Can't restore Mail in Time Machine "Restore" nonexistent

I have Time Machine (with Time Capsule). When I went to find a mistakenly deleted email I opened mail, then clicked on Time Machine. The screen changed - but not the the usual Time Machine screen with the bar at the bottom with "cancel" "restore" and the history of dates/months on the right side. Instead there are no bottom or side bars - and the looking off into the distance history of screen shots isn't there either. If I click on a mail box a line appears that if I want to see the history of this mailbox to "click restore". But there is no "restore" to click on this screen. (I've looked everywhere for it.) It seems quite strange. Can anyone help? Thanks, Ginny

Yes, if I do into Time Machine through Finder I get the normal window. (I tried getting to the email I want this way through users/my user/mail.... I found the email I deleted. Trouble is I actually want the pdf attachment to the email, and I can't seem to get the attachment this way - just the email.) I'll check out the post you suggest.

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HT201250 How can I exclude mail from Time Machine backups?

How can I exclude mail from Time Machine backups?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
Mails are stored on ~/Library/Mail, being ~ your user folder. As you are running Snow Leopard, it's easy to exclude your mails from your Time Machine backup.
Open System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and add ~/Library/Mail to excluded items, so the next backup won't include mails. Note that you have to go to your user folder, in order to access to this directory

How can i recover mail from time machine

i upgraded from lion to mountain lion few month ago. i have been backingup to time machine since day one.
last week, formatted my mac, i tried to recover my mail by using time machine, it did not show up any date for recovery.
it there a way to import back these mail? or is there a way to recover it?

Although you can restore messages from a Time Machine snapshot within the Mail application, it generally won't work with messages that were saved by an older version of Mail. In that case, you have to use an alternative method.
Triple-click the line below to select it:
~/Library/Mail/V2
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Reveal
from the contextual menu.* A Finder window should open with a folder selected. Inside that folder are subfolders representing your Mail accounts. The names refer to the email addresses you use. Decide which ones you want to restore messages from.
Enter Time Machine and scroll back to the snapshot you want. Select the account folders you want and then select Restore ... to... from the action menu (gear icon) in the toolbar of the snapshot window. Restore the folders to the Desktop, not to their original location.
From the Mail menu bar, select
File ▹ Import Mailboxes...
Import from the mailboxes in the folders you restored to the Desktop. The imported messages will appear in a new mailbox. Move the ones you want to keep wherever you like and delete the rest. Then delete the folders on the Desktop.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C). In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar, paste into the box that opens (command-V). You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

How can I input mails from time machine to my new Mac?

I recently change to a new Apply Air, but having a hard time to find all my mails from the time machine where it usually backup all my files. I also changed from Entourage to Outloook. Please advice how I can input all my old mails.
Thanks,
Ivy

06/2014 ChrisCA post: Restore iTunes library from Time Machine backup - https://discussions.apple.com/message/26104480

How restore aol sent mac mail from time machine?

