.msf files are index files, and do not contain any messages. The actual mail files are the ones without a file extension.

I'm not aware of any Live Chat support for Thunderbird. In any case, this is the official Thunderbird support forum, so you can ask for help here.

Yes, I was aware about the .msf files, but I'm wondering where all the folders I saved on Thunderbird went.

So Mozilla offers no Live Chat, no phone number at all? That is just TERRIFIC costumer support... guess I'll be stuck waiting here a couple hours for the next reply.

It is free software. You are expecting quite a bit for a staffed help desk. You are not stuck. Microsoft will take your money and they play music while you wait in queue for your answer.

Rubbish Mozilla made $311 million in 2012, they aren't doing this out of the goodness of their heart -what I think is unreasonable (even downright incompetent) is that a company would put forward a product without having the necessary structure and support behind it. Is it really too much to ask to talk to an actual human being in real time either by phone, email, or chat, given that none of the answers at the Help Desk seem to address my issue?

There was a chat support systems staffed by some volunteers on limited hours before but it has since been put on hiatus. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/contributors/708046

Besides this forum there is the Thunderbird section at the active independent forums.mozillazine.org

There is also the irc.mozilla.org with channels like #sumo, #thunderbird, #mozillazine that may have people who can help you at time.

So far you haven't provided an awful lot of information. To get started, perhaps you can explain in detail what you saved, all the steps you did, and where you get stuck.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ask-tb#w_how-to-ask-your-question

Thanks for the links, James, appreciate it.

christ1 -The reason I didn't provide more info is because I saved these files to Thunderbird over a year ago, and this problem just came up recently, so quite frankly, I don't remember all the steps I took to save the files at the time. Also, this one-question-at-a-time type of post-and-respond takes hours, and doesn't allow me to check things as I go along in real time.

Secondly, the main other reason I posted here was to see if Live Chat or any other form of actual in person support was available. This problem is complicated since we're talking about two different computers, and I've done about all I can on my own. It seems that Live Chat has been cancelled, as James mentioned, so I'm totally stuck without any way to get the files that are missing. Again, I am totally flabbergasted that a company as big as Mozilla seems to be completely unreachable and unaccountable to its users, truly unbelievable.

It's entirely up to you to use this forum support venue. People are here to answer questions.