Richard,
Can I copy the "orphan" messages into a Word document, start a new
Topic, then post the resultant Word version into the new Topic?
Sure, but why use Word as an intermediary? You could paste the content of the orphan messages directly into the new Topic.
I mention this because Word's formatting isn't completely compatible with the HTML used in email, as interpreted by Groups.io. So you can end up with formatting weirdness when pasting from Word.
Shal
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