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General discussion

restoring mailboxes

Sep 5, 2005 4:58AM PDT

i recently deleted, accidentally, all of my mailboxes from mac mail. fortunately i had just backed everything up, and i have been able to retrieve all of the messages; however, i can't put them in the right place for the mail program to find them. i have triecd the home/library/mail folder, and they just don't appear. at one point i was able to resture all of the folders -- but they proved to be emty.

i'm confused., i have a complete set of .mbox files, and can't access them through mail; (however i can click on the files to open them, and they promptly open in mail.

thanks for any suggestions.

cliff barney

Discussion is locked

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Work-around?
Sep 5, 2005 6:25AM PDT

Without any knowledge of mac mail, so please excuse me if it's nonsense. My frame of reference is Outlook Express and Outlook. Don't blame me, please.

Open such a folder by a click and your mail program opens. Then create a new folder with the same name in your mail program and drag and drop all files to it. If something like 'select all' or 'ctrl-A' or even the 'click first/shift-click last' it seems quite doable. Repeat until ready.

Hope this helps.


Kees

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Mail
Sep 5, 2005 8:32AM PDT

The folder you are looking for, and the folder you should have been backing up, is in the HD/Users/Your Name/Library/Mail
Replacing this folder "should" restore all your mail to normal.
The preferences for mail are in the same folder/Preferences.
What are you using for your backup software??

P

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restoring mailboxes
Sep 6, 2005 3:22AM PDT

thanks -- however this system doesn't seem to work. i move the files over, they appear in the finder, they don't appear in mail.

on one folder, exactly three of more than a hundred messages did appear. go figure.

one difficulty is that there are so many different files in each mailbox folder. for instance, one of my mailboxes, called ''carolyn,'' has these entries:

Carolyn.mbox (folder)
content_index
mbox.SKindex
mbox
table_of_contents
Messages (folder -- this actually contains the messages)
mbox.SKindex.isValid
Info.plist

i have tried copying threse insite the folder and outside it. i have tried creating a new folder in the mail program -- which shows up in the library folder -- and then filling it with the saved files. doesn't work.

geting discouraged. but there's gotta be a way to do this.

cliff

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Copy the entire Folder
Sep 6, 2005 3:26AM PDT

from the old user/Library to the new user/library.
Do not attempt to split them or alter them in any way. The whole 9 yards needs to be moved as one
If the move was successful, you will have your Mail program looking exactly like it was before.
There should be no need to import or the like


P

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progress
Sep 6, 2005 4:08AM PDT

i just did this -- any there is progress. i can now see allof my old folders in the mailpogfram. but they appear to be empty, even though on the desktop allof the messages are clearly there, in their folders.

there may be a problem withthe plist file, which seems critical -- but i do't know what the problem is.

i really appreceiate all of the help i am getting -- noting like losing a couple of thousand messages (plus the address book -- which i can mostly rebuild by hand if i can only make the messages appear).

so -- to bring the matter up to date -- i have now copied all of the mail folders, complete, into the /library/mail folder. the mail folders now appear in mail, but they do not seem to have any messages in them, although on the desktop, the messages are all there. the next step is....??

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Mail
Sep 6, 2005 6:58AM PDT

Copy over the Plist too.
The address book is in aother place. Location to follow. It is NOT where you would expect it to be

P

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Address Book
Sep 6, 2005 8:14AM PDT

Ok, here is the location of the Address Book data.
HD/Previous Systems/Users/YourName/Library/Application Support/
Copy the entire folder, Address Book, from here to the identical location on your new system folder.
Replace any folder, of the same name, that is already there.
Tip: That you may or may not be aware of. When dragging a folder from one place to another, if you hold down the Option key - Click and drag the folder from A to B. When you let go of the mouse button, it creates a copy of the original in the new location. Works great if you have the old User Library open in list view on one side of the screen and the new one open on the other. Just drag those dudes across.
Let me know how the Address move went

P