How to import Mail rules from Lion to Mavericks?

Question

I tried importing my several dozen rules from OS X 10.7.5 to Mavericks 10.9.4. I tried the method described by SECollins7 here:
Import Lion Mail rules into Mavericks Mail?
It did not work. Nor does manually copying the text from «MessageRules.plist» to «SyncedRules.plist». They just do not appear in the rules settings in Mail in Mavericks.
Is there a way to import rules anyway?
Thanks for any hints!

Answer 1

This issue is caused by a combination of two things:
The file used in previous versions of OS X to store local (not iCloud-based) Mail rules is not used in Mavericks.
The migration process doesn't transfer the rules from the old file to the new one, which has a different format.
You may be able to recover the Mail rules by taking the steps below.
Warning: Do not use this procedure if you synchronize Mail rules with other devices via iCloud.
Quit Mail if it's running.
Back up all data.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
cd Library/Mail/V2/MailData; /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -x -c 'Print :rules' MessageRules.plist > SyncedRules.plist
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear. You can then quit Terminal. Test.