How to restore mail messages and address book?

Recently the hard drive on my eMac failed. The drive would no longer mount. Fortunately, my entire user folder has been recovered. While I see the files such as AddressBook.data and Incoming_Mail they are showing up as generic documents. I can't seem to import these files or open them with their respective applications (Address Book and Mail). How can I restore these previous messages and prior address book? I want to add this recovered data to the new address book and mailboxes that I have created in the interim after the hard drive crashed and I began using another Mac.
17" iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8)
20" iMac Intel Core 2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

the new version of Mail is not recognizing the mbox files and therefore I can't import them.
Again, this is wrong. Not only does Mail 2.x recognize Mail 1.x mailboxes, but can import them as either Mail for Mac OS X or as Other. The exact procedure is slightly different in each case.
I need a way to bring these old mbox message files into Tiger.
And I need that you explain what exactly it is that you’re doing and what exactly is the problem in order to be able to determine what exactly it is that you’re doing wrong...

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Simple question; Mac Server Setup for Mail, iCal and Address Book Services.

Hi Guys;
I'm new to the Mac Server world and need a few questions answered.
I have purchased a new Mac mini Server for hosting File, Web, Mail, iCal and Address Book Services.
I’m comfortable setting up File and Web Services however I’m a bit uneasy setting up Mail, iCal and Address Book services to be access locally and remotely(via the internet).
My current setup is;
Internet connection (Dynamic IP) -> Router -> Mac mini Server.
I have purchased a domain name (Thornton-net.com) from DynDns.com + a custom DNS service as I can setup my router to update my domain’s IP address automatically.
I can access File and Web Services remotely (thortnon-net.com) perfectly without any issues via the Port Forwarding feature of the Router.
If I setup Mail, iCal and Address Book Services -> will Mail, iCal and Address Book clients be able to access these services hosted by the server via Thornton-net.com?
Message was edited by: Allan.Thornton

Welcome to the forums.
For mail services (and specifically for your outbound mail to be accepted by other mail servers) your mail server needs to have a static IP address and matching forward and reverse and MX records, or a tunnel to a static IP (with matching DNS), or you need another mail server where you have an authorized relay. Without that, your mail will be considered a spam engine, and dropped.
Additionally, your particular tier of service with your ISP (with a static IP) will generally allow server-oriented access and server-oriented network traffic, where a residential or other tier of service (with a dynamic IP addresses) can be firewalled.
The ISP controls the "high ground" of the network connections here, so you pretty much get to play by their rules and requirements. If they don't offer static IP, then (presuming their T&Cs permit it) you get to tunnel (via IPv6, for instance) to a tunnel broker, and receive your network traffic via that (and with matching DNS) point of presence. That could well be a tunnel for your mail at whichever your DNS provider is here, because you'll have issues with your dynamic address. (You get to sort out if they offer that.)
Far and away the easiest approach (if you want to host this stuff yourself) is to work with the ISP. They're inherently involved in your network, and they and they alone have full control over your reverse DNS configuration.

Mail: Where are email messages and address book saved?

Good morning.
I would like to backup both emails and the address book in Mail.
Where are these located on my harddrive?
Thanks for your time.

Hi Again Bruce,
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
For Address Book, quit AB...
Files...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.abd.plist
Folders...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Caches/com.apple.AddressBook/

How to restore mail accounts and settings from time machine

Long story short...the day that my applecare expired my hard drive went out in my 2009 mbp. So, I bought a new hard drive to upgrade from 250gb to 750gb. Problem was that when I installed it and went through everything...my new hard drive was too large than the computer was made to handle. I called Apple Care and they made an exception and talked with me - which revealed that the hd was too big. His suggestion was to try to intall the os from the disk and see if it will work. So, I popped in my Leopard Install disc...did all the updates...then snow leopard...then all the updates....then Lion...then all the updates. I ended up getting all of my main files that I wanted, along with my iTunes account (my iCal and Address book were synced to my cloud, so they popped up quickly). HOWEVER...I'm trying to get my work email account (along with the folders of old emails) back in mail. I can't seem to find the right file (I don't see a mail plist file in my preferences folder). Can anyone help please???

