Well pretty much as the title says, i have searched online but have really only found examples to move between ubuntu distros and the steps do not seem to be taking on my arch (esque) machine.

I tried copying the ~/.evolution folder over and even exporting the settings, but for some reason I cannot get all the original folders to appear.

My new machine is running Xfce if that is of any assitsance.

I am guessing I am missing a simple step somewhere along the way so happy to be told I missed it (as long as you tell me what 'it' is )

I don't know how Evolution works, but suggestion that used to work with Firefox: try creating an account in Evolution first, and then copy your original files into the created .evolution folders.

Yeah I did think of that one, however, not sure if it is a change in versions but no .evolution folder was created by default when creating the initial account

After a couple of misadventures with Evolution I gave up on it completely. In a similar situation I was able to recover all mail using claws, even though Evolution refused to see it's own folders. On one occasion I got it to see the folders, but not the mail.
Gave up in disgust, and have stuck with claws ever since.

Personally I am not adverse to change, however, the machine is my mother's and hence familiarity is the key here

And you're moving her to Arch .... ? ....

One of my "misadventures" was with the better-halfs machine. I gave her the option - loose all your mail, or get used to a new client.
No contest.

Later: just as a matter of interest I recently moved that machine to Mint+Cinnamon (from Ubuntu). She likes it - maybe look at that for your mum.

Well it is actually Manjaro (hence Arhc-esque) and the environment is quite simple and allowed me to make it look similar to what she had I don't have to worry about becoming unsupported,
as per her current Ubuntu install (10.04 I think). She is not adverse to Thunderbird.

Is Claws good from a point and click point of view? (sorry I have not tried it myself)
Am I able to retrieve the current emails from evolution into Claws?

the main issue for them is they have tax correspondence and other such emails that they can ill afford to lose. So I guess from my perspective I just need a process to capture all the old emails and then
have the new client be simple to use

Yes - has some idiosyncracies though - especially if they get attachments from friends with Windoze. Might take a little hand-holding - T'bird might be a better option if they are happy to accept that.See above.