Mail acts like I'm using it for first time when I've had it for years

Question

I've used Apple Mail for several years and have my accounts set up, but when I launched it today, I got the "Welcome to Mail" interface and it's asking me to set up my accounts.
I had this problem before, but forgot how to fix it. I would like to be able to get at all my old emails and all of that.

Answer 1

Probably little value in reinstalling Mail -- the issue is likely within your User Account, and not the application. Removing the com.apple.mail.plist file and the Mail folder from Home/Library/Preferences and Home/Library/Mail will allow you to have a fresh start. You can test this in advance by the following:
Create a New User Account, and as that New User try to set up this one or both Gmail accounts. If not familiar with setting up a New User Account, see:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8235.html
This will be a useful test, and it not meant to suggest a permanent switch to the New User Account, but rather a test of the Mail application outside of your normal User Account and its existing setup data.
Ernie