David Jones8

Q: Mail unable to import .mbox folder

Hi there, i was wondering of someone could advise me.

Ive just done a clean install of el capitan and my email account is now set up as imap rather than pop. All good. But on my old system mail had a filing structure 'On My Mac'

these folders and mails are very important and i expected to be able to simply import them but no.

Ive tried all methods that i know, import as Apple Mail does nothing, as mbox says there are no valid mbox files. Ive checked permissions, I've deleted the envelope index and let it rebuild. Ive even tried importing them into Thunderbird, so as to export them again (this once worked)

Ive put the mbox folder in the correct directory in Library/Mail and rebuild the index again. Still no.

 

Can please someone help. Its very important and I've spent too long today trying.

 

THanks

David Jones

Posted on Nov 27, 2015 11:40 AM

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Q: Mail unable to import .mbox folder

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  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Nov 27, 2015 6:07 PM in response to David Jones8
    Level 10 (207,978 points)
    Applications
    Nov 27, 2015 6:07 PM in response to David Jones8

    You would select Apple Mail as the format to import, not mbox.

  • by David Jones8,

    David Jones8 David Jones8 Nov 28, 2015 12:28 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Nov 28, 2015 12:28 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks for your reply but i had already tried this. It does not work.

    I even tried importing the mbox folder into mail on another machine and got exactly the same results. Import as Apple Mail acts like its done something but no 'Import' list appears in the sidebar nor is there any progress bar while the 3gb mbox is imported.

    The mbox comes from a hard drive i replaced yesterday on an iMac that was running El Capitan and mail worked perfectly...

     

    David

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Nov 28, 2015 6:15 AM in response to David Jones8
    Level 10 (207,978 points)
    Applications
    Nov 28, 2015 6:15 AM in response to David Jones8

    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

              SYSTEM LOG QUERIES â–¹ All Messages

    from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

              View â–¹ Show Log List

    from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

    Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then take an action that isn't working the way you expect. Select any lines that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

    The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

    Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

    Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

    Some private information, such as your name or email address, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

    When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

    If you have an account on Pastebin, please don't select Private from the Paste Exposure menu on the page, because then no one but you will be able to see it.

  • by David Jones8,

    David Jones8 David Jones8 Nov 30, 2015 2:22 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Nov 30, 2015 2:22 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Good morning Linc

    Thanks for that explanation.

    I read through the lines and came up with this that seems to explain but what is the solution?

    The mbox folder definitely contains all the subfolders and mail, if i drill down i can preview each message.

    Please let me know your thoughts.

    Many thanks

    David

     

    30/11/2015 10:15:58.339 a.m. Mail[440]: Error reading table of contents file from /Users/jonesey/Desktop/Filing.mbox/table_of_contents: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “table_of_contents” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo={NSFilePath=/Users/jonesey/Desktop/Filing.mbox/table_of_contents, NSUnderlyingError=0x7fc30343dc60 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=2 "No such file or directory"}}

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Dec 1, 2015 3:57 PM in response to David Jones8
    Level 10 (207,978 points)
    Applications
    Dec 1, 2015 3:57 PM in response to David Jones8

    This procedure is a diagnostic test. It makes no changes to your data.

    Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

    ls -@Oaen De*/F*.mbox | pbcopy

    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

    Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.

    Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered.

    The output of the command will be automatically copied to the Clipboard. If the command produced no output, the Clipboard will be empty. Paste into a reply to this message.

    The Terminal window doesn't show the output. Please don't copy anything from there.

    If any personal information appears in the output, anonymize before posting, but don’t remove the context.

  • by Smokerz,

    Smokerz Smokerz Dec 1, 2015 4:16 PM in response to David Jones8
    Level 6 (9,699 points)
    Dec 1, 2015 4:16 PM in response to David Jones8

    use iCloud and check mail. anytime you do a clean install all your mail will be available as long as you sign into iCloud with your apple id. also go to apple support and learn how to archive your mail. the box thing has not worked for years.

  • by David Jones8,

    David Jones8 David Jones8 Dec 2, 2015 12:36 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Dec 2, 2015 12:36 AM in response to Linc Davis

    total 32

    drwxrwxrwx@ 14 501  20  -   476 27 Nov 19:17 .

      com.apple.quarantine   19

    drwx------@ 24 501  20  -   816  1 Dec 22:17 ..

      com.apple.FinderInfo   32

      com.apple.metadata:kMDItemOMUserTagTime   50

      com.apple.metadata:kMDItemOMUserTags   42

      com.apple.metadata:kOMUserTags   42

      org.openmetainfo.time:kMDItemOMUserTagTime   50

      org.openmetainfo.time:kMDItemOMUserTags   50

      org.openmetainfo:kMDItemOMUserTagTime   50

      org.openmetainfo:kMDItemOMUserTags   42

      org.openmetainfo:kOMUserTags   42

    0: ABCDEFAB-CDEF-ABCD-EFAB-CDEF0000000C deny delete

    -rwxrwxrwx@  1 501  20  - 10244 27 Nov 13:23 .DS_Store

      com.apple.FinderInfo   32

    drwxrwxrwx@  8 501  20  -   272 27 Nov 13:23 15 WHC.mbox

      com.apple.quarantine   19

    drwxrwxrwx@  8 501  20  -   272 27 Nov 13:23 Computer, internet, tv & phones.mbox

      com.apple.quarantine   19

    drwxrwxrwx@  8 501  20  -   272 27 Nov 14:13 Financial & insurance (inc trust).mbox

