Deleted account settings = deleted MAIL !?!?!?!?!? (NO!!!!!)

Please tell me there's a way to recover my email messages!!!
We changed web-hosts this week and so (after waiting a few days for DNS to repoint and getting confirming email from new provider that email account of same name was now set-up) I changed the previous Mail settings to the new POP/SMTP settings they sent me, but.... no go.
After a few rounds with our tech and theirs it was mentioned that accounts in Apple's Mail "seem to not to like to be changed.... rather just add a new account with the new email server settings. I did this and.... VIOLLA! Worked/works.
So, assuming that i am looking JUST (there in MAIL==>PREFERENCES==>ACCOUNTS at mail account SETTINGS and NOT that has anything to do with the messages in my InBox, I just deleted the old "account" and closed Pref's
Inbox USED to have 1300+ emails from 3 POP account.
After deleting the account icon for that old (and non-functining) settings: 220!
WHERE ARE ALL MY EMAILS FOR THE SAME ACCOUNT JUST WITH DIFFERENT SERVER SETTINGS???
*as i wait for help from SMARTER people than me (guess that's no saying much, eh?) here i am promising NOT to emtpy system trash of MAIL app trash, and PRAYING that that might help some course of rescue.
Standing, (VERY) nervously by,
David M

Hello David.
Before deleting an account in Tiger Mail, the following warning message is provided:
Are you sure you want to remove the (account type here) account “XXXXXXXXXX”?
This will permanently delete the account setup information, mailboxes, and messages from your computer. Copies of messages on the mail server, if they exist, are not affected.
This is usually ignored or not completely understood but is based on the Mail.app filing structure so now the long winded answer for the reason.
Many other email clients utilize a single large database file which is not dependent on individual account and associated mailbox filing. When creating an account in Mail, an account named folder (named by the user name and incoming mail server for the account) is created in the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail using the Finder. For POP type accounts, the following mailbox (mbox) folders are created within the account named folder when the function is used by the account: INBOX.mbox, Drafts.mbox, Sent Messages.mbox, Deleted Messages.mbox and Junk.mbox (when Junk mail is set to automatic). The mbox folders within the account named folder represent the account named mailboxes under In, Drafts, Sent, Trash and Junk (when Junk mail is set to automatic) in the Mail.app mailboxes drawer.
When deleting an account in Mail, the account named folder at Home > Library > Mail is deleted at that time and as the warning message indicates, the associated account mailboxes within the account named folder are also deleted. You must select OK after the warning message appears.
It would be preferable for the account named folder to be moved to the hard drive Trash can which requires an additional step to delete but this is not what occurs.
To have any hope of recovering your data, you need to immediately stop using your system and then purchase a copy of a recovery tool such as Tech Tool Pro (Micromat) or Data Rescue (Prosoft Engineering), both of which have data recovery tools. I've not used Data Rescue, but I've seen reports that it recovers files that the others cannot, so it might be your best hope. The chances generally aren't really good even so, but short of sending your drive to a data recovery service (expensive), such utilities are your only hope.
Note that the more you use your system before you attempt recovery, the more likely it is that the system will overwrite the sections of the drive where the data you want to recover is stored, rendering it unrecoverable by any means. You should therefore stop using the system completely until you get and try to use one of the file recovery tools.
This also emphasizes the importance of maintaining a regular backup of the Mail folder and other important data.

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Did anything else happen at the time, such as an update to a later version of Thunderbird?
It really isn't possible to do this amount of damage with a wayward keystroke, so I think something else is to blame, not you or whoever it was that touched a key.
If your computer is essential to your business then you really need a back up regime to guard against accidents in general and hardware failures in particular. But I'm thinking this isn't something you have in place? If you have a backup then you can restore from that.

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I have mail accounts with AOL and Mobile Me. I understand that to save sent items on the server, I must use the setting "Mailbox > Use This Mailbox For."
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I have mail accounts with AOL and Mobile Me. I understand that to save sent items on the server, I must use the setting "Mailbox > Use This Mailbox For."
For both AOL and Mobile Me accounts, I successfully set up the sent items folders. Under the paper airplane icon, both are reporting "Contents stored on server. Namer on server: Sent."
However, only the Mobile Me account is functioning properly. If I uncheck the mail preference "store sent messages on the server" for my AOL acconts, then Mail will store sent items locally in Mail.app, but this is not what i want.
It is possible this is a problem with AOL. I have two AOL accounts, and they behave a little differently, so I think I have an issue with my settings or preferences. I'd like to know how to completely remove all mail accounts/setting/preferences from Mail.app. All my accounts are IMAP accounts, so I don't need to save anything that is stored locally.
I thought I had removed all accounts/settings/preferences related to mail.app, but when I go to add an account, my AOL account info is already populated in the first screen, so I don't think I deleted everything.
Thanks for any help with deleting preferences/settings related to mail.app.

