Help - "mail home directory full?

hi,
I have been using my Mail account for ages. This morning I openned mail but a message popped up saying "MAIL CANNOT UPDATE YOUR MAILBOXES BECAUSE YOUR HOME DIRECTORY IS FULL. You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Selete unneeded documnet or move documents to another volume. (Blue Quit Button).
We I searched the usual and went to Users/me/library/mail. I openned that and went to my POP account, openned up the mail boxes for inbox etc. I copied the .emlx messages into a folder and put them on the desktop, thinking that would free up some space. It didn't. I did a restart ... same message happens.... The mail bar opens but everything is grey, the message above pops up and I have no choice but to quit.
I can't access any of my mail. When I try to open one of the .emlx files on the desktop, the same message above opens. I am at a loss!
Could someone please help. I can't even get the About Mail to open so that I can tell you what I version I have, but I do update everything.
thanks

With the Mail.app quit and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail.
Copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
Using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index.
Delete the Envelope Index file and empty the Trash.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import all mailboxes available in the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail. Select OK and allow the import process to complete.
This isn't really importing anything but replacing the deleted Envelope Index file and re-indexing all mailboxes and should resolve the problem.
After confirming all mailboxes and messages are available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder placed on the Desktop.

Similar Messages

"Home Directory Full" message "fix doesn't work for me

Often (no, not always, it's not consistent), I get the dreaded "Home Directory full" message when I launch mail. Mail then quits when I click OK. Normally, if I launch it again right away, it works.
I tried to use the standard fix (e.g., removing the "Envelope Index" file to the desktop and launching Mail). This did cause a dialog to pup up informing me that I needed to re-index my mail file. I did that, and the process stopped with the progress indicator about two thirds through. I quit Mail and replaced the Mail folder in Library with the backup I had made before getting started.
Next, I tried the Hoover method (running the vacuum command from the Terminal. My machine grinded away for some time. I don't know how far it got (there is no progress indicator nor any other feedback of any kind), but since nothing happened for a good half hour (with no more disk activity for a long time), I quit that process, too. Get info revealed that the "Envelope Index" file had not been modified at all by this. Again, just to be on the safe side, I replaced the Mail file again with the backup copy.
Because the re-indexing in my first attempt had stopped while processing my sent items folder, I suspected that this one was the culprit. I therefore attempted to rebuild it (via the menu command in Mail). Much to my surprise, the process actually finished without an error message. However, my sent items folder now contained some 5,200 emails as opposed to the 7,00 or so it should have.
Then I saved my Mail preferences file to the desktop, made a backup copy of my Mail backup file, and launched Mail. This made the application believe that it was being launched for the first time. I used the Import command and imported only the contents of the Sent Items mailbox, specifying "Other" as the type. This imported 5,225 items; at that point, the progress indicator was showed a fully completed process, even though the "messages" folder contained 7,900 items. Checking things, I found that there was a discrepancy of 9 items (i.e., the last item that showed as having been imported was not the 5,225th item in the "messages" folder, but rather the 5,216th). I thus moved the first 5,216 items from the messages folder into a different folder and tried to import the rest. Much to my surprise, Mail imported the same 5,216 items all over again. This is when I noticed that it does not import from the "messages" folder but rather from the file called "mbox".
And this is where things stand. I still get the "Home Directory Full" message about once out of two launches of Mail (but never once Mail is up and running). I desperately need to get this fixed as I fear I'm on the brink of a disaster with my mail file.
One more clue: I cannot be 100% sure, but it seems to me that the problem began when I added a second dot mac email account to my Mail setup (we have a family pack; I always managed the main account and have more recently added one of the sub-accounts to my configuration). I also noticed that sometimes, this second dot Mac account shows up in my list of mailboxes on the left side of the screen, and sometimes it doesn't. Both these accounts are configured to be checked automatically. In addition to these IMAP accounts, I have a half dozen POP3 accounts and some 40 or 50 local mailboxes configured.
Does anyone know of a utility I can use to rebuild my entire email file instead of just the index? Or does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can manually fix things? I did do the usual stuff already (using disk utility to check the disk, fixing permissions, and so on) without detecting any problems.
Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer.
Daniel

