Where is my mail folder in time machine?

For the first time today I've backed up using Time Machine, on my MacBook Pro using OS 10.6.8.
When I check the external harddrive I've backed up to, I can see/discern all my MacBook Pro files except emails. Mail only appears in a folder called Applications as the application itself. A friend using Yosemite says within the Users folder he can drill down to a Mail folder that houses the emails. He also says he's never failed to get his emails back when he's restored from his Time Machine back-up. My Users folder does not have a Mail folder.
Can anyone reassure me that my emails are backed up somewhere, or direct me to where they are?

It is highly unusual that your Mail does not appear in your Library folder. Somehow, it would seem that you've told the Mail application to store the mail in a non-standard location.
Ok, the first thing is to make sure we're talking about the same "Library" folder. You have at least two. One is at the root of your startup drive, and is the Library folder for the whole system. The other is user-specific, and belongs to you, but is inaccessible to other users on the Mac (of which there may be none).
From a unix file system perspective the two Library folders (directories) exist in these two places:
/Library
/Users/user_name/Library
Your Mail folder should be in the second one. If it's truly not there, then you could find it by opening the Terminal application and run the following command:
mdfind -name Outbox.mbox
That should show you where Mail's outbox is, and therefore where your Mail folder is. Once you know that location, you can then check your Time Machine drive, using the instructions I provided in my previous post, to find and confirm that Time Machine is backing up your mail.
B.

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Recovering mail folder from TIME MACHINE

I've recovered a folder from Time Machine, but I can't seem to get it to go into my mail program.
I've just looked inside the folder, though, and some of the messages seem to be blank.
I have created a new folder and have tried to migrate over just ten of these messages. It won't even do that. I've started over again by deleting the folder and re-creating a new one. And I've restarted my computer. There's something really wrong here.
It may also have to do with a .mac synch. I get a flashed message that says "outgoing 3974 message" (which is how many I have, or thereabouts). But it doesn't process anything, just says that and goes away.
Any ideas here???

I've just looked into my library / preferences folder, and there does not appear to be a plist for Mail there. Isn't that odd? Where should that plist be located, and what would it mean if none is appearing? I've never heard of that one, is there a fix for such a problem (if it is the source of my problem?).

No mail folder in time machine backup

Hello everyone!
So, I have a problem.
I recently managed to total my macbook pro due to being incredibly stupid (water damage).
I bought a new one and thankfully had a backup on my time machine.
Now, since my old macbook gave me trouble every now and again I decided to set the new one up completely new, only transferring certain files from my time machine backup, which worked great.
However, all my emails are gone. I have been going through other people's questions on here and nobody seems to have the exact same problem as I do, so here it goes.
I found my normal /Library/Mail/V2 folder on my current mac, but there is no such folder on my time machine backup (there is a library but no "mail" folder). I can also not go into the older backups via the star wars thing, only through clicking on my backup via the finder. Apparently my laptop won't recognise the ones coming from the older macbook.
Also, any emails I have stored in folders in the Mail program are still there, but since I haven't done that in ages (again, stupidly) most of my emails from the past year have disappeared. I really hope I can somehow get them back but I'm at the end of my rope.
Both MacBooks were/are using Mavericks.
I'd really appreciate any help you guys can offer.
Best wishes,
Lynnication

Please disregard this question, I literally just figured it out! For anybody looking for the answer: the Mail folder is not under "Library" per se right in your backup, but under your username - it's also hidden so you will need to go through the terminal command to show it.
I am so happy, I can't even express it ^^

Cannot open mail "home folder is full" after importing mail folder from time machine

hello, sorry for my poor english.
after an erase and reboot of my harddisk with new os yosemite installed, i've copied the mail folder from the time machine backup. but when i tried to open mail app it start to "import the mail box" and then stops saying that the home folder ins full, but it isn't, i've over 300gb free

What is your hard drive capacity and available free space after deleting a ton of stuff?
Try the following.
With the Mail.app quit and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index.
Move the Envelope Index file to the Desktop.
When re-launching Mail, you will be prompted to import all mailboxes located within the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail. Select OK and allow the import process to complete.
After confirming all mailboxes were successfully imported, you can delete the old Envelope Index file from the Desktop and this should resolve the problem.

Where do i find mail on a time machine copy

where do i find lost mail on a time machine copy

When you open Finder and then from the Time Machine Icon in the menu bar hold the option key and Browse Other Backup Disks. then ⇧⌘G, then ~/Library/Mail/V2, you're not seeing the folder with your old emails? (don't open TM from Mail)
If you see your old mail, then this may be a long-way, but....
BACKUP your current email
Log into the Guest Account (->System Preferences->Users & Groups)
Open Finder, then from the Time Machine Icon in the menu bar hold the option key and Browse Other Backup Disks. then ⇧⌘G, then ~/Library/Mail/V2 and restore the V2 Folder
Now start Mail and set up your accounts (all your emails from the TM should be restored)
You can then Mail->Mailbox->Export Mailbox and save to your Desktop (do this with each Mailbox)
Copy these exported mailboxes to a USB drive
Log into your regular account.
Open Mail and File->Import Mailboxes.
Hope this helps.

