Mail deleted all of my POP3 account mailboxes

So I woke up yesterday to find that 2 email accounts (POP3 accounts), their mailboxes and all of their messages gone in Mail.app Version 3.6.
My Mobile Me account is the only mailbox that is still there. The missing accounts are still synced on my iPhone though. So I've been emailing from that the past day.
Does anyone know what happened here?
I have Time Machine running, perhaps if it's a preference file or something I can restore it from the backup?
I'm a little freaked out because the 2 email accts that disappeared are for my freelance business and have a lot of important info in them. So, in addition to setting up the accts again, I need to recover the stored messages in those mailboxes.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Restore the com.apple.mail.plist file, after checking at Home/Library/Mail that the two POP Account folders are present. Quit Mail before restoring the file, btw, then relaunch. Probably only the preference file got overwritten for some reason, but since MobileMe is also in System Preferences, it was automatically restored.
Did anything happen to interrupt Mail's completion of housekeeping tasks, or did free disk space get low for some reason. How much free disk space do you have the hard drive, or if partitioned, on the boot partition? If a lot, would you have been using any video or audio apps that temporarily use lots of space?
Ernie

Similar Messages

  • Yosemite Mail deleted all my outgoing server settings. Any way to retrieve them?

    Yosemite Mail deleted all my outgoing server settings. Any way to retrieve them?

    What is your email provider (e.g Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo, Comcast, AT&T, etc...), and what email client software are you using (Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook, etc)?
    It's likely far easier to just Google the correct settings for your mail provider and recreate the outgoing (SMTP) settings.

  • Mail Deleted all of my accounts except mobileMe account

    I was composing an email when the computer froze and after waiting to see if it was just lagging I had to shut down with the power button as the keyboard was not responsive. When I rebooted, all of my pop accounts were gone. I can see the folders in the Home>Library>Mail folder--the deleted mail accounts. I made a back up copy just in case as well. I thought it may be a problem with the com.apple.mail.plist file that may have been overwritten. If this is the problem. How do I restore the original/correct com.apple.mail.plist file (I do not see any other files with ".saved" and used spotlight to search as well). Please help! Thanks in advance.
    interleukin01

    Greetings,
    Shutting down the computer while Mail was running may have damaged the mail plist where all your settings are stored.
    Do you have a backup of your computer like with Time Machine? You can restore the following files to restore Mail the way it was before the hard shut down:
    Your User > Library > Mail
    Your User > Library > Mail Downloads
    Your User > Library > Preferences > com.apple.mail.plist
    If you don't have a backup consider investing in one: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1553
    Unfortunately without a backup you will need to re-add your accounts by going to Mail > Preferences > Accounts.
    Hope that helps.

  • Junk Mail "On My Mac" and POP Account Mailboxes

    Sailing along just fine for a year or so and now all my junk mail is going to my POP account instead of "on my Mac". How do I get it back to "On my Mac" so I can screen it and delete what I want and save the rest. I can't read it on the POP account. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
    G4   Mac OS X (10.4.4)  
    G4   Mac OS X (10.4.4)  

    Hello, and welcome to the Discussions.
    What are your selections in Mail Preferences/Junk Mail?
    If moving messages marked as Junk to another mailbox, they should appear in a mailbox beneath the Junk Icon, but labeled with the name of your POP account. If you first move message to another, On My Mac mailbox, and subsequently mark as Junk, then I think then it might move to an On My Mac mailbox beneath the Junk Icon.
    More info, please.