You’re welcome.
When I removed the preference file (com.apple.mail.plist), I also removed
the folder "Mail" so as to start from scratch completely.
Well, that’s not what you said in your first post...
I only use "Other" because I read in one of Apple's notes that one should
try "Other" in the event that the OS X Mail import failed (which it did).
This is wrong in the case of Mail 2.x. That has to be an old article. Could you please be more specific as to where exactly did you find it?
there is a way to actually export the contents of a mailbox as individual
items that can then be reimported.
Selected messages can be exported in standard mbox format by doing File > Save As in Mail and choosing Raw Message Source from the Format popup menu. Standard mbox files can be imported into most mail clients. In particular, they can be imported back into Mail doing File > Import Mailboxes and choosing Other as the data format. Using this format, however, would cause some status flags to be lost (e.g. whether a message has been replied to).
Locally stored mailboxes can be copied to the Desktop or anywhere else by just dragging them there from Mail itself (for server-stored IMAP mailboxes, copy the messages to locally stored “On My Mac” mailboxes in Mail first). These, however, are .mbox folders (not standard mbox files), where messages are stored in individual .emlx files that other mail clients don’t know or care about. They can be imported back into Mail doing File > Import Mailboxes and choosing Mail for Mac OS X as the data format.
It also explains why the import only brought in 5,200 items instead of the 7,900.
The question is: where are the others?
In the Messages folder.
as I mentioned above, I used disk utility to check the disk and fix permissions, so I did
not just do the permissions stuff. In my experience, if checking the disk gives you an
OK result, then there is no point in booting from another disk to perform a repair disk.
Right. I missed that part of your first post. Sorry.
if the mbox files are no longer needed, can they be removed?
Yes. The only items within a mailbox (i.e. within an .mbox or an .imapmbox folder) used by Mail 2.x are Info.plist and the Messages folder. Any other files you may see there are almost certainly Mail 1.x files that Mail 2.x leaves there after the conversion. This is poorly explained in Mac OS X 10.4 Mail: Some mailbox files used by Mac OS X 10.3 are not deleted after importing. The article only talks about mailboxes in ~/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/, but the same can also be said about mailboxes in “POP-”, “IMAP-”, or “Mac-” account folders.
As long as you keep a backup copy of the old files for a while (at least, until you’re sure everything was converted properly), they can safely be removed from the Mail folder. OnyX has a Cleaning > Misc > Temporary and obsolete items option for getting rid of all those files.
Note that if you see strangely-named Messages-T0x... folders, these aren’t old files from previous versions of Mail, but rather an indication that there is something amiss. More specifically, these are temporary folders created by Mail 2.x during an import or a reindexing process (e.g. rebuilding a mailbox) that Mail should have deleted when done. Their presence is a clear indication that something didn’t work as expected.
<hr>
Here’s the procedure I usually suggest to set up Mail again from scratch:
1. If you have a .Mac account and .Mac synchronization of Mail data is enabled either in Mail > Preferences > General or in System Preferences > .Mac, disable it before proceeding.
2. Quit Mail if it’s running.
3. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/. Move (not copy) the entire Mail folder out of there, to the Desktop.
4. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/Preferences/. Locate com.apple.mail.plist and move it to the Desktop.
5. Open Mail and set it up again from scratch. If given the option to import existing mailboxes or something like that, don’t. Just enter the account information and check that everything works fine.
6. You’ll have to re-configure all your settings in Mail > Preferences. For spam-related security reasons, the first thing you should do is go to Preferences > Viewing and disable Display remote images in HTML messages if it’s enabled.
7. If Mail works fine now and you had any messages stored in local mailboxes, do File > Import Mailboxes, choose Mail for Mac OS X as the data format, and follow the instructions to import your mail from the old Mail folder that’s now on the Desktop. Import the Mailboxes folder first, then each of the POP-username@mailserver account folders, if any.
8. If .Mac synchronization of Mail data was enabled at the beginning, enable it again, go to System Preferences > .Mac > Advanced, click Reset Sync Data, and choose the appropriate options to reset the Mail data stored on the .Mac server with the data locally stored on the computer, i.e. sync data must flow from the computer to the .Mac server.
As a result of doing the above, some messages may be duplicated. Andreas Amann’s Mail Scripts has a Remove Duplicates script that you may find useful.
If all is well and you don’t miss anything, the files on the Desktop can be deleted, although you may want to keep them for a while, just in case.
Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user’s home folder. You can easily locate any of the folders referred to in this post by copying the folder path here, doing Go > Go to Folder in the Finder, and pasting the folder path there.