Can't delete mail account in Leopard

Trying to help my mom out and got things a little twisted up.
She was having mail issues (passwords etc) so rather then messing with all the random settings I decided to delete the account and then re-enter it so it auto-fills everything. Only problem was that when I hit the delete button it removed the account and all the stuff from the inbox etc but then popped up a messages saying something like "are you sure you want to do this as deleting everything will be lost". Something along those lines. I wasn't sure what it was talking about so I hit cancel to stop it.
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Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If saving the old Mails is important...
On Mail...
First Quit Mail, then I'd backup these two Mail folders, by right clicking on them in the Finder, then choose Archive/Compress.
Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail
Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail Downloads
(Could be a different folder here if you chose such in Mail Prefs)
Right click on that Mail folder, choose archive, you'll get everything in the folder, and the folder itself in a file called Mail.zip, move it to a safe place, same for the Mail Downloads folder... only the plist is separate.
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist

Help: Can't delete email account in OSX Mail

I have verizon.net email account that I had to update because verizon changed the incoming and outgoing servers.
Each of my family members has a separate profile on my Mac and I was able to successfully update their settings.
I have the admin account. No matter what I do, I can't get the new server settings to stick in MacOSX Mail.
So I tried to delete the email account via System Preferences. When I relaunch Mail or System Preferences, the account is stil there. When I try to delete the account from within Mail, I get an error message:
Account removal failed with error: “The operation couldn’t be completed. Unable to find an account for the UID given.”.
You can try deleting the account from the “Internet Accounts“ preference pane in System Preferences.
I even tried the steps in this thread using Terminal:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/23824890#23824890
I even tried deleting the account in my Library preferences.
No luck.
I had this problem on my 17" MacBook Pro. I just migrated to a Retina MacBook Pro using a Time Machine backup. Same exact problem. I'm thinking there's some bizarro preference thingy that is buried somewhere that needs to be removed.
Yes, I ran disk utility as well.
Help me please!

After closing mail I used a plist editor and edited:
/Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/Accounts.plist
(as always TAKE A BACKUP)
I removed all key pairs to the offending account.
Voila.
Removed.

I can not delete mail pop account in iphone 4S

Hello
I have set POP mail account earlier but I do not want this account now. I am trying to delete the accont but there is not any button delete account as IMAP mail account have. What is happening? How can I delete the account?

There isn't any reason this POP account should not be able to be deleted. Are there any Restrictions set on the phone? Who is the provider of this email account? I'll assume that you are trying to delete it from Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars? You go to the Mail section, select the account in question, scroll to the bottom of the account page and select delete. However, you are saying when you do this, the Delete Account button does not exist, correct?
The next troubleshooting step after a reset is a restore from backup. You can try that if you like. What happens if you go into the account and toggle the on off button at the top of the account?

Delete gmail account from iOS mail

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Since you are in the Mac OS 10.9 (Mavericks) forum but are asking about iOS (iPhone, iPad, etc), I'm not sure how to answer. So, here is how to do it in either:
In Mavericks (i.e. on a Mac):
Open "System Preferences" > "Internet Accounts"
Select your Google account in the left sidebar
Click the "-" icon at the bottom left to delete the account
In iOS (i.e. on an iPhone):
Touch "Settings"
Touch "Mail, Contacts, Calendars"
Touch your Gmail Account
At the bottom of the screen, touch "Delete Account"
That's it. If you delete accounts per the above instructions then there is simply no way for your Gmail to continue to come in to Apple Mail on Mavericks or iOS. The only way that could happen is if you have set up your Gmail account to forward mail to your iCloud account.
I hope this helps.