HT204093 Where is my mail folder on my mac

Okay I hope to make sense here....
I had all my mail in the icloud. I then created a folder on my mac for mail older than 6 months. Then mail that was older than 6 months in cloud I moved to my mac.
In mail I had renamed the older than 6 month folder. I still see my old mail in mail. I can't find the corresponding folder on mac, or when I do it really is odd size. Mail in folder on mac is housing 10 years worth of email and coming in at 300MB when I think it would be way bigger, like 1 TB.
I created a new folder in mail, but I can't find the coorseponding folder in documents---> mail folder.
Where is the mail folder on the mac? Where does it naturally default too?
Thanks,
Andy

Thank you of the quick reply and I kind of now have more info.
Since posting my question I "exported" the mailbox and voila, 2.6GB of info. So I think I have some solution.
"Are you desiring to Archive mail older than six months and remove that from Mail?" Not from Mail, but the iCloud, but when I did remove from icloud, I want to make another back up, even though I have time machine. I want to basically burn a DVD or put old email on other storage media.
"With a better understanding of your goal -- I can help you to a solution." Okay great, appreciate it! I hope I made/make sense.
"If you haven't done a Rebuild lately, I'd highly recommend you start there:" Ummm I've never rebuild.... so I also wanted to back up the data before I rebuild I think, right? I have no other copy, these emails were removed from the iCloud, and put in a mail folder on my mac (which I can't find the mailbox (mbox) on the mac, user name--->documents---> mail folder---> there is no corresponding mbox that I just created, this folder/get info says circa 2012), so the mail on my mac is not copied from iCloud. Technically I do have the time machine backup.... but you never know if that gets corrupted.
So my thought prior to rebuild is to export, as a back up, then rebuild? As to mailbox naming, since I have no idea where the corresponding folders are on my mac, exporting first, might be best option. If I rebuild, will that break or possibly lose data?
Thoughts?
Andy

How do I restore smtp mail setting from time machine?

Earlier today I was fooling around with my smtp mail settings and managed to mess them up.
How do I restore smtp mail setting from time machine?
I'm using Lion 10.7.4
Messages and incoming mail works fine. It's just the smtp mail setting that's the problem.
Any help greatly appreciated.

The mail rules are stored in your ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data.MailData folder, in a plist called SyncedRules.plist.
If you're signed into iCloud D&D, that's where you'll find it.
If you're *not* signed into iCloud, then you probably have a folder called something like ~/Library/Mobile Documents.####### where the # signs are actual numbers. Digging into that folder, you'll fild the SyncedRules.plist file.
Thing is, I don't know how Mail uses rules without iCloud; if there's a "local" rules location. There probably is, but someone else who's not using iCloud may have to help you there...

Can't access library folder on Time Machine Backup

I'll try to explain this as clearly as possible...
1) I have wiped my hard drive and completed a clean install of Mavericks. I did this due to persistant problems with disc permissions that I could not eliminate.
2) I did not want to take a chance on introducing problems with migrating a profile from my Time Machine backup so instead of using Migration Assistant, I used Finder to browse the Time Machine backup I made prior to reformatting my drive to simply copy all my necessary data files back onto the drive in my newly created profile.
3) I've reinstalled the majority of programs I use and everything is looking good (no disk permission problems when I've checked using Disk Utility).
4) Mail is working just find with all my accounts having been restored using my Apple ID.
Here's the problem....
I forgot that some of my mail had been stored on my local hard drive. I beleive this mail should be in my user/library/mail folder of my time machine backup. However, I cannot access my User/Library folder in Time Machine. I've tried opening my current (new) User/Library folder in Finder and then selecting "Browse Other Backup Discs" from the Time Machine icon and, although this opens the Time Machine backups, I cannot do any time travel...in other words, although there are many stacks of folders shown in the backup, I cannot move into the past from the present.
Any suggestions on how I can get this Mail folder out of the Time Machine user/library? I know there is some stuff there that I'm going to have to get to.
Thanks!

It woked to get me into my current User/Library of my "new" profile but I cannot move back in time into the actual backups despite the timeline increments on the right side of the screen in Time Machine showing they're are backups for the past several months. I'm stuck on this moment so to speak.
Got to hit the sack...head is swimming. Thanks for the suggestions Barney. Let me know if you think of any others.

After updating my MacBook Pro to yeosemite I want my old screen saver picture back. I did a full back up before the install. I found the "Settings" folder in Time machine but when I try to open it I get an error message saying "You can not open this

After updating my MacBook Pro to yeosemite I want my old desktop picture back. I did a full back up before the install. I found the "Settings" folder in Time machine but when I try to open it I get an error message saying "You can not open this folder. It is in TimeMachine".

