Mail does not create new emails based on the highlighted mailbox, but rather the receiving mailbox of whatever individual email happens to be highlighted. This was not the case prior to Lion. Is this a bug or an error on my part?

Question

Mail does not create new emails based on the highlighted mailbox, but rather according the receiving mailbox of whatever individual email happens to be highlighted. This was not the case prior to Lion. Is this a bug or an error on my part? (I do have the setting for creating new emails from the highlighted mailbox checked.)

Answer 1

The questions about time was not only because of thinking about the Time Machine, but also possible impact on recognizing which messages remaining on a POP server (doesn't apply to IMAP) have been already downloaded. In the Mail folder, at its root level, in Mail 3.x there is a file named MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded3 that should prevent duplicate downloading -- some servers may not communicate the best with respect to that, and the universal index must certainly be involved in updating that index file. If it corrupts, it can inhibit proper downloading. However, setting the account up in a New User Account and having the same problem does not point that way, unless your POP3 server is very different from most.
That universal index is also typically involved when messages are meant to be moved from the Inbox to another mailbox -- in Mail 3.x the message does not move, but rather is copied, and then erased from the origin mailbox. That requires updating the Envelope Index to keep track of where the message is, and should keep track of where it is supposed to have been removed after the "Move".
Ernie