Deleted mail account - where to find deleted emails

Hi there
I have done the same stupid mistake others have done and accidentally deleted my mail account. I was trying to delete my gmail account in mail but selected my primary home email account instead.(I blame the computer) Thing is, it seems a 'partial' delete, in that this morning I still receive my incoming emails, ie the account settings are still there. Also all my sent emails, and trash from that account are still there. But as for the incoming emails for the past 5 years - nothing. And in library/mail there is no record of this account folder. Where does the deleted stuff go, if it doesn't go in the trash, and why did my deleted account action not wipe all the emails, incoming and outgoing, and not the account setup details in mail preferences? I am just curious because there is a small part of me that hopes somehow i can retrieve the emails from within the computer without having to pay for a data rescue program. (there would only be about 20 or so emails that we've need to keep for work purposes)

hi!
I have a question -- if I delete my mailbox in mail (one of them) -- which is my gmail personal account -- will it delete everything off Mail AND my gmail or just Mail Application? So hypothetically, if I delete the gmail account in Mac Mail and when I sign in that same email on gmail.com -- all my mail will still be there ?
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Deleting Mail For Exchange Account from Symbian^3

Since buying my C7, I have been playing with the email settings to try and set up the correct account information that works best for my phone. In doing so I have tried both imap and mail for exchange. In the end I plumped for GMAIL imap and deleted all other accounts. Recently I have needed to set up a mail for exchange account again and when I tried to create a new account it confirmed that I could only set up one such account and that I should delete the other.
I looked at my account list but there was only my IMAP Gmail account. I tried switching the phone off and then on again and the email app then confirmed that there was a mail for exchange account. When I tried to view the account settings or make changes it confirmed that it was not possible to access the account at this time.
I tried deleting the account but although it lets me do this, when I try to add a new mail for exchange account I get the same message as per above and the account is recreated when I next switch off / on?
Does anyone know how I can resolve this......or will I need to factory reset?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

I have managed to sort this now. Obviously one of my previous mail for exchange settings had become corrupted and could then not be updated. To fix the problem I downloaded the Nokia configurator tool (available on the downloads section of this site) and got it to read my settings on the phone. I then unticked everything apart from the mail for exchange settings and manually entered them in the tool. I then sent these settings back to the phone and rebooted the phone. The mail for exchange account then appeared although strangely none of the settings I entered had been sent, but I could then edit the account and get it working. I then deleted the account again on the phone and this completed successfully and would allow me to re-add......phew.
I just need PR1.2 so that I can use mail for exchange lol.

Deleting mail from the Mail app won't delete from my email account

Hello, I'm new to macs but I have set up my hotmail accounts on the mail application built into the OS, but when I press delete with an email selected, it gets deleted from the app but not from my hotmail email account. This must be somewhere in the settings, I just cant find it! Any ideas?

Sorry I should have said, I am using an IMAP connection between Outlook.com (the server for my [email protected] account) and Mail.
Broadly speaking the setup is working well and i can happily send and receive emails using 'pushed' emails (IDLE command). It just doesn't delete any of the emails on the server if i delete them on the Mac.
(as a side, the setup also generates 2 emails in the sent folder. But this is another issue on another discussion)

Deleting Mail from AOL Account from my iphone

I have been having trouble deleting mail form my email accounts. The only account that as been giving trouble is my aol account. I have other email accounts with other carriers and I have no problem with them. If anyone can help me that would be great.

Simple little fix for this, should get you sorted out, just has a lot of taps to it!
Tap as follows :
Settings
Mail,Contacts, Calendars
AOL Account
Advanced
Deleted mailbox
From there, I assume it has a mailbox checked. Check any other mailbox, then tap it back to the original box and exit out. You should now be able to delete mail again in your account. Enjoy!

How to delete Mail account without losing old mail?

