Where is email stored in Time Machine backups?

Just had my computer stolen. I have backups on Time Machine via Time Capsule and want to share my wife's computer until we can buy a new one. So, I want to get my email from the backup and move it to her computer, without doing a total restore of everything else that was on my machine. The problem is, when I go in to the backups, I can't find where Mail is stored. On a mac, I know how to find it by clicking on Option while in the GO menu. This makes Library appear as an option in the Go menu. Without doing this, however, Library is hidden, and it is within this Library that Mail is stored. There is no way to do within the backups because there is no Go Menu in Time Machine - just on the Mac itself. How can I retrieve all of my email from a Time Machine/Time Capsule backup and move it to the other Mac (which uses the same Time Capsule)?

Our friend pondini has info to help you.
Q15 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/15.html

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Where are emails stored in time machine backups?

I just upgraded to Maverick and am trying to use time machine to restore emails that have disappeared form the inbox. The directions are pretty straightforward except, I can't find where on the most receent backup the inbox and its messages are stored. I am feeling dense and frustrated by my inability to do something that should be easy.

Thank you Arthur & Barry for your advice.
The issue (which I did not explain clearly and perhaps am still fuzzy about) is the actual file location, I think. I have a backup from Sunday which appears in Time Machine. I will try Barry's directions to see if the emails so indeed appear when Mail is open.
Alternatively, Arthur's advice would mean finding the ~/Library/Mail/V2 folder on the backup disk. Is that correct?
Thanks again for your help

I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and i can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help

I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and I can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help? I can find the mail folder in my libraries, but the Restore Button is grayed out

OSX treats the reformatted drive as a different one; it's the same as replacing it, and the old one is no longer connected.
See #E3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting to see and restore from the "old" drive.
And, you may not want to restore via the Finder; see the blue box in #15 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

Getting Mail Emails from a Time Machine Backup

I have all my emails backed up on my time machine drive from my old MBP before it broke, but I don't want to copy across everything from that backup. Can I just copy across my emails? Where are they? The email account settings aren't so important because I can re-enter those.
Thanks,
Nick

Your mail is stored in folder /Users/youraccount/Library/Mail. You should restore the whole folder.
The Mail.app preferences are stored in file /Users/youraccount/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
Before your restore the data you should quit the Mail app.
Good luck.

HT201250 How to restore email accounts from time machine backup?

I'm attempting to recover email accounts that were lost in a clean install. I have opened mail, launched time machine and accessed the latest backup. I selected restore. It appears that all of the archived mail on my mac was recovered, but not the accounts (there are three.) Do I have to recreate the accounts manually or is there a way to restore them?

Hi, I just had a similar problem. You can try this post here:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/19491975#19491975
Fixed it for me!

Unable to exclude VMware disk image from Time Machine backup

In Time Machine Preferences, I elected to exclude home\Documents\Virtual Machines folder in my home directory. Whether I use the "+" button to add the exclusion or dragged it in from Finder, the exclusion list only shows [Virtual Machine]. Coming from a Windows world, I am concerned that I don't see the fully qualified path for the "Virtual Machine" folder name. Even the folder property doesn't show the full path information. Since I do not exclude Documents folder, it is included in all Time Machines backup. Unfortunately, so is my home\Documents\Virtual Machines folder.
Question #1: What am I missing?
This question is related to this next issue.
Question #2: If I have a folder called "Users Guide" in addition to the built-in "Documents folder in my home directory, and they each contain the sub-directory "Preliminary", how do I tell Time Machine I want to exclude the folder \User Guide\Preliminary from TM backup?

Thanks for the tip. Hovering does show the path. Now the mystery is a little worst than before, and I'm back to trying figure out how to exclude the home\Documents\Virtual Machines folder (where he VM disk images are stored) from Time Machine backups while it's allowed to backup home\Documents (as intended).
When I get back home tonight, I'm going to try excluding some other sub-folders (which I created) of [Documents] from Time Machine while I allow [Documents] to be backed up. I'll post the results, and hopefully can ask a smarter questions.

How do I restore emails from my Time Machine?

In restoring my wifes email account on her Mac Book Pro, she has lost the emails that were in her in box. How do I restore those emails from my Time Machine backups?