I am using mac mail and an imap connection to aol. I also have a time capsule and use time machine for backing up. Yesterday I stopped receiving incoming mail in mac mail and tried deleting the aol account in mac mail and then setting it up fresh. I was shocked to find that my 25,000 AOL sent emails did not restore! I was told by an apple genius bar rep several months ago that once mail was on my machine that the emails would NEVER be lost. Apparently this is not true. When I open mac mail and go into my time capsule using time machine, however, do not see the SENT mail icon under AOL--it goes away? When I try to restore the aol mail from the day before the incident the only thing that comes up is the one Sent Mail mssg that I sent AFTER the deleting and restoring of my AOL account in mac mail. The only relevant post I have found is the one below which was posted in 2008. Please let me know there is a way to get back my sent messages. I can't get them directly from the aol server because the server does not save messages that are sent from any client but AOL. Thanks.
http://raffyjohn.com/2008/01/29/restoring-apple-mail-and-your-emails-from-time-m achine/
Restoring Apple Mail and Your Emails from Time Machine
filed under: How-To tags: mail, timemachine Tuesday, January 29, 2008, 11:31 am
UPDATE (25 August 2010): Please note that this post is well over 2 years old and as Tim pointed out in the comments below, this method may not be the best solution for restoring emails. According to his restore efforts, changes where made to the timestamp from the date in which they were received to the date in which they were restored. I have not tested this myself.
The hard drive on my PowerBook completely died the other day, but I luckily had been running Time Machine backups since upgrading to Leopard. (I wasn’t all that ****** off seeing as I was eager for an excuse to replace my wimpy 40Gb hard drive with a new 160Gb drive). I fumbled a bit, looking for a specific Apple Mail restore tool. I knew where all my emails lived, but I thought that Apple would have a specific means for restoring apps like Mail. So I created this mini-tutorial on how to restore Apple Mail from Time Machine simply because I could not find this method elsewhere.
Supposedly, If you attach your Time Machine backup drive, open Apple Mail then launch the Time Machine application, you are presented with historical views of Apple Mail. This did not work for me, the historical views were just blank, so the steps below do not take this approach.
Restoring Your Emails from a Time Machine Backup
Warning: If you have already setup Apple Mail with your accounts and preferences, this will negate ALL your doings.
Note: This process will restore all your email accounts, preferences, passwords, smart mailboxes, etc.
The How-To
Before loading Time Machine, open the Finder and navigate to Home Folder (username) -> Library. In there will be a folder name “Mail”. Rename it to “Mail (default)” (Select the folder then hit the Return key to rename).
Mount your Time Machine Backup Drive (ahem, plug it in).
Control + Click the Time Machine Application and chose “Browse Other Time Machine disks…”. This, of course, brings up the historical view of your backups.
Go back to your most recent backup (2nd window back) and navigate to Home Folder (username) -> Library. Select the “Mail” folder and click the restore button (bottom right).
Once the restore is completed, open Apple Mail and you will be presented with an import wizard (below). Simply follow through the prompts and you will be good to go.
That’s it!UPDATE (20-January-2009): After step 4., also restore ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plistThanks Jon C.
If you have multiple mail accounts, you should also restore the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist file as well. This will ensure all of your account settings are imported. – Jon C.
Follow me on Twitter here.
40 Comments
Chucho
May 13th, 2008 at 11:11 amThanks it’s a great hint, you should post it in macosxhints.com
Westin
May 19th, 2008 at 3:28 amAwesome content and great instructions even for stupid people like me. Thank you so much for posting this. It worked like a charm and really is appreciated at 2:30 a.m. after hours of reinstalling junk.
Slippery Snake
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:15 amThis worked. However, I had three email accounts, and it only imported one. My Smart Mailboxes were not imported either.
Jon C
July 30th, 2008 at 2:50 pmIf you have multiple mail accounts, you should also restore the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist file as well. This will ensure all of your account settings are imported.
Joseph Hurtado
August 26th, 2008 at 11:23 amRaffy,This tip is worth it’s weight in gold! Thanks so much for posting such a well though out recipe for a Mail Rescue operation.Just put Jon’s advice on the article, that is also very valuable!Take care,Joseph Hurtado
from Toronto
Cory
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 amYou saved my life! Thanks!
Drew
January 19th, 2009 at 12:08 amCheers Great tip! Thank you very much for your time!
Lizart
May 23rd, 2012 at 2:00 pmStill working in May of 2012! Thanks so much!
source
May 29th, 2012 at 11:11 amIm getting a teeny problem. I cant get my reader to pick up your feed, Im using bing reader by the way.
Bruno Zysman
May 31st, 2012 at 4:56 pmThanks so much for this tips
I could get back my 170 000 mails in 5 hours thanks to this post, after having tried for few hours without success…Bruno

Don't try to restore the file; restore the Note. Go in Mail to the mailbox where the note belongs. Enter Time Machine from there and step back until you find the Note.

I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup and external storage as well?

