Backup the Thunderbird profile. That's all you need. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile

The other options is to use the ImportExportTools add-on. It gives you choices for the file format to export in. Christ1 suggestion to backup the profiles is a good one that everyone should do on a regular basis. You would need to load it back into Thunderbird to read the messages. The add-on lists being able to schedule a profile backup that might be handy also.

Thank you Airmail, I did not understand the profile business as a direct contribution, but in light of your comment I see how it supports what we should be doing. I will check out the ImportExport Tools add-on and see if it fits my kludgey set up.

So, if I understood you correctly, I use the add-on suggested and put them on the thumb drives or similar media and reload them to Thunderbird to access the messages.

I was in IT from 1967 to 2004, but 13 years on, I am tired of techie things and wanted to just coast, and with the half life of information being 5 years or less, I am out in the deep woods now. Thanks for the feedback, I will give your suggestion a try.

I have a terribly long story of how long it took me to "get" MS windows, I stayed on the black & white typed screen for 3 years after its debut cause my depth perception issues kept me away. One day I had to do a slide show for some a software simulation I had designed and had to learn to use windows and the slide show software over a lunch hour and put the preso together. I did it, and I was okay after that, but sometimes that first hurdle was an issue for me, which is why I was glad to leave the tech world behind.

I have not used the add on but it is highly recommended. I am also coasting in the IT after life and really do not care if I lose any emails. There are pretty good details on the add on page of what it does and how to use it.

If you just backup the profile, then yes you need to reload into Thunderbird to read. The add on exports to plain text as well as other usable file types where Thunderbird is not needed.

A profile backup gets all Thunderbird info. Server settings, address books, messages etc.

Christ1, thanks for your suggestion; I did not get the relevance, but once Airmail made their input, it rang an ancient bell and I think now I get what you are saying and why. Am still stuck with the techie responsibility here, but am not qualified any longer. Being the design lead for a software or systems development effort and the algorithm guy is one thing, but the nuts and bolts stuff always has been a reach for me. And while I still use Control C, etc. (my fingers are faster on the key board than with a mouse), I am not, nor ever was a true techie. My programmers used to laugh at what I did not know, but when the software did not work, I always could tell them where to find the bugs. Don't ask, it was witchcraft and it worked all the time. Thanks, for your help, Jay

I don't know of any way to discuss these matters without it becoming techie in nature. So, apologies in advance.

The main value of the ImportExportTools addon is that it can export messages to various file formats (html, pdf, plain text) that can be read independently, that is, not in your email client. The add-on doesn't offer any easy way to feed these exported messages back into Thunderbird, and I think that is quite a significant drawback. You lose the interconnections (message threading etc) that make email so useful.

One of the export format options is eml file format, and these files do need an email client to open them, but again, you have lost all the context and structure. The value of eml format is that the messages are saved verbatim, attachments and all. If they were encoded (e.g. Base-64, url encoded etc) or encrypted then they are near impossible to search.

Making backups of your profile (as opposed to exporting your messages) is the best way to protect your email store in a way that can be used to restore Thunderbird in the event of a crisis. But making a copy of your profile doesn't make the content of the messages accessible. You can use the ImportExportTools addon to do this, or just do a regular file copy, or just add the Thunderbird profile location to your regular backup scheme.

So you need to ask yourself if you want a backup to act purely as a damage recovery tool, or, alternatively, to act as an external archive of messages divorced from their email origin, and so with the option of being readable outside the email client.

Thank you too Zenos, after you hit the dummy 3 times the attic begins to clear; actually what my wife wants to do is keep the files so they can be read offline to remind her what was going on with that correspondent; when saved as a text file I would presume enough of the sender's ID would be included for that end, but I do know about presume & assume, they are both based on facts not in evidence and I am not a believer in anything else, but I am closing in on the answer. And your techie talk was just right for me, I did follow your drift. When I am of clearer mind tomorrow (none of this sabbatical rest stuff for the retired, never been so busy in my life to include the 80 hour weeks with only 40 billable), I will go to the import export thing and check my options. PDF sounds good, but for my wife I will do text, thanks a bunch, my buddy, Posiedon & I, really do like your response. I truly have a direction now. Jay