Reading .mbox files

Suppose you have found yourself in want of leaving an email provider. You have figured out how to export all of your old emails into a file and you have that file on your computer. How do you go about reading those old emails? Your current email client may have a way of import .mbox files, but let's assume you just want to quickly search for something and not bother with a lot of setup.

Using Thunderbird

One method is through Thunderbird.

Steps

Download and Install Thunderbird
Open Thunderbird and decline all invitations to add an account, at this stage it will create a section called `Local Folders`
Right-click `Local Folders` and go to settings.
Navigate to the section titled `Local Directory` and click `Browse...`
Select the folder that your .mbox file is located within.
Restart Thunderbird
Click the email tab and the local folder section will be populated with `Trash`, `Outbox`, and a folder name that matches the title of your .mbox file.