Migrating from Windows Live Mail 11

[JLSchutt]

I have used Windows Live Mail and its Microsoft predecessors for many years. Although it still fulfills my email needs, I have been nervous for some time that one of these days it will no longer work when some new version of Windows arrives. I am currently running WLM on Windows 10 Fall Creators Update - the latest - and it still works. I'm even using WLM 11, because the newer WLM 12 does not handle groups of addresses (categories) correctly. In reading numerous reviews for a potential email client replacement, Thunderbird is always near the top of the list. Before I even consider migrating, I need to have confidence that Thunderbird will meet my needs. I'm sure I will have no problem importing contacts - that's usually quite straightforward. Of concern is preserving thousands of messages in storage folders that I've saved for more than 20 years. There are about 25 storage folders. Only three of these have subordinate folders, and I could probably move the subordinate folders up the the main storage folder level if that would make things easier.

Question 1: Can Thunderbird import the storage folders and keep the messages in comparable folders?

Question 2: If the answer to Question 1 is Yes, can I install Thunderbird and go through a migration process while still retaining Windows Live Mail as my active email client until I am sure the migration is successful?

Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

--Jim--

[DanRaisch]

See these links:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/sw ... hunderbird
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... #p14484947

Note that Thunderbird does not delete the source data when importing so the import process can be tried more than once.