Why is my user/lib/mail folder so big?

Looking to streamline and access some space and a look at my user/lib/mail folder shows me it's over 500Mb even after a severe trimming from within Mail. I now have a total of 268 messages across all mailboxes, folders etc, and that includes a total of less than 20Mb of attachments but yet the mbox file in the INBOX and Sent Messages folders are still ~ 250Mb each. Deleted messages folder is empty and permissions etc repaired. Any ideas? Thanks

The only items within a mailbox (i.e. within an .mbox or an .imapmbox folder) used by Mail 2.x are Info.plist and the Messages folder. Any other files you may see there (mbox in particular) are almost certainly Mail 1.x files that Mail 2.x leaves there after the conversion. This is poorly explained in Mac OS X 10.4 Mail: Some mailbox files used by Mac OS X 10.3 are not deleted after importing. The article only talks about mailboxes in ~/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/, but the same can also be said about mailboxes in “POP-”, “IMAP-”, or “Mac-” account folders.
As long as you keep a backup copy of the old files for a while (at least, until you’re sure everything was converted properly), they can safely be removed from the Mail folder. OnyX has a Cleaning > Misc > Temporary and obsolete items option for getting rid of all those files.

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I deleted preference file and now cant find any mail in user/library/mail/ folder!

I actually overwrote the preference file with an older one, because mail was having major issues sending and receiving and other password related wierdness...it actually made my host block my ip when I tried to reset the mail settings and test...meaning I wasnt able to see my website anymore...my administrater for the hosting reset it now...but its kinda freaking me out!
anyways the major issue now is the fact that after I overwrote the mail preference file and reopened mail everything was different...somewhat what I expected since I changed the preferences...but I was confident that I could easily go to the mail folder in library and retrieve all inbox, sent, draft, and trashed folders of messages...nothing was there!!!
Has anyone experenced this?
I didnt look in the mail folder before changing the preferences, so I dont know if they were their at all...ever?
but the interface was showing all files, sent and recieved deleted etc...is it possible that it was only setup somehow on a server, like using imap or a cloud?
I recently got this computer (sry I should have mentioned: Macbook, snow leopard 10.6.8, using mail 4.6 i think)
SO maybe the dude I bought it from somehow had it set to use a server based repository for mail?? is there a way to know...
I fiddled with computers a fair bit and feel pretty confident with OS related issues, but this is way out of my league!
anyone?
all ideas appreciated!
Thanks
Ja-Flow

That does not delete anything on your Mac - it simplt makes a backup on teh external drive -- http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
If you launch TM you get a finder looking window with times vertically on the right - in that window do you see yur iPhoto library (by default it is in your pictures folder)
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Where is user/library/mail folder in mountain lion?

Hello,
I bought a new macbook pro and now I want to transfer some mail messages received and stored on another computer.
I wanted to put them in the Library/Main folder within my user folder, but if I open the User folder, there is no Library folder !
the only Library folder on this computer is within Macintosh HD, and that doesnt have a mail section.
I can use the Mail program just fine with mail coming in now, but where is that mail stored??
thanks in advance

in Finder, hold down the Option key while clicking on the Go menu and your users Library will appear...

OS X 10.5.6 Junk Mail Folder won't let me see inside

I posted this question already this morning but the post is now missing.... I need help. I deleted a tabbed folder attached to the junk mail folder without realizing that that folder was the junk mail folder for my account. Now, I can see that there is Junk mail (it says 25) but when I hit the Junk Mail folder icon, it shows that folder is missing.... I need to get the 2 re-connected so that I can see the contents of this folder.
If I go to the Finder and open the Junk Mail folder in my user/lib/mail account, I can view the junk mail if I drag them over the Mail application icon.
How can I get the Junk mail folder "reintialized" ?
Thanks for any suggestions.

Lori
I can't get any lower than my documents folder. I have multiple folders inside my documents folderFirstly, I take it you have clicked the disclosure triangle to the right of the "Save As" box? This should then show you a list of folders. Double click on one, and you'll see it's content, including other folders that you can double click, to as low a level as you like.
Is there something I need to set in System Preferences?No, this should be standard behaviour.

Search function no longer works when Mail folder is encrypted

I posted a reply in another forum that has already been marked as answered...BUT I was not satisfied with the answer...Here is the link to that forum for some context:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6362207&#6362207
And here is basically what I posted there:
This problem is a result of my attempt to put my User/Library/Mail folder onto an encrypted disk image, so that my mail images would be encrypted without having to encrypt my WHOLE Account with FileVault (rendering Time Machine virtually useless). Like many, I had to create a symbolic link from the terminal rather than use the Alias...that wasn't a problem. I can send/receive/read/write email all while it stays safely encrypted on the Sparse disk image that I created (by the way THANKYOU for making creating the sparse BUNDLE image an option, this makes it useable for time machine so it doesn't back up the whole thing)...Mail appeared to work perfectly with my folder in the new location
HOWEVER...I quickly discovered that the search tool in the upper right hand corner of the Mail View no longer works...It will allow me to search the "from", "to" and "subject" lines like any old mail program would, BUT the "Entire Message" option returns on results. There must be something special about the Library folder in my Home folder, because I haven't restricted my spotlight settings. In fact with the disk mounted, I even re-indexed my WHOLE computer just to see what would happen. Spotlight is able to search for FILE names on my encrypted disk, but the search "Entire Message" still doesn't work...are there any solutions? I've spent a great deal of time searching the internet for a solution to no avail. I feel like this question requires a real mac genius, but there are other people throughout other forums posting the same question with no answer. I'm no genius, but I'm not afraid of using Terminal if I'm told the basic gist of what should be typed there. I would love to see his answered fully. Thanks!
Message was edited by: jennings

Ahhh! The proverbial missing information. Thanks for clarifying. Apple always has plans to fix problems, but their timetable might not meet your expectations. I strongly suggest that you report this to Apple. Send Feedback and send bug reports and enhancement requests via its Bug Reporter system. To do the latter, join the Apple Developer Connection (ADC)—it's free and available for all Mac users and gets you a look at some development software. Since you already have an Apple username/ID, use that. Once a member, go to Apple BugReporter and file your bug report/enhancement request. The nice thing with this procedure over submitting feedback is that you get a response and a follow-up number; thus, starting a dialog with engineering.

