Does Mozilla Thunderbird create a backup copy on my pc ...

No. Creating backups is your responsibility.

of all emails from a web based email system?

Thunderbird has got nothing to do with webmail. In case your account is IMAP, you'll need to turn on 'Synchronization', so that Thunderbird downloads an offline copy of your messages, which then can be backed up locally. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/imap-synchronization

Do I need any special software to open the files in the backup pathway?

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-tb#w_backing-up-a-profile

I followed your links and got to the Thunderbird pathway on my pc where my e-mails from the web server reside. I opened one of the folders with Thunderbird and that brought up a new message box with that folder as an attachment. I sent that message to myself and when I opened the message I got a bunch of mumbo jumbo like header information, etc. That looks nothing like what I see on my e-mail web server. How can I view what's on my pc the same way I see it when I'm logged into my online e-mail account?

Lets start at the beginning.

Thunderbird stores mail in mbox files. These are huge files (or can be) that contains an EML representation of all the mail and attachments stored in a folder. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox

Can you just open and read it? As you have observed already. NO you can not. Just as you can not open an outlook PST file and just read the mails it contains.

Thunderbird stores local copies of mail, but in the case of IMAP they are synchronized to the server and can be considered no more a backup that your internet browser cache or the temp folder are. Mail in POP accounts is not linked to the server and is therefore not volatile

In the case of POP or IMAP these MBOX files are meant to be loaded into Thunderbird from it's profile. Not double clicked like a word document that then open word.

If you want to create such files I suggest you use the import export tools add-on to export mail from Thunderbird into EML files. but be aware, having 100,000 EML files to look through is going to be tedious. (no previews) That is why programs like Thunderbird exist.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/

I followed your instructions from the immediately preceding post and the process worked like a charm, although it is a bit tedious. But it gives me the results I'm looking for. Windows Live Mail 2012, which I was using until yesterday 1/10/17 when support for it ended from Microsoft, is more user friendly, at least for the backup function. I'll accept this process as a viable workaround. Many thanks for your help.

you simply apply your personal definition to backup.

The import export tools offers profile backup. Real backup, not some sort of export of files you can double click and are a mess to try and wrangle.

I tried the profile backup but that didn't give me the results I was looking for. I go to where the profile has been exported to, pick a folder to view and end up with that folder as an attachment in an e-mail. I try to open the attachment with Thunderbird and all it does is generate another e-mail message with that selected folder attached.

What's the big problem with using an email client to read email messages?

You use your word processor to read word processor documents, you use your spreadsheet program to work with spreadsheet documents. What is so different about email?

Zenos, it all has to do with backup. If you follow the previous threads, you'll see what I mean. I want a fail safe mechanism to fall back on in case I accidentally delete e-mails I need.

billnicky said

Zenos, it all has to do with backup. If you follow the previous threads, you'll see what I mean. I want a fail safe mechanism to fall back on in case I accidentally delete e-mails I need.

Well I have been following, and I for one do not understand. You do not want a backup. You want files you can open like word processing documents. That is not a backup.

Having your original data that can be restored, that is a backup. What you have can not be restored without an import process, just as it can not be created without an export process.

No you save all your word processing files as text documents for backup? Your spreadsheets as CSV files? That is why I and probably Zenos as well simply do not understand. Demanding eml (text) files is the equivalent.

However it makes no never mind, except you think backup is a pain and will tell other that and you are wrong.

If you do want to backup your email then you should consider backing up your profile.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data

The ImportExportTools add-on mentioned previously is one way of creating these backup copies - but I mean for you to use its backup facility, not its more obvious import/export traits.

Hey Matt, don't get so bent out of shape. You can call backup what you want and I'll call backup what I want. The fact of the matter is I now have the tools I need to get the results I want. Be that as it may. I appreciate the help that you and others have given me.

You might like MailStore Home. It is a free program.

"MailStore Home lets you archive your private email from almost any email source and search through them extremely quickly. You will never lose emails again."

It is also great for exporting and importing e-mails from one e-mail program to another.