Mail (Mountain Lion) emails disappear - vanishing email - missing emails

Problem:
I have 5 different email addresses configured in Apple's Mail application. One day after checking Mail several times through a day, I open Mail and all 5 email accounts show empty inboxes and outboxes. I was shocked and in panic mode because I have thousands of emails going back to 2012 I needed to refer to.
My setup:
(I'm sure this issue is not limited to my setup)
15" Mid 2010 i7 MacBook Pro, running OS Mountain Lion 10.8.5, Mail version 6.6
My search for an answer:
I've been Mac since the early 90's & I knew finding a solution from apples website would be a ton of work because of Apples mind numbingly pathetic search support.
So I used "the google" to help me.
I found a long history of disappearing issues with Mail since Mountain Lion's introduction.
With that long history, the fixes were many.
I tried two of them:
1- Mails Mailbox pulldown window Rebuild.
2- "home" folders now hidden "Library" remove Mail and Mail Downloads folders..
Neither solution worked for me.
After a lot of time on the google I found help.
Solution:
I found a solution and I'm posting it here in hopes that others find it faster then I did here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11704
In steps:
Mail should not be open, if it is quit Mail.
1 - On your mac, go yo your "Home" folder.
Details for finding this folder:
It is the folder icon that looks like a little house.
A simple way to get there:
With all apps and windows closed, at the top of your monitor, far left, is the Apple icon, next to that is the word "Finder", go right and click on the word "Go", in that drop down menu/window click on "Home"
2 - Open "Library" folder in "Home" folder.
Details for finding this folder:
It is a folder that starting with Lion is now invisable/hidden from your view. So you first have to make it visable/unhide it.
A simple way to get there:
As listed above, at the top of your monitor, far left, is the Apple icon, next to that is the word "Finder", go right and click on the word "Go", in that drop down menu/window now click on "Go to Folder". That will open a window with a box for you to type. In the box type "~/Library" ... more help... the ~ key can be found in the upper left corner of your keyboard just under the esc key. Press the shift key then the `~ key.
3 - Open "Mail", then "V2" then "MailData" inside that folder delete any file that begins with “Envelope Index,” such as Envelope Index or Envelope Index-shm.
Details for finding the items to delete/trash/put in recycle bin and empty:
Inside your now unhidden "Home" "Library" folder, open the "Mail" folder, inside that folder open "V2" folder, inside that folder open "MailData" folder, inside that folder look for any file that begins with “Envelope Index,” such as Envelope Index or Envelope Index-shm. and throw them in the trash and delete/empty trash.
4 - last step. Open mail.
It should open with a window "Mail message Import" click on "next" it will prosess/make a new list of your existing emails (more emails will take more time) and you should be back in business.

Thomas A Reed wrote:
Yes I am and for good reason.
You have never elaborated on those reasons.
Have you ever looked at all the posts on these forums about Mac Mail? More then for any other Mail program on any other forum
You should know better than to extrapolate conclusions from such questionable sources. Data on troubleshooting forums is always biased towards trouble, so you have no data about the ratio of people having trouble to people not having trouble. Further, comparing to other forums is similarly meaningless. Mail is the default e-mail client on the Mac, and will have a much higher portion of the market share than Thunderbird. So of course it will have more complaints, because more people are using it.
If you have concrete reasons to constantly bash Mail, rather than hearsay and unscientific "data," I'm all ears.
Don't waste your time Tom, this Shootist guy is not actually capable of answering anything put to him, eg: see below.
Shootist007 wrote:
Right whatever.
EDIT:
There goes the "Mac's, They Just Work" idea.

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Mail (Mountain Lion) emails disappear - vanishing email - missing emails

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