The original admin set up our message forum as the (what I learned to be) old/original single threaded forum. This has worked out very well and we have over 1200 messages. However, my classmates want search/indexing features that seem to be only available with the threaded User forums. I need a tool or way to convert the Message Forum to a User Forum. Can I export the Message Forum and import it as a User Forum?

Unfortunately, no. The two forums are not connected and we cannot combine / export from one to the other.

They are indexed databases aren't they? So it should be possible to write a script to convert one format to the other. I've done such--I usually program in Python for something like this. To me this is an important issue since many in my class have requested search/index type features for the Message Forum.

I'm sorry, but we do not have the resources available at this time for any custom implementations in the system.

If you can set me up with a sandbox and a little guidance, I wil do this work for you for free.

Thank you but we won't be doing anything else with the original Message Forums. Just FYI have you considered activating your What's New page? Future focus on class communication will be here.