Can you browse the Time Machine drive from Finder?
If you can and you know where the picture was stored ie on your desktop you can browse through the folder structure to the picture copy it and paste it somewhere on your new install before right clicking it and 'set as desktop background'

How do I find an e-mail in my Time Machine back-up?

i'm looking for a draft e-mail in mac mail from a time machine back-up....where can i find that?
i see the mail application but cannot see specific e-mails.
please help!
thanks.

omg so simple....perfect....thank you sooooo much....you saved me

Mail freezes with time machine.

I am trying to restore my Inbox in mail with Time Machine.
While I was on the mail screen I went to Time Machine and saw my old mail. For some reason I got out of Time Machine w/o restoring the Mail. My thought was I could just go back in. Now when I am on the Mail screen and I go to Time Machine it just hangs.
So, I tried a different way. I restore the directory and it shows 2200 mails. However, when I open Mail and check my Inbox it only shows 237 email.
Any Ideas?

Some more information might be needed.
When you restore mail messages using TM, the messages do not go back into the folders they were originally in but into a new folder called Time Machine in the On My Mac section of the sidebar. Please confirm whether you have such a folder and, if so, what is in it.
How did you get out of TM when you didn't restore the messages? Was that intentional or did you think you were restoring the messages?
When you say you restored the directory what exactly do you mean?
Do the 237 messages in your inbox include any restored messages or were they always there?

How to manually retrieve mail messages from time machine in Lion?

I just did a clean reinstall on Lion and want to import things from time machine piecemeal. As far as I know, in order to access the mail documents on the computer's hard drive, in the Finder I need to go to Go-->Go to Folder... and then type ~/Library. Then I have access to the "Mail" folder with the data. How can I access this folder that's on my external harddrive? I don't have the "Go" function and I don't know how to get there manually. My hidden files are shown.

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
The best way to restore mails is to use Time Machine.
1. Open System Preferences > Time Machine > Select Disk, select the external disk and see > http://pondini.org/TM/E3.html
2. Open Mail and open Time Machine. Navigate and restore the mails you want

Restoring User Library folder from Time Machine

I have tried finding my User Library folder in Time Machine, but no luck.
I have managed to find the User/Library folder in normal view and have dragged it into the Sidebar.
It is now visable! Great.
But when I enter Time Machine and go back in time, it goes gray and you connot see it or it will not go back in time.
In other words I am unable to access my backed up files: Address Book, iCal, Mail, Keychains etc.
Any suggestion much appreciated!

DWNCC wrote:
It's a long story. My Mac Apps were crashing frequently as I have an older version MacBook Pro, using it with 10.7.3. It just didn't like it one bit.
Unfortunately, there are many people here in Apple Support Communities who claim there is something fundamentally wrong with Lion and are advising everyone to go back to older versions of the operating system. That is very bad advice. If Lion is misbehaving, there is some problem that needs to be corrected.
It is not a good idea to try to restore your user account piecemeal like this.
If you have erased everything, then at least you don't have to worry about damaging anything. Try this:
1) Run System Preferences > Users & Groups and click the "+" button to create a new account. Change account type from "Standard" to "Administrator". Give it a short name like "admin".
2) Log out of your current user and Log in to the new admin user.
3) Delete any old users you had.
4) Run Migration Assistant and migrate your old users from Time Machine

Why I cannot assess deleted Apple mail messages in time machine after installing mountain lion from snow leopard.

Ever since I installed Mountain Lion from Snow Leopard, I cannot retrieve my deleted Apple mail messages from Time Machine. I could do it in the past using Snow Leopard. The effective date for the the non-retrival of deleted messages is the date I installed Mountain Lion from Snow Leopard. Any thoughts?

Keith Montreal wrote:
It was origionally a local folder for things like receipts from the Apple Store, etc
I'm still not sure what you mean . . . is it listed in the "On My Mac" section in Mail's sidebar, like these?
Mountain Lion appears to have given it an icon very much like an Archive box and put the "on My Mac" folder within that "Box" on both the back ups and the new Mail program - in fact it did it 6 times, which was the origional problem.
Can you post a screenshot?
I could restore inbox messages although they came in as a new mail box called Time Machine rather than into their origional mailboxes (there are 7 different addresses)
Yes, that's how Time Machine restores Mail messages, so it doesn't erase the current contents of an existing mailbox. You can then move them into the desired location.

Is there a way to backup mail messages in Time Machine?

New MacBook Pro. New backup hard drive. When I use Time Machine to backup my new laptop I see that my mail messages are not being backed up. In 10.6.8 they were backed up in a folder labelled Library. Is there a way to backup all my mail messages through Time Machine? Sorry not a techie, so please keep it simple.

Bring the Mail browser window forward, then select Enter Time Machine from the Time Machine menu, which is represented by a clock icon in the menu bar. If you don't have that menu, select  ▹ System Preferences ▹ Time Machine ▹ Show Time Machine in menu bar.
Scroll back in the time-travel view to the most recent snapshot containing the messages you want to restore. Select the messages, then click Restore. The messages will be restored to a new mailbox. From there you can move them wherever you like.

Where is my mail folder in time machine?

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