Can't access user/library/Mail backup on Time Machine

I just reformatted my HD in the Mavericks fashion. When asked, I did NOT opt to start a new Time Machine backup series for fear of overwriting my mailboxes and contents from yesterday. So now my Time Machine menu item is greyed out and, since "Library" is an invisible file on the Time Machine disc, I can't get at my mailboxes to drag them over manually. The Library folder simply isn't available. So how do I restore my mailboxes to the new OS? I can access the User/Library/Mail folder by using keystrokes (Go to ~/CH/Library), but it does no good because it's *Today's* folder and there's nothing in it. How do I get at the actual backups from YESTERDAY'S User/Library/Mail folder?

Old Toad: You're on the right track, but it looks to be more complicated than even I thought. But thanks for referring me to that set of solutions. I think it worked, in that my latest good backup is now associated with my current OS. The brick wall I'm hitting again is that all I want to back up from the TM drive is my user/library folder, containing mailboxes. I can't even see it normally without holding down Option while hitting the Go menu item, so locating it for the purposes of Time Machine is tricky, if it's possible at all. One problem queering the do is that there are traces of malware on the backups, and I want to avoid re-installing them with my data. They were the reason I reformatted in the first place. Thanks for sending me to a promising source of info; I've still got Applecare, so I'll call them tomorrow AM.

40 GB large folder in User/Library/Mail

Hi, my 2 accounts which has aproximately on gmail.com about 2,5 GBbytes has in my computer crazy 40 GBytes?
Why the ****?
I'm using IMAP, all folders are set properly, no folders which are not in gmail accounts are in my MAIL application!!!
I hope, that this will read somebody from Aplle, because this is really huge mystake in your almost flawless EMAIL client!!!
BTW (My Macbook Pro Unibody, which costed 59 000 CZK. It is Equal to 3200 Dolars (Yes in Europe is Apple really expensive) and I got 250 Gbytes big HardDrive!!
So I'm really ****** know, because for some stupid reason MAIL Application gets one quarter of my drive?!! BTW, I'm not begginer with MAC (I'm Mac possitive from Tiger and this is my 3rd Laptop, but I guess that could be the last ONE!!
BTW: I know I could remove my accounts, erase folders and create accounts again, but Why?
Message was edited by: Maila87

Hi, my 2 accounts which has aproximately on gmail.com about 2,5 GBbytes has in my computer crazy 40 GBytes?
Have you looked inside the Mail folder to see what is taking up so much space?
I hope, that this will read somebody from Aplle, because this is really huge mystake in your almost flawless EMAIL client!!!
1) Nobody from Apple is reading these boards... these forums are user-to-user forums.
2) Why do you feel this is somehow Apple's fault when you don't know what the cause is?
BTW, I'm not begginer with MAC (I'm Mac possitive from Tiger and this is my 3rd Laptop, but I guess that could be the last ONE!!
Good luck not having problems with that other system... especially if, at the first sign of trouble, you throw a little hissy fit and throw around a bunch of blame.
A more productive approach would be to start troubleshooting. The first thing I would do is to see what is in the Mail folder and what is taking up the space. A good tool that will help with this is [OmniDiskSweeper|http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidisksweeper>, which will show you sizes of stuff on your hard drive. It tells me that my Mail folder is 234.4 MB. (I have six accounts, including a GMail account.) Looking inside, OmniDiskSweeper tells me most of the space is taken up by the Mailboxes folder, and then I can look in there and see which mailboxes are taking up the most space.
You also may be the cause of your own problems. If you have set Mail to not delete sent messages and to not store them on the server, and you have sent a lot of messages with large attachments, they'll still be sitting in your Sent box, taking up space.

User Mail folder under Lion Server? Where....?

Does anyone know where the mail Postbox in the lion Server file system are stored if i use open Directory?
The local users have the mail folder in their home folder, (user/Mail/Dovecot/cur/) but where is the folder for the Domain Users?
Hint: i use MailServeForLion ;-)
Thx a lot

Ha,
i´ve found it.
The User must login once, then the folder mail will be create in the home folder.
But why did i have no access to my own mail folder as normal User? The Folder Icon is shown with a red -
Anyone?
Thx

I need to transfer the Smart Mailboxes I have set up on one computer to another computer. Both are running 10.8.4 and Mail 6.3. None of the old solutions are viable since there is no longer a 'Mail' folder in the User account.

I acquired a new iMac, and need to transfer the Smart Mialboxes I have set up on my Mac Pro to the iMac. Mail is already set up to sync thorough iCloud, but the Smart mailboxes are - apparently - set up for individual machines. The only solutions I have been able to locate involve moving Preference files from one machine to the other; the problem is that there is no longer a 'Mail' folder set up for individual Users (actually there is no Mail folder at ALL under 10.8.4), and I am unable to locate any .plist files for Mail at all. Any idea how to make this haoppen?

Create a new smart mailbox. Does it sync? If not, do as below.
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~/Library/Mail/Bundles
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Open
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2. Repeat with this line:
/Library/Mail/Bundles
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Hi Michael
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Bee,
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Why is my user/lib/mail folder so big?

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