For posterity's sake, since i had this issue too, i thought i'd post my solution.
Locate and save a copy, locally on your computer, of a library.itl file that would contain the playlist you need. I'd suggest saving to your desktop. name it so you'll recognize it as the old library file.
Quit iTunes if open, and relaunch, holding down the Option key immediately after
when prompted, select "Choose Library"
Find the file you saved in step 1. this will launch iTunes with all the old playlists and such. Don't worry, it doesn't touch the actual songs themselves, so nothing is lost of from your current library.
Find the playlist(s) you want, right click on them and export. save them as .txt file (again, suggest desktop for ease)
Once all playlists you want to restore are saved, quit iTunes.
Launch iTunes, again pressing Option immediately after
Select "Choose Library" and select the Music -> iTunes -> iTunes Library.itl file. This will restore iTunes to the most current copy of your library
Select File -> Library -> Import Playlist and find the .txt file for your playlist on your desktop. et voila!

Moving mail settings and address book info

I just took delivery of a new ibook G4. I used Mail and Address Book on my old iMac G3. Now I would like to transfer all of those email settings and address book info onto my new computer. How do I do that? When I click on the Mail icon in the dock, it takes me right to a wizard for setting up my email. It's already set up in my old computer. Isn't there any way I can just transfer this information?
Chuck
ibook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Hi Chuck
If your iMac matches the following list - yes!
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
The Migration Assistant application on your new iBook (found in the Utilities folder) will step you through transferring all your old user files - including mail and address book contacts - onto the new machine. You'll need a firewire cable to connect the two computers when prompted.
Matt

Exporting Mail Messages and Addresses to Outlook

Hello,
I have had to move my wife from her 12" PB to a WinTel (XP Pro) box (to be compatible with a school network and application suite). Yes, an unfortunate downgrade, but the school "encourages" it - i.e., the Mac is unspported.
She has about 1,200 emails on the Mac that I'd like to export to the dreaded Outlook. Trouble is, there doesn't appear to be any way to get the mail messages out of Mail.
Does anybody know how I could do this so that she'd have all her emails in Outlook and would be able to reply to them?
Thanks!

Tried exporting entire folder from Mac mail, (drag folder to desktop = makes an .MBOX file). Shortened filename.MBOX but PC Outlook still refuses it.
According to Entourage Help, expor is also an .MBOX file, so no go either. But! note below in E. help:
• If your Windows-based program cannot import messages as an MBOX-format text file, you can copy individual messages instead. To copy an individual message, save it as a SimpleText text document or an Entourage e-mail message and copy the file to the Windows-based computer. Then import the message as a text (.txt) file or an e-mail message (.eml) file, depending on the format in which you saved the message.
DRAT! Individual messages, not the entire folder. Bummer. Am searching for a workable method for whole folders, will post if I find a solution.

How to turn mailing lists into address book groups

I'm looking for better ways to manage groups in the address book.
I especially need a way add recipients on distribution list for a particular piece of email to a particular group. I have a bunch of implicit groups I've created that way in gmail and I'd like create explicit address book groups out of my (informal) email distribution lists. Mail.app does a good job of downloading the mails via imap or pop, but now I want to select a message and say "Add everyone who received this mail to my alumni [or whatever] group in the address book."
I'm also looking for other ideas, tips, scripts for managing groups in my address book.

OK, how about you open your csv file in Excel and put a tag identifying the custom label in front of each of the items (so eg 05991444555 with label special becomes sp-05991444555), then do your import. Then after the import run an AppleScript to strip the tag and reset the label.
AK

