Problem viewing mail transferred from one Mac to another

I recently purchased a new Mac.  I used Time Machine to back up my old Mac, and then had it transfer all the information and settings from my old Mac to my new one.
One problem I've had is that when I open up Mail on my new Mac, none of the emails from my old computer can be seen.  All the mailboxes and associated settings transferred over without a hitch, but none of the emails are visible.  When I access the Mail folder (via Users/[My Name]/Library/Mail/V2), I can find the files of my old emails in the various subfolders; so they obviously transferred to the new computer.  But I can't figure out why I can't view them.
Any advice or help on how I can solve this issue would be very much appreciated.

Quit Mail. Force quit if necessary.
Back up all data. That means you know you can restore the Mail database, no matter what happens.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder
from the menu bar. Paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V, then press return.
A folder window will open. Inside it there should be files with names as follows:
Envelope Index
ExternalUpdates.storedata
Move those files to the Desktop, leaving the window open. Other files in the folder may have longer names that begin as above. Move those files, if any, to the Trash.
Log out and log back in. Relaunch Mail. It should prompt you to re-import your messages. You may get a warning that the index is damaged and that Mail has to quit. Click OK. Typically, the process takes a few minutes, but it may take hours if you have gigantic mailboxes. In that case, you may be able to speed things up by temporarily adding your home folder to the Privacy list in the Spotlight preference pane. Remove it when Mail has finished importing.
Test. If Mail now works as expected, you can delete the files you moved to the Desktop. Otherwise, post your results.

Similar Messages

  • How can I migrate my junk-mail settings from one Mac to another?

    I would like to move my junk mail settings from one Mac to another. I found this article (https://kb.siteground.com/how_to_synchronize_the_junk_email_settings_in_mac_mail /), but can't locate the file indicated in the article, so I suspect that the article is out of date (though it's not dated).
    Both machines - MacOS 10.9.5; Mail 7.3.
    Any insights much appreciated!
    Best,
    Doug

    Make your user library visible and see if you can find it.
    Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J.  When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder.  Select Library.

  • I have no problems copying iMovie Events from one Mac to another, however, how can I copy iMovie Projects from one Mac to another?

    I have no problems copying iMovie Events from one Mac to another, however, how can I copy iMovie Projects from one Mac to another?  Any help will be appreciated.  Thank you.

    This should give you some good insight, I'd probably store them on an External HD on the old machine and then just drag and drop to the new machine.
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4141

  • Move all Mail emails from one Mac to another

    Move all Mail emails from one Mac to another (both Mountain Lion)
    Is it correct to copy (/replace) the following to the target Mac?
    ~/Library/Mail/
    ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail
    and everything beginning with
    ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist...
    Many thanks!

    coxorange wrote:
    Csound1 wrote:
    The Imap account does not need to be moved, sign in on the new machine, your mail will be there.
    Does this mean even though these mails had been downloaded to the first Mac, they are still stored online too
    Yes, Imap systems store all mail on the server, all connected clients are synchronized to the server (the mail itself stays on the server)
    ... regarding the POP accounts. Do you simply want the contents are or you planning on continued use of these accounts on the new machine?
    Continued use.
    Export each mailbox from the old machine to the desktop, to do so select a mailbox, rght click and choose Export, repeat for all others. Move the mailboxes to the new machine'sdesktop.
    I suggest setting up the new accounts before importing the mail from the old machine.
    In mail choose File>Import Mailboxes, choose the ones on the desktop (one at a time) a new mailbox will appear in Mail called Imported, you can move mail from there back to the correct mailbox in the POP accounts.

  • Move mail folders from one mac to another

    How to move my mail folders from one mac to another.
    The foldera re on my mac. See below the attached image.

    Some possible options in no particular order:
    (1) Copy the folders to a SUB Thumb Drive.
    (2) Use Dropbox
    (3) If your Macs are compatible with AirDrop see list:
    MacBook Pro (Late 2008 or newer)
    MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer)
    MacBook (Late 2008 or newer)
    iMac (Early 2009 or newer)
    Mac Mini (Mid 2010 or newer)
    Mac Pro (Early 2009 with AirPort Extreme card, or Mid 2010)
    Activate AirDrop on both Macs to Move/Copy your Mail Folders.

  • How can I transfer entire contents of Mail mailbox from one Mac to another?