Open Mail and select the Inbox
Click the Time Machine clock icon at the top of the screen and then click Enter Time Machine
Select a recent date when the Inbox was intact from the timeline on the right of the window
Click Restore

How do I set up external storage and a Time Machine backup?

I am trying to organize my external storage for a new iMac with an 500G SSD drive. I have a new thunderbolt G-Raid drive and an aging Airport Time Capsule. I was thinking of storing music and pictures, as well as a Time Machine backup of the SSD, and storing a Time Machine backup of my music and pictures on the Time Capsule. Is this reasonable? Will I need to partition the G-Raid? Are there any special issues of which I should be aware?

Although it's getting a bit dated since the owner passed away this site given to us by the late, great Pondini will answer all of your questions about Time Machine and more http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html

Third party email (Postbox) does not show up in time machine backup.

I am running Time Machine under Mavericks. When I looked at my Time Machine Backup files, I could not find the mail boxes in the appropriate Application support folder. It should be under Library/Application Support/Postbox/Profiles.... Any ideas on where it really is or if it is even getting backed up. I am also running Carbonite and have my POP mail accts getting backed up. Please don't tell me I should have my email set up as a IMAP. I tried to go that route and after three weeks of dealing with my provider (and level 3 support) they informed me they could set it up for me for another $50.
Thanking everyone in advance.
Paul

If you're looking in the Library folder at the top level of the startup volume, that's the wrong folder. The user Library folder is invisible in the Finder.
Open the Library folder in your home folder by holding down the option key and selecting
Go ▹ Library
from the Finder menu bar. Navigate in the usual way to the folder indicated above. Enter Time Machine and see whether the files are present in the snapshots.

Where can I find mail messages I saved in the time machine backup

I am trying to retrieve e-mail messages I had saved in folders from my time machine backup. Where do I find them ?

Put the icon in the menu bar (if not already there) ->System Preferences->Time Machine->Show Time Machine status in menu bar.
Then, while in Mail, click the icon, and select "Enter Time Machine"
Locate the emails in Time Machine, then select Restore.

After restoring from Time Machine backup (that was on 10.6.8) to a new (replaced) hard drive (on 10.8.3), iPhoto shows nothing in it's Library. Where are my photos?

Before I upgraded from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion, I thought I did all the appropriate updades (to 10.6.8) and backups, I did a Time Machine backup literally right before I did the install. During the install of Mountain Lion, my hard drive crashed and I had to get it replaced... which was covered by a Protection Plan. When I got the computer back, it had the desired OS (10.8.3), and I was told that if I did a Time Machine restore from my last backup, everything would kinda "catch up" to the current OS. So, just about everything "looks" the same as it did on the day when my original hard drive crashed (everything organized the same way on my desktop, multiple settings saved as they were before the crash)... but when I open iPhoto, it asks me what Library I want it to use. There was no separate folder that I had my original photos saved in... but I always was able to find the root files within iPhoto. But now iPhoto can't find them. Where the **** are they... and did the update have something to do with them being moved, or worse...?
Thanks for any help

Certainly you can restore files with Time machineas I noted in my original post - that is what TM is all about
1 - launch Time Machine
2 - go back to the when you made the backup
3 - select the iPhoto library (by default in your pictures folder)
4 - click the restore button
See - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US - for more details
One quote from that article
To restore, select the file/folder and click the "Restore" button. The file will automatically be copied to the desktop or appropriate folder. If the file you are restoring has another file in the same location with the same name, you will be prompted to choose which file to keep or keep both.
And also from my first post
And you may need to post in the Time Machine forum as this is really a TM question not an iPhoto question
LN

Where is my I Photo Library in Time Machine Backups as I seem to have lost photos after installing Lion?

Can anybody tell me how I can locate my photos from I Photo in the Time Machine backups as I seem to have lost most of 2011 after installing Lion.
Many thanks

To recover individual photos open iPhoto and use the File ➙ Browse Backups menu option.
Click to view full size
That will take you into iPhoto in Time Machine where you can search for the phtoos and restore them.
To restore the entire library, close iPhoto, go to the Pictures folder, enter Time Machine, go back in time till you get the library you want to restore, select it and use the Restore button.
Click to view full size
OT

Time Machine Backup only one-fifth the size of my disk. Where's the rest?

