How can I import emails recovered in Email Recovery for Thunderbird back into Thunderbird?

This article describes the mechanism of importing eml files, resulting from the restoration of emails in Email Recovery for Thunderbird, into Thunderbird.

Such email recovery software as Email Recovery for Thunderbird uses the eml format, the standard that is compatible with most mail clients, to save recovered messages. But with the built-in Mozilla Import Wizard, it's impossible to import eml files which are separately stored on the hard disk into Thunderbird (the Wizard only supports importing directly from the mail client). Here the eml format is nicely handled in Thunderbird, and the retention of messages in eml is supported. Our goal is to deal with methods of Thunderbird eml import.

The Drag and Drop Method of Thunderbird Eml Import

Suppose that you have restored emails with the email recovery software Email Recovery for Thunderbird and you now have several eml files. The easiest Thunderbird import method for recovered emails stored on disk is drag and drop transfer. You only need to drag the eml file from the Windows Explorer folder to the appropriate directory in the Thunderbird window, just like when copying files in Windows. For convenience, you can create a temporary folder in Thunderbird, import the eml files into it, and after that, sort out the messages to the right directories.

Note that older versions of Thunderbird do not support drag and drop, so if importing eml files by dragging and dropping didn't work, it means that your PC is using an outdated version of the mail client. In this case, the problem of Thunderbird email import can be solved with the method described below.

Thunderbird Eml Import with the ImportExportTools Plug-in

According to experienced Thunderbird users, the ImportExportTools add-on is the most convenient tool for mass import of email messages into Thunderbird, as well as their export, thanks to support for the most popular formats (.eml, .html, .txt, mbox).

Go to the ImportExportTools web page (http://nic-nac-project.de/~kaosmos/mboximport-en.html) and save the plug-in to the hard disk (the .xpi file).
Launch Thunderbird and install the add-on. Restart Thunderbird; in the Tools menu, you should see a new item - ImportExportTools.
In the email folders management panel (by default the left panel of Thunderbird) select the directory into which email messages will be imported. As in the case of the drag and drop method of Thunderbird import, only user directories are suitable.
Go (via the main menu or the context menu of the folder) to ImportExportTools:
- For Thunderbird import of only one eml file, choose the submenu "Import eml file."
- For Thunderbird import of a few eml files, choose "Import all eml files from directory" and "just from the directory" to transfer messages only from the specified directory, or choose "also from its subdirectories" for Thunderbird eml import from the specified directory and all its subdirectories.