  • Hotmail in OS X Mail: DELETED all of my messages?

    right now i absolutely despise OS X's Mail program. I've been using Entourage for a while and decided it'd be nice to just use all Apple software, but boy did i make the wrong decision.
    it seemed like i was able to sync my hotmail account up fine with my OS X Mail, but something ended up happening and all of my messages from my hotmail folders disappeared. I went to hotmail.com to check my actual folders and alas, all the messages are gone from there too. Either OS X Mail somehow just deleted all of my messages (years worth of saved stuff) or it put it somewhere on my computer. I went to Library/Mail, but all of the folders in there that have the same names as my hotmail subfolders seem to be empty, unless i'm missing something. it just seems completely unreal that all of my messages just suddenly disappeared. Apple can't suck that badly...
    can anyone please help me with this? i'd really like to use OS X Mail, but i can't be having this! i also had several other problems with it, including messages i sent through hotmail via the OS X Mail didn't appear in the Sent folder when i log into hotmail.com. Entourage did this perfectly.

    if i SEND an email through Mail, it should come up in my SENT folder in hotmail.com. i'd think that'd just be common default options, but apparently it's not in Mail.
    Mail isn't at fault, since it can't control what you see on Hotmail. It all depends on how the server is setup, but many web-based services will not show any indication of receiving an email from the same address that has been sent through their system. Some will, some won't. If you do this in Gmail, it will show it,but it won't download it; if you do it in Yahoo! Mail, it won't even show the email.
    s there a way that i don't even have to download messages from hotmail.com?
    Only if you stop using Hotmail, or just use the Hotmail web-based interface for everything and store your messages online.
    i'd prefer to not even save copies to my computer. or do i have to in order for me to have access to them on Mail and Entourage?
    If you want to be able to read them on your Mac, you have to download them.

  • ICloud Mail, deleting all mail.

    I have been using the iCloud mail from quite sometime now (Sense the first iPod Touch) and I have noticed it has grown quite a bit from the first release of the iCloud severs came out with the mail option and there is nothing that has shown me how to delete all mail from the server on the system and it is kinda heard to delete my Gmail n' iCloud mail with the combination of over 3500 E-Mail on file from the server in my inbox so is there any possible way to delete all of the mail?

    You Gmail wouldn't be on the iCloud server; iCloud only hosts iCloud email.  To delete your iCloud email, open your mail on icloud.com, click a folder on the left (such as your inbox), click on a single message to the right, scroll down and shift-click another email to select the range, then click on the trash can icon at the top.  You will get an error if you try to select too many at once so you'll have to experiment to see how many you can select to delete at a time.  Repeat this for each of your mail folders except Trash.  When finished, click on the actions (gear-shaped) icon on the upper right and select Empty Trash.

  • Mail: How to reinstate a default account Mailbox that was removed in error?

    Dear Forum,
    A friend of mine seems to have unwittingly removed a default Mailbox (as opposed to a user created Mailbox).  In Mail>Preferences>Account Information, the account is still there and is enabled, but it's not showing up in the Mailboxes column of Mail for some reason.
    Having tried a few suggestions over the phone I now think that the only solution might be to delete the account properly and create it afresh which should cause it to reappear in the default Mailboxes column.  It doesn't seem to be possible to create a fresh account with the same account details, the process stalls.  Provided the newly created account is given the same name as the previous Mailbox it should be possible to restore all the previous emails I think.
    I'll be visiting in a few days and will try and fix it then in person but this question is posed here incase anyone knows a simpler way that I could advise my friend over the phone.
    K

    Hi BD,
    Thanks for taking time to reply.
    I just had a go at your suggestion, using my own Mac which is running the same version of Mail as my friend.
    Just as my friend described it to me when I tried to talk her through this process over the phone, when trying to add a new account it says the hostname and user account are already in use, and so the process stalls at that point.
    I must be doing something wrong because I don't get Name/Description or step 2 that you refer to in your answer.
    I'm trying to add an account via the Mail>File>Add Account and also via Mail>Preferences>Accounts>Account Information, and then clicking the plus symbol below the Accounts column.  Am I in the right place?
    What I get is an Add Account pane which asks for Full Name, Email Address and Password but clicking continue afterwards stalls the process, as described above, even when I put in a different full name.  I also tried adding an account manually instead of automatically but once the email and password are entered the process ends up stalled again as described.
    Any other thoughts you might have would be greatly appreciated.
    Its a POP account and emails are saved on the server, not deleted.
    K

  • Mail deleting messages daily instead of using Mailbox Behavior to keep on server for 1 Month

    I have a Mailbox Behavior for Trash set to:
    Move deleted messages to the Trash mailbox
    Store deleted message on the server
    Permanently erase messages when: One month old.
    But it is not respecting the latter. The messages are deleted daily. I think this is a recent (Mavericks) gift.
    Anyone having the same problem? Any solutions out there?
    Thanks.

