Backup Apple Mail

Question

Hello!
Lately I have been going through quite some trouble while I was trying to set up rules for my 3 IMAP mail accounts in Mail.app.
I'm still not sure everything works as it's supposed to, so I'd like to create a full backup of all my emails. Does anyone know a good way of doing this, maybe even how to restore the backup after all ?
Much appreciated, thanks!
PS: I have .Mac's "Backup" available, but I heard that it's not very good, is that true?
Powerbook G4 1,5GHz/1,25GB/80GB   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   Bluetooth, Airport

Answer 1

To backup all of your emails, just copy the folder /Users/~/Library/Mail to your backup destination.
You can later restore to the backup by copying the folder back into place.
If you want to reset Mail, you can delete /Users/~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist – That will allow you to restore Mail to default settings while leaving the emails on your computer in place.
When you setup your accounts again with the same server and username, etc, Mail will automatically populate itself with the messages in the folder.