Like this? http://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/windows-contacts.html

diverdoc said

I just upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7. I have retrieved by Address Book or Contact List. How do, or can, I attach it to Thunderbird Address Book?

All well and good. However, where will I find "Tools|Options" , in order to get to the " Config Editor"? TB

It is on the menu bar. If your menu bar is not showing press the alt key.

Excellent. I did not know about the ALT key bringing that up. Now, I have successfully added those 3 lines to the CONFIG editor. So, how do I add my windows contact list to the Thunderbird Address Book? Thanks for everyone's help so far. TB

restart Thunderbird.

Matt, like they say on talk radio, "Thank you for taking my call." Sorry: I do not understand this answer. I too have gone from Vista to Windows Seven. Somehow I succeeded in reinstalling Thunderbird. But the Contact List did not show up. I spent a half-hour on chat with a helper from Carbonite. This person restored my Carbonite "profile" to my desk top, but declined to go further.

When, after the restore, I found all those messages back in my system, I spent an hour deleting hundreds and hundreds of junk mails. I do not want to bring them back by restoring a whole profile. But........What does a "profile" consist of? Seriously. How do I recognize the contact list? Drag from what.... and drop to what? Sorry to bring a third grade mentality to this. Your help is greatly appreciated. Mike Plaskett Pittsburgh PA

diverdoc said

diverdoc said

I just upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7. I have retrieved by Address Book or Contact List. How do, or can, I attach it to Thunderbird Address Book?

Matt said

restart Thunderbird.

Looks like something odd happened there, makes no sense to me either.

Lets try again. See here I discuss incorporating your Windows address book into Thunderbird. Just a couple of settings in the Config Editor unfortunately I really do not think that is the question your asking, just the question you asked. You want to import the Thunderbird contacts back into a Thunderbird profile. A very different thing.

But........What does a "profile" consist of?

All your settings, preferences, add-ons, mail and RSS feeds. Basically everything that makes Thunderbird "yours". This article is a good explanation of the files in a profile, if a little dated. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Files_and_folders_in_the_profile_-_Thunderbird

If you have allowed the windows search access to your mail, it is creating  duplicated messages, in the Thousands usually, in files with a mozmsg extension.  This is not your mail.  Just files so windows search can work.  It amounted to 8 Gb of space on my system.  Kicked it to the curb quite smartly.

How do I recognize the contact list?

Files in the profile with an MAB extension. abook is the personal address book. history is collected addresses and other books are just show as abook-[#] where # is a number. To import then you will need an add-on. https://freeshell.de//~kaosmos/morecols-en.html

To install add-ons you probably need instructions. http://chrisramsden.vfast.co.uk/3_How_to_install_Add-ons_in_Thunderbird.html