    POP accounts will only give you control to server settings at the inbox. If you never remove it from the server, it will download all messages when you log into your account from another computer. This could be a problem with thousands of messages left on a server.
    For IMAP, your inbox will atuomatically sync to the IMAP inbox, so what you do in Mail or Webmail will reflect the change at the other.
    For the other mailboxes, storing messages on the server in Mail settings basically syncs the IMAP and local mailboxes like the inbox does. So, if you trash a sent message in Mail, it will trash it at the IMAP site.
    If they are left in those mailboxes, then the server setting in Mail will control how long the remain in those mailboxes unless you move them or delete them manually.
    If not set to store on the server, the local mailbox will not sync with the IMAP. So, deleting a sent message from the local sent mailbox will not delete the sent message in the IMAP sent mailbox.
    Some accounts like GMail have settings at their site that will let you further control how mail is handled.
    You can make settings to archive messages automatically when deleted from the inbox or sent folder. I believe that is the default setting in GMail. That would be what you want to save all your mail.  That would keep your inbox and sent mailboxes clean. Look at your IMAP site to see what settings you can make there.
    In GMail, the "all mail" is just a reflection of all messages kept and archived. You have no settings control of this mailbox on your mac in Mail. But, you can view the "all mail" under the IMAP folder in Mail.
    You can still set up a smart mailbox on your mac in mail to show the messages in the "all mail" mailbox that are greater than a year old. Only those would show up in that smart mailbox and you can just select all and delete without having to visually look at all the messages in the IMAP "all mail".

  • Workaround for deleting all files in guest account?

    Just wondering if anyone knows how to prevent all files from being deleted after a guest user logs off?

    Don't use the guest account. Create a new one in the Users & Groups preference pane.

  • 5.0 Mail deletes all incoming emails....

    I installed Lion onto my Mac yesterday. It has been okay to be begin with, as with all new OS. I Started work this morning only to realise all my emails in my inbox had been deleted. (I have an IMAP account) I tested it by sending an email off my iphone with my gmail account it would send through but after reading it for about 5 seconds it would delete itself. All my emails from my gmail account is unaffected. How do i fix this????

    No that didnt solve the issue. the only rule there is is the news from Apple Rule. 

  • What exactly happens to my apps and settings when i create a new user account, and delete all the other user accounts?

    Such apps and settings that apply to icloud, appstore, and itunes. I know the apps will still be in the new account and any other purchased apps will be in the appstore for re-download. But what will happen I delete user accounts and choose not to save any folders or files of the soon to be deleted user accound? I don't have a disk to do a clean install and I'm trying to give my super old macbook pro to a friend and I want to make sure the laptop is his and everything of mine is gone. Will erasing free space do that trick?

    If it is not installed in HD>Applications folder and installed in a user account then it's gone with the user account. It's that simple.