Migrating from Entourage to Mail, iCal and Address Book

Hi
I am currently trying to figure out a smart/safe way to move from Entourage to Apple Mail.
iCal
I successfully imported all my Entourage Calendar items into iCal. This created a "folder" under the "Home" and "Work" folders already in iCal called "Entourage".
However, I would imagine that if I delete anything in Entourage's Calendar, this will also be deleted in the iCal "Entourage" folder.
*_iCal question_*
How can I move all of the items in iCal, so that they remain there permanently, even if I delete Entourage and its content?
*_Address Book_*
All address book items in Entourage were synched with Address Book.
*_Address Book question_*
If I unselect the option to synch Entourage with Address Book, will everything remain in Address Book, or will they be deleted, when I trash the data in Entourage?
Mail
I have no idea how to import my email accounts and folders (I only have 3 emails in my Inbox - the rest is stored in folders located under the Inbox) currently located in Entourage into Mail.
*_Mail question_*
Any clues as to how to do that?
Many thanks for your thoughts and responses.
Dominique =)
PS: sorry if this is posted in the wrong place. I was not sure where I could put it.

sorry - wrong place to ask.
d =)

Yahoo! Mail glitches with Lion mail client and Address Book app

I had really been looking forward to using my Yahoo! mail account in the Lion mail client but now that it is here and I have set it up and used it for a few days I am noticing the following issues:
New mail is not always received or is received late. Yahoo! Webmail portal shows new items but these sometimes do not appear in Lion mail client even after a manual 'get mail' check.
Mail marked as read in Yahoo! Webmail portal or in mail clients in iOS devices such as iPhone or iPad is not marked as read in Lion mail client, however the reverse does work (i.e. mail marked as read in Lion mail client does mark the message as read in webmail and in clients on iOS devices).
Yahoo! Aliases are not supported. Yes, you can add aliases by inserting the other email addresses in the 'Email Address' field of the account settings, but you cannot add more than one display name.
I have also found that if you turn on Yahoo! contacts via the tick-box in the new 'Mail, Contacts & Calendars' pref pane in System Preferences that I end up with random duplicated contacts. These duplicates are not seen on iOS devices, just in the Address Book app. If you delete a duplicate contact, it deletes the contact altogether. However, I have found that if you keep contacts unticked in the pref pane and add your Yahoo! account the old-fashioned way (i.e. via the Address Book app's own preferences) then the contacts sync through perfectly with no duplications.
I would be interested to know if anybody else is experiencing these issues. It may be worth noting that mine is not a @yahoo.com address but @xtra.co.nz which belongs to my ISP here in New Zealand, but the mail is managed by Yahoo!. The account works perfectly as a Yahoo! account on iOS devices and does appear to be working in Lion, except for these small glitches but I don't imagine these are specific to @xtra.co.nz addresses.
Thanks
Steve

i've had the same experience here.
essentially it seems like lion mail.app just takes an incredibly long time to pickup new changes from the IMAP server at yahoo.
ios and webmail are obviously much quicker.
if it is working on ios, why does is it so delayed in mail?
any solutions out there?

Had to re-install Tiger, where's my e-mail, favorites and address book

I've been having issues with my G5 so I thought installing Leopard might help, wrong! I got a blue screen that would never stop. After trying many options, I re-installed 10.4.11. That fixed everything but now I don't have my old e-mail, web favorites or address book and have to reinstall a lot of other 3rd party products. When I installed it, I used archive and install. Preserve users and network setting was not available.
I've looked in "previous system" but I can't find anything.
What do I do know?

I have the horrible feeling that the aborted Leopard install may have left a mess of your system files. If it was busy archiving them and deleting them from the system when it froze then they may be in Limbo.
In general A&I isn't recommended when upgrading OS, and very likely won't work when downgrading due to the old installer not understanding the formats of the new OS.
I don't use Mail so I don't know how it works. Probably the actual email files are still around somewhere, but you have to recognize them.

Mail, calednar and address book do not load

I have an early 2006 iMac 20". Op system OSX 10.4.8. I think after a recent update, my mail, address book and calendar no longer work.
I tried opening these programmes from the dock and from the hard drive, nothing happens. It's like a link has gone missing. However, in the programme history, it still says I "opened" programme as at the last time I clicked.
Anyone has the same problem? Any solution?