I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup as external storage as well for the files I don't need everyday?

If you are using "Restore from Time Machine Backup" option from OS X Recovery, you can only choose from the broad categories presented.
... Can I also use my time machine backup as external storage as well for the files I don't need everyday?
To be clear, if you are asking if you can use the volume containing your Time Machine backup to store additional, non-Time Machine files, the short answer is yes.
It's not a good idea though, since the Time Machine backup will eventually fill all available space, after which it begins to remove old, "expired" backups to make room for newer ones. The presence of additional files doesn't change that fact, and Time Machine will not erase them, but you will encounter a dilemma should you want to store additional files on that volume when there is no remaining space. You will have to make room for them on your own, by deleting existing files. Furthermore, since Time Machine cannot back up its own volume, those additional files will not be backed up by Time Machine.
The easy solution for what you describe is to purchase additional external storage. External USB hard disk drives have become very inexpensive; about $55 will buy a perfectly suitable 1 TB drive.
You can also choose to replace your MacBook Air's internal storage with a larger capacity one. Look for a suitable replacement from OWC / MacSales:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Air-Retina
That gets a little more expensive but it is the optimum solution.

Restore Archived Lion Mail from Time Machine

I deleted a mailbox, thinking I could add it back, and synch with the server. That worked fine, but I forgot that I had archived a whole bunch of mail on that account. Now I want to retrieve the old mail. I have a fresh Time Machine backup. How do I retrieve my archived mail from Time Machine for a deleted account?

If Time Machine was backing up before you deleted the account, you can try to enter Time Machine from
~/Library/Mail. See if the deleted account is in there.

I have just started using Time Machine. I was thinking about deleting old E-Mails on my Mac to clean. Does Time Machine back up the E-Mails , if so how can I find them in Time Machine ??

I have just started using Time Machine. I was thinking about deleting old E-Mails on my Mac to clean. Does Time Machine back up the E-Mails , if so how can I find them in Time Machine ??

If you back up your mac before deleting your emails, Time Machine should back up your e-mails.
I never tried this so i'm not sure to find them in Time Machine. To browse in your backups simply click the Time Machine icon in your dock. In the right bar, you can select an backup. Than you can browse in finder, in your backkup.
EDIT: Just browsed and CT above was right. This topic might help you:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20154303#20154303

HT201250 I selected old mail in time machine and it will not open. How can I open it?

I selected old mail in time machine and it will not open. How can I open it?

Have a read here https://discussions.apple.com/message/15701309#15701309
Seems that you have to update Logic to the latest version (9.0.15) to get it to work in Lion.
Stefan

How to Search Mail in Time Machine

Although Mail's search feature isn't active when in Time Machine mode, here's a way I just figured out to search Mail e-mail messages using Time Machine:
1. In the Finder, initiate a new Spotlight search by choosing Find in the File menu.
2. In the list of search properties, select Other..., then find System files in the resulting sheet.
3. Check In Menu if you want it readily accessible in the future, otherwise just click on it and click OK.
4. To the right of System files, select Include in the list.
5. Search for the contents, name, date, etc. of the Mail message you're looking for. If it is no longer on your computer (why you're using TM in the first place), it won't show up yet.
6. Start Time Machine with the search still going. It will search back in time and you will be able to find your old mail messages by content, date, etc.
I'm not sure if restoring from the Finder view will work, but at least you'll now know what date to go back to when using Mail in Time Machine if you're looking for a specific message, and can then restore from there.
Hopefully Apple can add search to Mail itself soon, but in the meantime this should work.

EXTREMELY HELPFUL.... THANKS!!!

HT201250 I accidentally deleted an important note on my iPhone. Can I find it in Time Machine?

I accidently deleted an important note on my iphone. Can I find it on Time Machine?

If you have Time Machine connected you should be able to.
VK replied to a similar question here ...
Start Mail and open the Notes mailbox. click on TM in the dock, scroll back in time in the Mail window, select the note you deleted and hit 'restore".