      com.apple.quarantine   19

    drwxrwxrwx@ 20 501  20  -   680 27 Nov 13:23 Holidays & trips.mbox

      com.apple.quarantine   19

    -rwxrwxrwx@  1 501  20  -   587 27 Nov 19:17 Info.plist

      com.apple.quarantine   19

    drwxrwxrwx@  9 501  20  -   306 31 Aug 13:10 Miscellaneous & General documents.mbox

      com.apple.quarantine   19

    drwxrwxrwx@ 11 501  20  -   374 31 Aug 13:11 Personal files.mbox

      com.apple.quarantine   19

    drwxrwxrwx@ 10 501  20  -   340 15 Nov  2014 Photography.mbox

      com.apple.quarantine   19

    drwxrwxrwx@  4 501  20  -   136 27 Nov 14:29 Rosie & Edward.mbox

      com.apple.quarantine   19

    drwxrwxrwx@ 25 501  20  -   850 31 Aug 13:14 The Oaks & Warborough.mbox

      com.apple.quarantine   19

    drwxrwxrwx@  4 501  20  -   136  1 Nov 21:57 ZZZ Temporary, keep for 3 months max.mbox

      com.apple.quarantine   19

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Dec 2, 2015 5:59 AM in response to David Jones8
    Level 10 (207,978 points)
    Applications
    Dec 2, 2015 5:59 AM in response to David Jones8

    There are other mbox folders inside that one. Please try importing them individually.

  • by David Jones8,

    David Jones8 David Jones8 Dec 2, 2015 6:02 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Dec 2, 2015 6:02 AM in response to Linc Davis

    I tried that right at the beginning, seemed wise. No different...

  • by Linc Davis,Solvedanswer

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Dec 2, 2015 7:21 AM in response to David Jones8
    Level 10 (207,978 points)
    Applications
    Dec 2, 2015 7:21 AM in response to David Jones8

    What's inside those mbox folders? Yet more mboxes?

  • by David Jones8,

    David Jones8 David Jones8 Dec 2, 2015 8:32 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Dec 2, 2015 8:32 AM in response to Linc Davis

    thats right.

    It is an elderly relations machine and as he was using POP until the new hard drive was fitted. All he wants is to restore the 'On My Mac' folders so they can be uploaded to the IMAP server so they can all be on all his devices....

     

    Thanks Linc

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Dec 2, 2015 8:52 AM in response to David Jones8
    Level 10 (207,978 points)
    Applications
    Dec 2, 2015 8:52 AM in response to David Jones8

    Nesting mailboxes inside others is a recipe for trouble such as you have now. Drill down until you find mbox folders that don't have other ones inside them. Try to import those.

  • by Michael Romo,

    Michael Romo Michael Romo Mar 28, 2016 3:47 PM in response to David Jones8
    Level 1 (69 points)
    Mar 28, 2016 3:47 PM in response to David Jones8

    hi--

     

    I am currently in a plane grappling with this .mbox import issue on El Capitan (had to do a full clean install yesterday for an unrelated issue).  This is tricky, but I think I've figured it out.The problem is that Importing the "Apple Mail" way won't let you inside the Main .mbox file.  The only way to do it is to first go inside using the other .mbox method and then doing the Apple Mail import. So dumb.

     

    Here's what I am doing right now:

     

    1 - Import - .mbox file selection.  Navigate INSIDE the .mbox that contains all those other .mboxes that are not importing. Then Click "Choose" -- Mail will tell it didn't find anything.

     

    2   - Import - Apple Mail selection.  Select the desired .mbox files from this newly-revealed and then press import. 

     

    Whammo--they will appear.

     

    NOTE: I am having to dig several times with some of these .mbox directories (My hierarchy is usually Server:Year:Month for old mail) and it's taking forever, BUT I am totally getting these files back.

     

    This is a huge issue for people who have been using email for a long time. A pity Apple can't create an import function that is, you know, intelligent.

     

    Good luck!

    mike

  • by Michael Romo,

    Michael Romo Michael Romo Mar 28, 2016 4:15 PM in response to David Jones8
    Level 1 (69 points)
    Mar 28, 2016 4:15 PM in response to David Jones8

    For some reason my edited reply isn't updating so here's another go:

     

    hi--

     

    I am currently in a plane grappling with this .mbox import issue on El Capitan (had to do a full clean install yesterday for an unrelated issue).  This is tricky, but I think I've figured it out.The problem is that Importing the "Apple Mail" way won't let you inside the Ma.  The only way to do it is to first go inside using the other .mbox method and then doing the Apple Mail import. So dumb.

     

    Here's what I am doing right now:

     

    1 - Import - .mbox file selection.  Navigate INSIDE the .mbox (for me, it's one named, say, "2007") that contains all those other .mboxes that are not importing (all of the various months). Then Click "Choose" -- Mail will say it didn't find anything.

     

    "2010.mbox" won't import because..

    Screen Shot 2016-03-28 at 4.07.43 PM.png

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-28 at 4.07.53 PM.png

     

    ...it has a bunch of other .mbox files in it. Click "Choose" to continue and it will fail, but all is not lost..

     

     

     

    2   - Import - Apple Mail selection.  Select the desired .mbox files (all the months) and then press import. You will see this



    Screen Shot 2016-03-28 at 4.08.06 PM.png

     

     

    Now you can select them! Do so and  you will see...

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-28 at 4.08.13 PM.png

     

    Which is what you wanted to do in the FIRST place!

     

    I am having to dig several times with some of these .mbox directories (My hierarchy is usually Server:Year:Month for old mail) and it's taking forever, BUT I am totally getting these files back.

     

    This is a huge issue for people who have been using email for a long time. A pity Apple can't create an import function that is, you know, intelligent.

     

    Good luck!

    mike

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