    I've long wondered how to do this:
    I have two Macs - an iMac and a MacBook Pro.
    I have categorized several hundred emails on the MacBook into a separate "mailbox" by itself. Let's just call it "Project XYZ emails" for the sake of discussion.
    I need to transfer ALL of those emails +en masse+, hopefully still categorized together into a separate "Project XYZ emails" mailbox file, from the MacBook to the iMac. How is this done?
    In the old days, when I used to use Eudora, this was quite simple -- one could physically locate the separate desired "mailbox" file in the Finder and just copy it from one hard drive to the other, and then place the mailbox into the appropriate place of Eudora's file structure on the second computer. Relaunch Eudora and voila, the new mailbox is there for viewing, etc.
    But in Mail, I can't find any tangible "file" on my hard drive that represents a "mailbox" in the Mail program. And that includes control-clicking the application file itself and choosing "Show Package Contents." When I do that, I can see, after burrowing into the folders, a single large file called "Mail" which I think contains ALL mailboxes lumped together. But I can't see a way to separate them for individual manipulation.
    Any suggestions or ideas on how to copy entire mailboxes in Mail from one Mac to another?

    Thanks! Seems to have worked.
    Once I imported tham, I had to fiddle around renaming mailboxes and "moving" the emails to the desired locations, but that only took a minute. So overall, seems like that's the solution! I only wish that the steps to do this were made clearer by Apple in the Mail "help" menu -- where I couldn't find any mention of how to do this.
    A happy ending, in any event.
    In case anyone reads this in the future, let me add in the missing steps, to make it perfectly clear:
    In Mail, choose 'archive mailbox' from the mailbox menu.
    +Copy the newly created archived mailbox file, which will probably be a file with the suffix ".mbox," from the original machine to the second machine.+
    On the second machine: In Mail choose 'import mailbox' from the file menu.
    +The emails will now appear in a new mailbox in Mail listed under the name "imported" or "import." If desired, either rename the mailbox, or create a new mailbox with the correct name, and "move" all the emails into it.+
    Done!

  • Export mail folders from one Mac to another?

    Is there a way to export my folders and it's contents from my iMac to my MacBook?
    I tried import but it's not the same to have my mail I want to keep in an import folder alonside my main account on the macbook retrieving everything from my pop account so i'll still have to delete.
    So instead of me having to delete old mail which I already have done on my G5, will I have to do the exact process for my MacBook and sift through 1000's of e-mails retrived from my Pop Account or can I export all of my hard work from Mail on my G5?

    I don’t understand what you say, but Mail stores most preferences and all account settings in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist (except the passwords, which are stored in the keychain). Everything else, including all your messages and mailboxes, is stored within the ~/Library/Mail/ folder.
    If both computers are running the same major version of Mac OS X, copying these (the preferences file and the entire Mail folder) from one computer to the other is all you need to do in order to have an exact copy of all your messages, mailboxes and Mail settings on both computers.
    In order to avoid potential permissions issues, copy the files operating on the destination computer and while logged in as the user that’s going to use them. Also, be sure Mail isn’t running on either computer while doing that.
    In order to avoid accidentally losing any data (which might happen as a result of copying files in the wrong direction by mistake, for example), instead of overwriting the ~/Library/Mail folder on the destination right away, move it to the Desktop before transferring the files, and delete it only after making sure that you don’t miss anything.
    If what you want to do is something else, please clarify.
    Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user’s home folder. That is, ~/Library is the Library folder within the user’s home folder, i.e. /Users/username/Library.

  • Moving mail files from one Mac to another

    I have my most complete Mail files on my MacBook, with e-mails going back several years. I want to copy all this data into Mail on my Mac Pro. Both computers are running OS 10.5.7.
    Can these files be transferred through MobileMe? It would be a very large transfer.
    Can I move the files with a thumb drive? Where is the data located? In the Mail application?
    Thanks in advance!

    quit mail on both computers and copy the folder /users/username/library/mail and the file /users/username/library/preferences/com.apple.mail.plist from the first computer to the second. then start Mail on the second computer and it will look exactly as it did on the first one.

  • Copy Mail settings from one mac to another

    I have a main desktop running snow leopard, but just acquired a powerbook g4 with Tiger on it. How can I transfer my my mail settings from my desktop to my powerbook? or can i?
    Message was edited by: freak

    Hi, I never tried going backwards with it, but the files/folders involved for 10.4 anyway are...
    /Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
    Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail
    Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail Downloads
    (Could be a different folder here if you chose such in Mail Prefs)
    For Address Book...
    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/

  • Can I copy mail prefs and mail folder from one mac to another?