Verify/repair the startup disk (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, proceed as follows:
1. Open /Applications/Utilities/Console.
2. From the File menu, choose either Open Console Log, or Open System Log, or both, so that Console displays the contents of both system.log and console.log.
3. In the Finder, go to /Applications/, and try to open Mail by double-clicking on it. Look at the bottom of the Console windows for messages that might be written there as a result. They may provide some clues.
In the meanwhile, take a look at the following article, in case this is a font issue:
Font Management in Mac OS X Tiger and Panther
You may also want to read this:
Multiple applications quit unexpectedly or fail to launch

Can I combine e-mail page and address book?

I'm sure I will eventually be convinced that Mac is easier to use than a PC. With my PC my e-mail was Microsoft Outlook. My address book was listed on the lefthand column of the page along with "inbox', "sent" etc. All I had to do was click on it to bring it up and then click on the appropriate address which was automatically filled in on my outgoing e-mail page. Now, I have to open 'mail' and also 'address book' separately. Then nothing happens when I click on an address so I have to start typing it in and only then will it automatically finish filling in. Is there an easier way on Mac or is there a way I can get Outlook as my mail account on my iMac. I know most of you are young and were born holding a computer in your lap but I came to them later in life and, although very knowledgeable about many things, computers are way down on the list so I am very grateful for your help and patience with a grandmother.

As long as you have the contact's email address in your address book, all you have to do is start typing the person's name in the "to" box, and it will finish it for you. If you have more than one person named "Steve" for example, if you start typing the name, and you know you have more than one person of the same name, wait a second or two, and a box will open with all of the people of that same name, You can then scroll down using the arrow key and select the person you want.
Or if you know the first couple of letters of that person's address, you can type those in, and the person's email address will finish. That's a little bit easier if you have multiple names.
Hope this helps...

I want to copy Thunderbird from Vista to Windows 7 - including all messages and address book

I tried to do this using Windows Easy Transfer but it didn't work properly. It only transferred the basic Thunderbird setup and loaded messages which were left on the server but not the address book or the emails on Vista which I want to keep. Frustrating!

''ramparts [[#question-1042971|said]]''
<blockquote>
I tried to do this using Windows Easy Transfer but it didn't work properly. It only transferred the basic Thunderbird setup and loaded messages which were left on the server but not the address book or the emails on Vista which I want to keep. Frustrating!
</blockquote>
I used the Gmail option which looked more simple for a non computer literate person. It more or less worked after a bit of tweaking - I copied the gmail messages manually across to Thunderbird and also created my address book as that didn't go across either. All is fine now, thanks.

Restoring mail messages and attachments from Library Mail folder

Can someone please tell me the best way to do the following...
I have recently performed an erase and install of Snow Leopard.
I need to restore my old mail and I have the following data...
A copy of the "Mail" folder from the "Library" folder, up-to-date as of yesterday (19/9/09). I omitted to take a copy of the "Mail Downloads" folder which I believe contains the attachments for the messages.
An older copy of the "Mail Downloads" folder, up-to-date as of 31/5/09.
I was advised by one person at Apple Care that the Mail Folder was all I needed to back-up all my mail. Then the next advisor told me I should have taken a copy of the Mail Downloads folder as well. Another advisor suggested I exported all the mailboxes manually one by one which I now wish I had done.
In any case, I am where I am and I would like to know what to do with the data I have to be able to access my past mail messages.

Robert,
If you were to need to do this again, all you need is to restore the Mail folder and the com.apple.mail.plist file (Home/Library/Preferences). If you restore those -- replacing any that might get created, but would not if you don't first launch Mail -- then Import is not necessary and it picks up where it left off.
The Mail Downloads folder is not needed -- its contents are redundant to what is kept with the messages.
Ernie

Mail Backup and Address Book Sync w/o .Mac

Two part post, I apologize if this is confusing.
1. Is there a clean way to back up Apple Mail? It would be nice to be able to have text/RTF accessible documents - but even just a mbox format would suffice.
2. Currently to share an Address Book group is to have a .Mac account. For those of us who do not need to spend another $99 a year, is there an alternative? I have been pointed in the direction of MySync, but it is young still.
-Tek

This question was never answered because there is no alernative, at least not functional. We decided to join up with .Mac.

How to restore mail messages and address book?

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