I'm about to format my hard drive and start my computer from scratch.
Is it possible to save my netscape 7.0 inbox (all of my mail files,
because they're divided up into several folders like "family, friends,
inbox, etc...") and transfer them into a new installation of Netscape
7.0? The netscape website seems to offer no help on doing this. I have
a few thousand messages to be saved...any help would be greatly
appreciated!

Hello misterrachel!!

I think that I found a solution for you. You must follow the
instructions given carefully:

"Backing up Netscape Mail:
Question:
Can I archive email messages onto an external disk? Where do I find
them on my hard drive?
Answer:
Mail folders are text based files. You can copy them as you would any
files. They can be opened with a text editor, which will display all
messages, one after the other. The default path to the directory which
contains your mail folder should be:
Netscape Communicator
C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\profile_name\Mail 

Netscape 6, Netscape 7
C:\...\Mozilla\Profiles\profile_name\salted_name\Mail\each_mail_account
(Note: the location of Netscape 6 or 7 profile location is different
by platform, please see "Netscape 6/7 profile location" for exact path
location.)

Ignore files with an .snm extension; they are built as needed. Copy
only the files that have no extension, such as INBOX. If you have
subfolders, copy all files (except .snm extension) under subfolder.
If you ever need to view those files in Messenger again, they can be
copied back to the MAIL directory. However, rename them first to avoid
overwriting an existing folder (file) of the same name. For example,
rename INBOX to OLDINBOX so the current INBOX folder isn't
overwritten. Create a folder in Messenger for messages you want to
save. Copy that folder to the back up. The folder (actually a text
file) can be opened and viewed with a text editor.
To restore to Messenger, rename the file, then copy to the MAIL
directory. The rename will prevent overwriting of a folder that has
the same name."
From  "SillyDog701" website "Netscape Knowledge Base - Backing up
Netscape Mail":
http://sillydog.org/netscape/kb/mailbackup.html

"Netscape 6/7 Profile Location" page:
http://sillydog.org/netscape/kb/plocation.html


You can also read the following 2 pages forum thread:
"Windows BBS > Internet > Netscape Navigator > Got dose NS 7 / XP Pro
/ Mail Importing blues":
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?s=f5f2fc2d79703b1bdfe0073d975ef7e1&threadid=10823&perpage=15&pagenumber=1


Pages that will be useful to you:

"NETSCAPE SOLUTIONS"
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/index6.html

From this page you must follow the "Transfer Netscape 7.x Profiles
from PC to PC" link:
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns7pctopc.html


"Mozilla FAQs" (look for the question -How do I backup Mozilla or
Netscape 7x ?-):
http://stefke.dyndns.org:5080/makeitwork/asp/faq.asp?topic=1


"SillyDog701 - Netscape Knowledge Base":
http://sillydog.org/netscape/kb/


Search strategy on Google:
netscape 7 inbox "back up"


I hope this helps, if not please let me know by posting a request of a
clarification.

Best regards.
livioflores-ga

Thanks for the great answer. Helps me out quite a bit!