I can't comment directly on Netscape, since it's been about 20 years since I've used it, but in OE the import/export functions for email messages and message folders work only between "existing accounts." The assumption appears to be that you always export from an "existing account" on one machine to an "existing account" on another machine (or another user on the same machine). There is no way, or at least no simple way, to "export" to a backup.

You get a "backup" of email messages by "copying and pasting" the entire email folder somewhere. As long as you take the entire email folder, OE thinks it's a valid account and will import stuff back from it into your working email.

People seem to want to back up individual folders from email, and often have difficulty getting them back into their email program. The problem is that the subfolders are "incomplete" and your email program may not recognize them as email. You can sometimes get by with copy and paste of a single mail sub-folder (like the Inbox, maybe) into OE's or Outlook's email folder, IF you create a folder in your email program with the identical name of the one you're copying before you do the paste. This isn't a "documented" method, but usually(?) works (YMMV). The problem is that the "email" folder contains the "index" to the messages that are in the subfolders within it, and each subfolder is just one database record regardless of how many individual messages it contains. If you accidentally corrupt the connection between the index (in \email) and the file (e.g. \inbox) it contains, you lose the records (individual messages) or the "folder" isn't recognized and can't be imported. If you create the folder first in your email program, an "index" exists there, even if it's empty; and the program can usually scan the copied data you add to the folder and reconstruct what's in it by "reindexing" the added messages, just as it would for incoming mail or for files you move from one folder to another within the program.

Windows, as long as you're using Microsoft Programs, DOES NOT HAVE a separate email address book, as such. You have a "Windows Address Book" (with file extension .wab) that is accessible to any Windows program. Individual programs vary in what they can/will retrieve from the addy book, but Word, as an example, can retrieve an address to put in a memo or letter heading, or can make you a mailing label. It all comes from the same .wab book. You can have as many separate address books as you want, simply by creating new ones with different names, but they all work the same. You would use import/export to move indiviual addresses between address books.

You usually save an address book for backup purposes by exporting it, and in this case - unlike with email messages - you can "export" to a backup location. If you "open" the address book itself, you can only export from there as the .wab file. If you export from the File button in OE, and I assume from Outlook, you can choose to export as .wab, rtf, comma separated text (csv), etc. In either case, you can get the whole address book, which can include email addresses, snail mail addy's, phone numbers, nicknames, family info for suckups, etc. When you choose to export an address book in one of the "coversion" formats, you can choose which fields to include in the export file, so if you want to strip the extra goodies, you can use text or csv format to pick and choose.

The key is that an address book is a simple database. The "\email" folder is a database, and individual folders and messages within it are just records in the database and should not be separated from the top folder. Most of us don't work often with files in DB formats, so it can be confusing.

As indicated, I don't know how much of this is applicable directly to Netscape, but I would expect similar structures and similar procedures there. I'll leave it to those who have Netscape to play with to figure out whether any of the above makes sense. If it doesn't, just ignore.

John