    Hi everyone,
    My mac book pro's mail is corrupted... I've tried with a new .plist file and other than losing my settings it fixes the problem ! Instead of recreating my settings could I just replace the .plist file and the mac folder in my library from the imac (essentially the same on both computers) and be good to go without the setup hassle?
    Or is this a very very very bad idea?
    Thanks for the info,
    Philly
    Message was edited by: Phillyman

    Yes, that should work just fine, if the same version of Mail.
    For safety drag, your old mail folder and plist to the desktop, until you're sure all is well.
    -mj

  • How do I copy e-mail and e-mail settings from one Mac to another?

    I am fairly new to Mac and have been using a Mac mini for a few months. I have just purchased an iMac i7 and have used the migration tool to move apps and files over. However it didn't do anything with my e-mail accounts. I have several accounts setup on the Mini that I need moved over. I can't import because e-mail is not setup in the i7. Every time I open Mail on the i7 it wants me to setup an account. Is there anyway to bring the e-mail accounts and data over to the i7 without setting up Mail on the i7 first?

    I agree with Antonio, but since we don't know if the Mail app on the Mini is the same version as the one on your new iMac, I'd err on the side of caution and allow Mail on the new iMac to set up; additionally, I'd prefer to start with a new preference file. In order to make it easier, you could take screenshots of all the account windows on the Mini. You can then use those to enter the info when setting up Mail on the new iMac.
    After Mail is set up, quit Mail. Go to the location outlined by Antonio (Users-Library-Mail) and compare the folders with the folders from the old Mail app; i.e. the new Inbox folder should be empty -> remove that (drag to trash) and replace it with your old Inbox folder (same with Sent, etc). If you have old folders not found in the new location, add them.
    When done, open Mail and your folders and emails should all be there.

  • Transferring from one mac to another not using migration assistant I wish to use a EHD and only select what is transferred - in particular my settings etc. How do I go about it. thanks

    Hi,
    I have bought a new iMac but want to select specific data to transfer to the new one. I believe Migration assistant does all or nothing. I have an EHD and have done iTunes and iPhoto.
    I also would wish to have a similar setup (all the passwords, screen savers, and users etc the same) but not mail and some others. Some, on my old machine like Time Machine and Mail were corrupted? and apple not been able to fix.
    How do I go about it.
    Thanks
    Pat

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4413?viewlocale=en_US
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1963
    Troubleshooting Firewire target disk mode:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661

  • Copying Mail folders from one Mac to another

    I'm consolidating my iMac and laptop, and keeping just the MacBookPro. Mostly, everything's gone smoothly: I networked the two with an ethernet cable, dragged the relevant iMac folders into the Public folder, and copied them onto the laptop.
    But now there's a glitch. I would like to keep an old email folder. I exported the folder from Mail, put it in the Public folder, and, on the laptop, tried to drag it over to the relevant folder. No dice. "Items can’t be copied to “XXXXX” because you don’t have permission to read them."
    I went into Get Info, and changed the permissions for the folder, and every item in it, to "Read & Write."
    But I still get the same message.
    What should I try next?

    Write permission is irrelevant. The user you're connecting as via File Sharing must have read access for the files. Probably you're connecting as Guest, so that means "everyone" must have read access.

  • When exporting and then importing Apple Mail from one mac to another I get "Some messages could not be imported. Partially imported mailbox will be labeled IMPORT" . That mailbox does not appear.

    When exporting and then importing Apple Mail from one mac to another I get "Some messages could not be imported. Partially imported mailbox will be labeled IMPORT" . That mailbox does not appear.
    Any help would be welcome

    This is a bug in Mail. The mailbox archiving function does not include attachments, which  gives the error with the import. To workaround this you can create a mailbox in Mail and copy to it all emails you want to export. Then go in Finder to [user]/Library/Mail/Mailboxes en select the created mailbox. Copy this to the public directory of your other mac. Then start Mail on that other mac and import the mailbox from the public directory. Should work now.

  • How do I transfers iphoto pictures from one Mac to another?

    How do I transfers iphoto pictures from one Mac to another?

    Just snaps?
    Export from one and import to the other
    Snaps and all the versions and edit history?
    Network the two machines together and use iPhoto Library Manager
    Something else? You'll need to explain in more detail.
    Regards
    TD

Maybe you are looking for