Can use old macbook for Time Machine Backup?

Have an old macbook running snow leopard. Can I use it for Time Machine Back-up for my current macbook pro?

Boot your old into Target Disk mode, then plug a FireWire cable from your old to your pro. Presto! Your old's internal HD will appear in your pro's Finder as a disk on your pro. Time machine running on your pro can use it for backup. Time machine won't disturb its contents, except to add a potentially huge folder there, which will grow to fill the disk with copies of your backups. (Backing up, then) partitioning (and then restoring from backup) your old's internal hard drive will keep your pro's Time Machine from consuming all free space.

I can't migrate from a time machine Back up. I select my TC and it says "some backups can't be opened." My HD failed and I'm Trying to get everything back... Can anyone make a suggestion?

I can't migrate from a time machine Back up. I select my TC and it says "some backups can't be opened. Make sure that all of your network devices are connected and turned on. It appears that some backups are already in use. If you don't see the backup you need, make sure it is not currently mounted by another machine and try again."
My HD failed and i installed a new one... I'm Trying to get everything back... Can anyone make a suggestion?

Read the section E about restore issues.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
But you should be able to mount the sparsebundle and backup the major items if they are not damaged. You might also do a disk verify to see if the corruption can be repaired.
Have a look here also for restore of selected items.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

I cannot access old e-mails via Time machine since installing Mountain Lion at the beginning of August.

I cannot access old e-mails via Time machine since installing Mountain Lion at the beginning of August. I can access those received and sent since the benning of August. I can access other documents prior to August.

Launch the Console 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 Console in the page that opens.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Try the action that you're having trouble with again. Post any messages that appear in the Console window – the text, please, not a screenshot.
Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Edit it out by search-and-replace in a text editor before posting.

Search for specific E-mail in Time Machine?

Hi,
I have a problem with searching for E-mails in Time Machine.
When I search for E-mails of a specific address or subject in Mail and can't find it, I enter Time Machine and in Time Machine the "search field" of the mail window is empty and all E-mails are shown.
I found no way to filter the E-mails and it's difficult to find an E-mail when all E-mails are listed.
I also can't use a intelligent folder with my search criteria, cause they are greyed out in Time Machine.
Is this a "normal" behaviour or am I doing something wrong?

Alex69 wrote:
Thanks for the answer…
I thought maybe I'm doing something wrong or this is because i excluded the Time Machine volume from spotlight, but ok, not my fault, but an apple "feature"
I could search for specific E-mails using a finder search and then switch into Time Machine, but since Mail is called a Time-Machine-Aware Application I felt there should be a direct way to do this in Mail…
Yes, there "should be a direct way to do this."
The approach you describe above will work for email that still currently resides on your Mac, for example an email that has been "Replied" back and forth and you wish to retrieve an earlier version of the conversation. Or perhaps a "Draft" email that has undergone changes over time, of which you need to retrieve an earlier version. In these cases using Time Machine is relatively straight forward.
My problem with Mail/Time Machine is with a specific email that has since been deleted. Unless you know exactly what mailbox that email had been in, and at what time the email had existed, then it can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. In this case the Time Machine interface needs to have a search box added to the "time travel" windows for faster retrieval of specific items, the location of which the user doesn't remember.
I'm convinced, though, that the usability of Time Machine in such instances will improve over time. Particularly as more app become integrated with it.
Glenn

I got a macbook pro 2008 and can not back up using time machine. it eject my external hard drive everytime. does someone has a fix???

i got a macbook pro 2008 and can not back up using time machine. it eject my external hard drive everytime. does anybody has a fix???

Does your external hard drive have it's own power supply? It should.
Is your external hard drive formatted with the NTFS file system? It won't work.
It needs to be formatted either with Mac OS Extended or FAT32.
(There are drivers available to add NTFS support to OS X but their quality is unknown, especially the "free" ones.)

Can't restore Mail in Time Machine "Restore" nonexistent

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