Hello,
I think that I may have asked a similar question some time ago but I can't find it. Please forgive my failing memory if I'm repeating myself, again.
I needed to re-install my Mint 7 OS and I backed up most of the HDD to my Zenwalk PC.
Zenwalk automatically transferred my Thunderbird settings to the unused application so everything worked well. I re-installed Mint and then installed the backed up home file etc. I have the address books and mail in the system But I'm not sure where to put them and in what form in order to get them into the new Thunderbird.
Any kind advice would be much appreciated

Everything to do with Thunerbird is kept in one directory. It'll either be ~/.thunderbird or ~/.mozillathunderbird - it varies by distro. All you need to do is make sure you have a copy of that directory somewhere and put it back in your new home directory.

Thanks Ariz,
I was aware of that but as the Thunderbird file was in the new home directory I assumed that it must be elsewhere too in order to work. I re-installed the lot and now it works OK.
Thanks again for your input.