I have a startup disk with about 250 gigs in my G5 dual. I have a 500 GB disk for Time Machine. It runs when it's supposed to and I've used it to recover a few lost files successfully. I felt safe until I noticed that the Time Machine disk has only about 50 GB on it! How is this possible? What do I need to do?
When I click on options in the TIme Machine preference pane, I see the Time Machine Backups disk excluded (as I would expect) and I have excluded an additional disk, and it says in the lower right "Total included: 250.0 GB" What is going on? I feel as if I definitely cannot rely on Time Machine if I had to do a complete restore. I'd be missing 80% of my files!

If Time Machine runs into a problem with a corrupted file, it may skip the balance of the entire folder holding that file (or more), and then if there are no changes in the folder it is skipping, it doesn't pick up on it in later backups. Obviously this is not ideal behavior, but that's the way it works right now.
Here's what you can do:
Reboot from your Leopard install DVD (hold the "c" key while booting until you see the spinning gear on the gray Apple screen, and, if the DVD is not already inserted, insert it just after you press and release the power button).
When asked, select your language.
At the next screen, where you would normally begin an Install, INSTEAD Quit out of the Leopard Installer using the menu bar. Select your main hard drive as the drive to boot from.
When it boots up, log in as normal. Then open Applications / Utilities / Console and select "All Messages" in the column on the left. If this is the first time you've done this, it will take a while to get itself organized and the initial list of messages may be empty.
Then open System Preferences / Time Machine so you can watch what is happening.
Then right-click (or CTRL-click) on the Time Machine icon in the Dock and select Back Up Now from the pop up menu.
Booting from the Leopard install DVD like this will cause Time Machine to ignore the file system event logs of what's changed (because the drive may have been altered without those logs reflecting it), and instead do a Deep Traversal of your main hard drive's file system looking at everything for changes since the last backup. You will see a message to this effect in the Console. Time Machine's "preparing" stage will be unusually long -- for your size of file system it could be an hour or so -- but eventually it will finish the Deep Traversal and it will backup whatever needs to be backed up.
NOW, look at the Console for any error messages during this. The infamous -1088 error is the one most people have found. That indicates a file Time Machine has decided is corrupted -- causing it to give up on a folder. Get rid of those files/folders or put them in the Do Not Back Up list, and do another backup until you have no more such errors.
You should now have a complete backup on your Time Machine disk.
--Bob

HT201250 (1) Where is the "Time Machine menu" and the choice to "Enter Time Machine" (mentioned in the "Restoring data from Time Machine backups" section)?

1) Where do I find the "Time Machine menu" and the choice to "Enter Time Machine" (as mentioned in the "Restoring data from Time Machine backups" section in the Mac Support article "Mac Basics: Time Machine")?
2) How would I restore e.g. a particular photo from a backup I made with Time Machine? I can see how this is done with Word documents, but can't see how to do it with photos?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
1. The Time Machine icon is on the menu bar.
2. If you want to do that with individual photos, it's the same way as for documents. If you want to do it with iPhoto, you have to restore the whole iPhoto library, not only one photo

Time Machine backups of Mail: no email messages

I have a problem with Time Machine backups of emails. If I open the Mail app and enter Time Machine, it shows no emails (for one account) and only a couple of very old email messages for another. There are actually gigabytes of emails in both accounts. I wonder what's wrong, since the files from ~/Library/Mail seem to be backed up by Time Machine. Can I make Time Machine show backups of individual messages? Mail app is setup to access Gmail with IMAP.
Thanks

I just noticed this myself and I think I know what might be going on. Mail no longer keeps seperate copies of all the email that is in each folder, including the Inbox. It keeps one copy of the email in the gmail All Mail folder and then uses tags to make that email show up in the differnet folders but it does not make an actual copy in the folders. So Time Machine is backing up the actual email file that is in All Mail but as far as it is concerned there are no emails in any of the other folders.
This does not explain why there still might be old emails showing up in the folders, I have this happening too. Maybe it's an artifact from the conversion from the old Mail to the new Maverics Mail. I have also not tried to restore an email yet so I don't know if the folder metadata is being backup up or not. I hope it is otherwise all I can do is restore the All Mail folder but I would have to manually put email back into the correct folders.

Where is email stored in Time Machine backups?

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