start your thunderbird and from add-ons youb select the tool-icon and select import from file and point it to the place ImportExportTools.xpi is

Thank you for your prompt response. I'm new to Thunderbird, so here's how I interpreted your answer:

When I click on"tools" and "add on", it brings up a tab titled "Add ons Manager" (see screenshot "tpss1" attached). I clicked on the gear-like icon on the upper right hand side of the page and chose "install add on from file". I pointed to the file titled "importexporttools-3.1-tb+sm.xpi" in my downloads folder and clicked "open". This brings up another screen. (See screenshot 'tpss2" attached). Taking a deep breath (and hoping this isn't malware), I clicked on "install now". After that, nothing seems to happen. When I go to the "tools" and "import" menu in Thunderbird, my only options for importing mail are still Eudora, Outlook and Outlook Express. Once I have gone through the steps above, how do I import .eml files from Windows Live Mail?

You should have a new tab under tools at the bottom that said "import/export -tools" You might look at add-ons / add-ons to see if importexporttools is installed and activated. The setup choise there is probably all right as it is.

By the way did you restart Tbird after you installed? see green text on your first pic.

Thanks again for your help! I did find the importexport tools under the add-on menu and used it to import 1 email from my WLM storage folders. Now, I just have to do the 40,000 others I have there!

you know you can import ALL .eml-files that are in the same folder and subfolders at once. look at the options, good luck!

Yes, I was just trying it out with that first email. But, actually, I don't see a way to import a folder, only "all messages from a directory" or "directory plus subdirectories". (See screenshot attached.) I'm not sure what the difference is between "folder" and "directory".

Here's my burning question. I'm using an IMAP server and if I put my 40,000+ old emails onto their server, they won't tolerate it for long (it's +/- 9.4 GB of data). WLM had storage folders in which these emails were stored which were not on my ISP's server. Does Thunderbird have something similar?

Yes you can always make local folders. Or you can use exportfunction and store them outside Tbirds profile-directory I don't know how WLM store email, but if they are stored as separate .eml-files in directories, you can import all at once. Make a local folder mark it, right-click and use import/export-tools to import from a WML directory. (or folder)

Thanks for the tips! Will give it a whirl and see!

This worked like a charm! Thanks for your help!

HI, Windows Live Mail and Thunderbird support different email format to save emails so Windows Live Mail to Thunderbird conversion is not easy and you have to go with solution - http://www.emltombox.org/

Firstly I had also try the Import Export tool wizard but I did not found exact result. after using the solution I got complete result. You can try it.