Mail "Home Directory is Full" again

Allan Sampson said on 6th July 2006 "With the Mail.app quit and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index. Move the Envelope Index file to the Desktop.
After doing so, copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import all mailboxes available within the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail.
Select OK and allow the process to complete. This isn't really importing anything but replacing the Envelope Index file and re-indexing all mailboxes.
This should resolve the problem
After confirming all mailboxes and messages are available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder and the old Envelope Index file from the Desktop."
I have done all that Alan has outlined but all I get now in the beachball rotating for at least 20 minutes. If I go to the desktop I cannot access mail and if I force close Mail it comes up with the same "Home directory is full". In case I got it wrong first time, I've now repeated it three times with the same result the spinning beach ball which never stops. Help!
Mac mni Mac OS X (10.4.7) I have five macs and two PCs

Verify/repair your disk first (not just permissions), as described here:
The Repair functions of Disk Utility: what's it all about?
After having fixed all filesystem issues, if any, try the following variation of the procedure to re-create the index (it could be that you didn't also get rid of Envelope Index-journal, for example):
1. Quit Mail if it's running.
2. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/Mail/. Make a backup copy of this folder, just in case something goes wrong -- e.g. by dragging it to the Desktop while holding the Option (Alt) key down.
3. Locate Envelope Index and move it to the Trash. If you see an Envelope Index-journal file there, delete it as well.
4. Move any "IMAP-", "Mac-", or "Exchange-" account folders to the Trash. Note that you can do this with IMAP-type accounts because they store mail on the server and Mail can easily re-create them. DON'T trash any "POP-" account folders, as that would cause all mail stored there to be lost.
5. Open Mail. It will tell you that your mail needs to be "imported". Click Continue and Mail will proceed to re-create Envelope Index -- Mail says it's "importing", but it just re-creates the index if the mailboxes are already in Mail 2.x format.
Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user's home folder, i.e. ~/Library is the Library folder within the user's home folder.

"Home Directory" full in mail

I can't use my mail as I keep getting this message:
"Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full. You must free up space in your home folder before using mail. Delete unneeded documents or move documents to another volume."
I can't find this 'home directory' and have no issues using mail on my other mac which is linked to the same pop account.

Hi surepure,
It sounds like you are using Filevault.
Filevault- "There isn't enough space on your hard disk..." alert ...
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1974
Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4: FileVault - How to verify or repair a home directory image ...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2631?viewlocale=en_US

Home directory full

I have been using the Mail program on my G4 800 FW for years to send and receive email. Recently after a reboot, when I tried to open Mail, I got an error message that read, "Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full." That text was in bold. After that the message went on in regular type, "You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unneeded documents or move documents to another volume." The problem of course is that the only live button in the message is a "Quit" button. I can't delete anything from my home directory in Mail, if I cannot even launch the program. Nearly all the drop down menu items are grayed out and unavailable. The ones that are not, are ones that have further drop downs and they are all grayed out and unavailable, except for the drop down entitled, "Style" which lets me select either "Bold" or "Italic". My 160 GB hard drive is nearly full. The infor window indicates that I have 1.36 GB available. I have tried rebooting the machine again and it did not help.

Thanks for your reply Klaus. It took me a while but I now have 22.4 GB of free space on my 160 GB hard drive. When I finished, I rebooted the machine, but I still get the exact same error message when I try to launch the Mail program. Any other suggestions?