  • No directory tree on POP3 accounts vs. IMAP accounts on BB Passport

    Hello,
    After the setup of 4 different e-mail accounts in the BB mail client of my BB Passport I discovered that I cannot see the directory tree of the typical elements of inbox, sent files, outbox, drafts etc. if I want to look into some stored e-mails.
    If I touch the headline in the mailbox of one chosen account (e. g. “Freenet”) – nothing happened. It is the same case in 3 of those 4 accounts. If I got an e-mail and I touch the “file/store” symbol I could see the above mentioned directory tree. In that case I can click on inbox and it seems that the e-mail is stored.
    If I would now go back and look for former (already stored) e-mails which I couldn’t see any more in the Hub I cannot expand the tree from the account headline.
    The only account which is working fine is the IMAP account of Google Mail. All others are POP3 accounts. Is there any reason that there is no directory tree displayed in POP3 accounts? Is this a bug or is this intended? At home I use outlook and I have no issues to see such a directory tree for the same account on POP3 basis.
    Usually I wouldn’t work with IMAP but other mail programs like k9 (which is working fine -> sideloaded) are not implemented in the Hub-structure. That is the reason why I installed all my accounts on the BB system directly.
    Is there anybody who could help me with an explanation or with a workaround to fix this issue?
    Thank you in advance!
    Software version: 10.3.0.908
    Kind regards,
    Tenonen

    It is not the kind of sync I am looking for or I am expecting...
    If I store an e-mail from one of my POP3 accounts starting from the Hub surface (total view of all events/inboxes) I can see that short tree of four elements (inbox, sent...). But I cannot find it if I would like to re-open my inbox of a POP3 account like I can do it with an IMAP account.
    If I choose my Google Mail account from the Hub preference "google mail" and I touch the head-line of this IMAP account the tree pulls down. If I choose one of my POP3 account from the Hub preference "Freenet" and I do the same (touch the head-line of the account) no tree will be opened.
    It is no problem to see all my requested things in k9 as an alternative e-mail client. But the disadvantage of k9 is that it is not embedded in the Hub-architecture.
    John_Clark, maybe it is now more clear to understand my issue.
    Thanks for your reply in advance.
    Kind regards,
    Tenonen

  • How to delete all mail messages in account

    I can delete mail one by one, but is there a way to delete all emails in an account?

    Sean Dale1 wrote:
    Edit Menu/Select All then Delete
    Where's the Edit menu in the iPhone Mail app??
    @James - there is a Delete All option for the Trash mailbox, but not for any other mailbox. You can tap Edit then manually tap the selection circles next to each message, then tap delete. But, that's very inefficient! Your best bet is to access the mail account from a computer mail client (Apple Mail, Outlook, etc.) or a webmail interface and delete all the messages there.

  • Sending Mail to all E-Mail Accounts for a Contact

    Hi all,
    When I'm sending mail to someone in Address Book, is there a way I can send the mail to all of their email accounts?
    Thanks

    The only "simple" way to achieve this is to create a new card for each email that contact has, then add them to a group, then when you send an email, select that group and the email will be sent to each of the email addresses of your contact.
    hope this helps

  • Thunderbird is deleting all of the emails throughout my whole email account including ones which were in folders. How do I stop this?

    Yesterday Thunderbird started to delete all emails in my account. Leaving only the most recent email in all of the folders including inbox. Please help me stop this, I have a lot of important documents which have been wiped out.

    If your account is POP, check that the setting in Tools menu (ALt+T) > Account settings > disk space is not set to automatically delete messages based on age or total.

Maybe you are looking for

  • The trouble with the apple store

    Have to vent - customer relations is closed for the weekend. I ordered a new customized macbook pro in April 2010 - high resolution matte display, 8 GB ram, 7200 rpm hard drive, core i7 processor. Sadly, a hard drive failure occured in August 2010. I

  • How do you convert a black and white photo to color on the iphone

    please tell me how

  • X11 and open source applications issues

    I have a brand new iMac 20 w/ OS X 10.4.8/ Core Duo 2.16/ ATI X1600 w/ 256 mb vram/ 1 gb of system ram. I have been using open source systems for almost two years and would like to continue to use some of the applications which are provided for Macin

  • Ipod freezes video but audio keeps on going!

    Hi I have a 5th generation 32 gb iPod touch in the colour blue running IOS 7.1.2 and I noticed that whenever I'm on the web watching a video on a website, in the middle of the video the video freezes and audio keeps on going. It's honestly really ann

  • Sending an http request

    Hi, I want to send an http request with a string(this is an xml string)which will give me a response which contains an xml string again.Can anybody tell me how can i do it in java.Any sample code will be a great help thanks in advance.