"I don't know how much of this is applicable directly to Netscape, but I would expect similar structures and similar procedures there."

John,

Thanks for a wonderfully lucid account of how all this stuff works in Outlook Express etc. As others have said, Netscape tends to store config data in javascript (.js) files and email in Unix mbox format which a separate index file (as does Eudora). It's internal address book format is a closed book to me...

Chris