Please help with Home Directory and changing drive location

Hi there.
I read some tutorials on moving the home folder to another drive (all went fine), but there are some things I don't quite understand.
I did a fresh Lion install (from SnowLeopard) and decided only to migrate my user data, but no folder data, so every folder in my home directory was completely empty (desktop, movies etc). When I first tried to move my home directory to a new Hard Drive I wrongly assumed that since all those folders were empty I didn't need to copy the home folder manually, just change the location. But when I restarted the computer everything was gone. So I followed the instructions more carefully the next time and manually copied my home folder over to the other HD first (even though every folder contained in the home dir says no data), and that is when I noticed it was copying 26gb of data. So where is this data stored, and what is it? Obviously it's important as on my Mac all my user data was gone, but aren't my settings and mail etc in my Library?
There seems to be no "show hidden data" etc for my Home dir. So there must be somethign about the Home directory (in the users folder) that I don't quite understand?
I have 26gb of data hiding somewhere (when I do 'get info' on the home directory in the user folder, it says 26gb used, but all my folders are empty) and it would be handy to know what this is and the best way to manage it for future backups.
also - can I now completely delete the old home Dir from my System (SSD) drive since it's all on my other HD? All the folders are empty, but it still shows 26gb!
thanks for your help
Joel

Hi Ari,
Welcome to discussions!
Unable to access your home directory... In what way? Via FTP? If so, how about deleting the file you made:
cd /etc
sudo rm ./ftpchroot
Or do you mean something else?
John

WGM Home directory full path not populating properly

I'm setting up WGM with mobility as all of my network users are on laptops. For some reason some of the users are working and others not. When I try to log in with some I just get told that the user couldn't log on because an error occured. As far as I can work out this is because the home directory for the user on the network can't be found and so a local one can't be created either.
The only difference I can see between the users (bearing in mind this is a brand new network set up so I haven't made many changes) is that for the users that do work when I select the SharePoint I want to use under the home tab in user settings, the Full Path has ...er ...well the full path in it: /network/servers/mynetwork/Volumes/myharddrive/myfolder/myuser
whereas ones that don't work just have the folder name: myuser
This not only happens when I use the auto populated list as well as when I create one from scratch.

You're right, DNS implementation in Leopard server is very poor, especially considering how critical it is.
Time Machine for every user is a bit of a tricky one - I've been thrashing this one out in another thread, and there is an answer, but it's not ideal.
Here's the thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2034769&start=0&tstart=0
The answer on how to do it is at the end of the thread, but make sure Time Machine isn't used as the only method of Disaster Recovery on a corporate network, it's really only good for a useful extra.
As for an internal and external DNS server, the answer I'm afraid is "not really". The way you have it set up is pretty good, from a redundancy point of view. However, if you have to use an external DNS server, it's always going to be slower, because of the extra distance over slower links that the DNS request has to travel.
Bear in mind, it has to go through your router and/or firewall, all the way out to a busy DNS server somewhere out on the net (probably over a number of routers on the way), then it has to come back the same way before your client can actually resolve the URL to an IP address.
Compare that to internal where it has to travel a matter of metres over a (I assume) 100mbps network to a DNS server that's not processing very many requests.
The only workaround I could suggest would be to employ a second DNS server (perhaps a proxy?) within your network assuming you can separate it from whatever causes your primary DNS server to go down. The costs aren't prohibitive - you could do it on a Mac Mini + cost of a second Leopard Server license.
Oh, and your English is just fine, lol.
Message was edited by: MattLucas1505

Help-Multiple Home Directory stores

I'm having issues getting my home directories to function the way I'd like them to. Basically, I have two groups of users "Studio" and "WebClients." I have a partition setup with the respective store locations:
/Volumes/Homes/Studio/username
/Volumes/Homes/WebClients/domain
My WebClients are actually virtually hosted domains, so instead of the actual user's shortname as the directory, I want the domain name as the directory. I have this set, and under the respective user for that domain I've set their home dirctory to point to the domain's directory. However, when the user log's in via FTP in drops that user into the FTPRoot despite that FTP is set up for Home Directories only.
Both stores are setup as Network mounts as User home directory stores. Could this be causing a conflict . . can you only use one directory for network mount: user homes?
Now, the other group of users under "Studio" work fine. Users can login via FTP or AFP for that matter and it drops them into their home directory properly.
Is what I'm trying to do more complicated than if appears? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I figured it out, need to just specify the "Home" and not the network share point or path.

