, so I have no idea whether emails have been imported.

Twice I've asked you to enable the 'Folder Pane columns' and select the 'Size' column. I notice you have still not enabled the Size column in the Folder Pane. So I still have no idea whether your folders in Folder Pane contain any emails.

Performing the importexporttools method as previously explained from the ~844wiobk.default profile name folder (that is the one with the ~ ) would import the emails back into specific folders.

Then, after importing emails..... Please enable the 'Folder Pane columns' and select the 'Size' column. Please make sure to show all of the Folder Pane, so the forum can see which folders contain which subfolders and the size of each folder. You may need to post a couple of images to cover all of the Folder pane.

You are getting very close to having one profile name folder correctly configured with all folders and emails.

You are right! I was using the wrong target file. Import of E-Bikes folder worked. One issue I had was that I was not selecting all (or any) the files in the directory...

Re the file size not being shown, this is a Win10 'feature'. Default is it will only remember 5000 folders. I increased to 10k... evidently not enough. After scouting around, I think I can turn it off altogether.

First task is to import all my mail folders... looking good! I will report when complete. Thank you!

I imported E-Bikes & its subdirectories.. got some 'invalid' messages, but seems like I got everything, some in bogus folders that I moved to correct folders & deleted empty bogus folders..

Another issue is that I have a bunch of *.mozmsgs folders filled with files with *.wdseml files. Import messages cmd just shows empty directory. After renaming OldInbox *.wdseml files to *.eml I was able to import them all successfully. The single attached directory clip has 140 of them. I have LOTS of these directories with messages. Why can't TBird import them? Did Win10 rename the extensions when it moved them? I tried a batch rename cmd from the command prompt but haven't gotten it to work yet. Haven't figured out why.

Any ideas?

Importing files...

The message filter automatically sucked some files into last year's IEEE Conference folder. This is certainly how that filter worked last year, but now I want them in this years conference folder.

I went into the message filter & I have no filters enabled....

How do I fix this?

Guess I Should have used this window...

I posted a couple of messages that didn't request you to look at them..

Please check them out...

Thanks for all your help & patience! I figured out a batch file to convert the wdseml files to eml files, and am now converting & importing all my messages..

This has certainly been a struggle. Thanks again!