I've recently changed ISPs, so I have three old accounts/addresses in Mail that are no use any more. I want to delete them, but Mail (and Mail Help) tells me if I do I'll lose all the mail that has been sent or received from/by those accounts. I tried unchecking the Enable box in the Advanced tab in Preferences:Accounts, but then all the mail the disabled address had received (hundreds of messages) disappeared. I was able to get them back by re-enabling the address, but now I again have three extra addresses in the selection popup on new messages, so if I don't catch it, a message can be "sent" by a non-existent address. (It bounces, and I have to select the right address and send it again.) I don't want to lose years of emails, I just want to delete some addresses I no longer use. Anyone know how?
PowerBook G4 17" 1.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Open "In" in the mailboxes drawer by selecting the black triangle beside it....
Thanks for the further elucidation. Wish I'd known all this (which is not explained anywhere in Mail's online Help, at least not that I could find) before I went through the tedium of manually sorting through all the messages. And I still don't understand why a search of the Inbox by the to-be-deleted email addresses failed to find some 20 messages which appeared in those addresses' individual boxes when I expanded the Inbox to show individual accounts.
Many other email clients utilize a single large database file which is not dependent on individual account and associated mailbox filing. ... Entourage uses a single large database file and I don't prefer using an email client that stores all data in a single file.
I certainly agree, and in fact was horrified to learn that Outlook Express does the same, which has resulted in disasters for many users. "All your eggs in one basket," anyone? Funny how folks are always pointing out to me that Apple software, despite glaring flaws, is better than Micro$oft. Since I got my first Mac in 1988, I've never used any Micro$oftware -- or any other computer. "Better than Microsoft" is not the same as "as good as it could be with a little effort," and nowhere near the "insanely great" of the early Macintosh years.
In the early Internet years I used Netscape, which was excellent in its time; in the last few Classic Mac years, when Netscape 4.x simply couldn't do the job anymore (and Netscape 6 turned out a disaster), I switched to iCab and Eudora. I stayed with Eudora in X 10.2, finally switching to Mail sometime in 10.3, because Eudora was, well, looking increasingly ugly in the X environment, and Mail is part of the OS X package and Unicode-savvy (one of OS X's primary draws for me), and I figured I'd better become familiar with it since I support other Mac users.
In Eudora, which does not store all mail in a single database (each mailbox is a single file, not encrypted, easily readable in a text editor), and which BTW comes with a comprehensive PDF manual, "When you delete a personality, all messages associated with that personality (both incoming and outgoing) are assigned to your Dominant personality." Which doesn't require the user to do a lot of research and work to avoid losing years of mail, and makes a lot more sense to me. And is why it had never occurred to me before that such a simple thing could turn into such a hassle; I've changed addresses before and never noticed a hole in the road. So it can be done. Eudora also keeps its mail in the Documents folder, a lot easier to back up than Mail's, which the user must hunt for.
And yes, I've been tempted to return to Eudora -- I never see any online posts about "Eudora just lost all my mail!!!" while I see many such about Mail -- but it would be a big hassle (Mail's proprietary mbox files are not easily readable by anyone else), and like I said, I have to be familiar with Apple's software, since it's what my clients will be using. I certainly do prefer Mail's look & feel, if not some of its quirks.
I did some research to find out more about the filing structure for each email client....
Nice if you have the time/energy and knowledge/expertise to do that kind of research, but most users don't, and prefer the software to "just work" in a way a non-techie user (who paid as much -- or more -- for the computer as the software engineering major) would intuitively expect. As in not tossing all your mail just because you've changed your address.
There is one more thing you can do which is mark your question as answered.
Thanks again for taking the time to explain all this, and I'll mark the question "answered" now. And get back to work.
PowerBook G4 17" 1.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

My email account in Mail.app is IMAP, but when I delete emails, they don't delete from other devices connected to the mail server with IMAP. Deleted mail on other devices delete as normal from the server and thus from other devices as normal.

MacBook Pro, late 2011 version. Up to date Mountain Lion.
My email account in the Mail.app is set up as IMAP, but when I delete emails in the Mac Mail App, they are not deleted from the mail clients of the other devices that are connected to the mail server with IMAP. IMAP works perfectly between Windows Outlook 2010, iPad Mail App and Android default mail client. Deleted messages behave correctly, as in delete from one device and the mail is deleted from all devices.
Having just tested in reverse order on the Mac; emails deleted from the email client on Windows, iPad and Android are not deleted in the Mac Mail App. It appears that the account is behaving like POP rather than IMAP.
Any advice on how to have IMAP work correctly on the MacBook Pro Mail.app?
Thank you.

Hi Csound1, thanks. The email host is 1and1.co.uk, however, i am going to fess up and make myself look like a plonker now -
the email account in question was set up in Outlook as POP - stupid, stupid, stupid me, wasted an afternoon on this! I have now changed the Outlook account to IMAP and Mail.app works perfectly - and looks much nicer than Outlook did. Im in the middle of converting from Windows to a Mac, and still finding my way around the Mac
The lesson learned, never assume - always double check! All my other email addresses with 1and1 are all imap, except this one, and it happened to be the first one I set up in the Mail.app. (bows head in disgrace!)
Thank you anyway for attempting to help me!
Cheers

I cannot delete mail from my inbox and get a message saying (msg) could not be moved to the mailbox trash-POP account".

I suddenly cannot delete mail from my inbox and get a message saying " (msg) could not be moved to the mailbox trash-POP account". It does not matter if I am trying to delete a single message or mulitiple messages. Can anyone help?

If you're running Leopard, as your profile says, then you need to post your question in that forum, not the Snow Leopard forums. So if you're really running Snow Leopard, you need to update your profile to show that, as well as give more details about what kind of mail accounts you have, and who your email provider is.

Deleted account settings = deleted MAIL !?!?!?!?!? (NO!!!!!)

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