Mail home directory is full

I'm getting this error in Mail:
Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directroy is full.
You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete uneeded documents or move documents to another volumne.
Any suggestions on how or where I should do this?

Quit Mail first and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail. Copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
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.
This should resolve the problem.
If so and after confirming all mailboxes were successfully imported and are available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder and the old Envelope Index file from the Desktop.

Mail wont open says home directory is full. HELP?

I dont know what happend but i restarted my powerbook today and when i got back to the desktop and tried launching mail it gives me the following message.
MAIL CANNOT UPDATE YOUR MAILBOXES BECAUSE YOUR HOME DIRECTORY IS FULL.
You must free up space in your home folder before using mail. Delete unneeded documents or move documents to another volume.
what happend to cause this and what can i do to fix it.
Thanks

If your hard drive has at least 5GB of free space available, quit Mail first and using the Finder go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index. Move the Envelope Index file to the Desktop.
Afterwards, copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import all mailboxes available in the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail.
Select OK and allow the import process to complete and a new Envelope Index file will be created automatically by Mail within the Mail folder.
After confirming all mailboxes were successfully imported and are available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder and the old Envelope Index file from the Desktop.
This should resolve the problem.

"Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full"

I have a 250 GB hard disk, 4.34 GB of which is in my "Home" folder. (Total HD usage is about 27 GB.) This happened suddenly after Mail had been working fine for eons. I deleted a bunch of files (107 MB) in a "Drafts" folder (none show up in the Mail app's "Drafts" icon), but it made no difference. I re-installed the Mac OS X 10.4.11 combo update... no difference. Mail version is 2.1.3.
Any help here? I cannot use Mail at all.
Message was edited by: Bill Strohm

Hey there,
Have you had a chance to look at this Apple support document relating directly to this issue. Hope it helps.
[Mac OS X 10.4: "Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full" alert|http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24486?viewlocale=en_US]
B-rock

Mail not opening, "Home directory is full" ???

I am unable to open my mail application. I'm getting the following error message:
"Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full.
You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unneeded documents or move documents to another volume."
I don't understand. When I check my home folder there is plenty of space.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you
Aaron Yassin

Hello Aaron.
With the Mail.app quit and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index.
Delete the Envelope Index file and empty the Trash.
Using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail. Copy the Mail folder and place the copy on your Desktop for backup purposes.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import all mailboxes available within the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail.
Select OK and allow the import process to complete. It really isn't importing anything but replacing the deleted Envelope Index file and re-indexing (so to speak) all messages.
When completed and after confirming all mailboxes and messages are available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder from the Desktop.

Mac Newbie - Problem opening Mail, says home directory is full

I am new to Mac so forgive my ingnorance. I have been using Mail with no problems but just now (and each successive time despite restarts), when I open Mail a box pops up that says
"Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full. You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unneeded documents or move documents to another volume."
I appreciate any help.
G-Mc

Try the following.
Quit the Mail.app first and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index. Delete the Envelope Index file and empty the Trash.
Copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import all mailboxes located in the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail.
Select OK and allow the import process to complete. This process isn't really importing anything but replacing the deleted Envelope Index file and re-indexing all mailboxes.
If this resolves the problem and after confirming all mailboxes and messages are available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder placed on the Desktop.

On 10.4.11 Mac Mail I get this: Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full. You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unnedded documents or move documents to another volume. I can't open mail.

On 10.4.11 iMac Mac Mail I get this message: "Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full. You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unneeded documents or move documents to another volume." I can't open mail to do this. I have reinstalled software but no effect. How do I get into Mail to delete?

Found this on the "more like this" Worked like a charm!
With the Mail.app quit and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail. Copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
Go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index. Move the Envelope Index file to the Desktop.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import mailboxes. Select OK and allow the import process to complete.
After confirming all mailboxes were successfully imported and available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder and old Envelope Index file from the Desktop and this should resolve the problem.

Unable to open Mail. Home directory is full.

Suddenly I can no longer open my Mail program. The error message I am confronted with is:
"Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full.
You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unneded documents or move documents to another volume."
I have gone in to my home folder and deleted a ton of stuff. But I am still unable to open my Mail application.
Any assistance would be much appreciated.

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.

Help - "mail home directory full?

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