I would not try moving the 16-digit folders from one PC to another since they are custom generated upon installation. But it should be possible to move all the (non-signed-in called "offline") contacts from one PC to another (or one version of WLM to another) via the export/import feature. All you will loose by using export/import is the groupings which can be recreated.
Ah I see. So if I understand you correctly, I should load WLM 2009 on my laptop, and import the C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live folder (that contains default offline contacts for Windows Live Mail 2011 (QFE3 version) with 15.5\DBStore) into WLM 2009? Well I'll try that anyway. Thanks.
That may be possible, but it's not exactly what I meant by "export/import". What I was thinking was that while the old version is still running on your PC (2011) in not-signed-in mode go to the "Contacts" pane and "Export" your contacts to a known place on your hard drive (e.g. Documents). Do a similar "Export" for messages via the main window of the old program (2011). At this point you can uninstall the old program (2011) which will still leave behind the 2011 folder structure under <username>/appdata. (At this point all your messages and contacts have been saved elsewhere so you can delete or move the appdata Mail and Contacts folders out of the appdata folder.) When you install the new program (2009) it will recreate all the folders it needs just as though you never had WLM installed at all without any left-over files and folders from the old 2011 installation. At that point run the new program (2009) in not-signed-in mode and do the import processes for messages and contacts, navigating to your exported files.
This process is perhaps more complicated than necessary but keep in mind tha Microsoft never anticipated people upgrading backwards from 2011 to 2009. They assumed you would upgrade once to 2011 and then stick with that folder structure (or a newer version) from then on.
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