Q: Manual Mail Migration

This worked for me. I trasfered 52GB of data (4GB were attachments) and somewhere around 10 internet accounts. I did have to make sure permissions were set correctly on each file/folder I copied over. Had to specificially set preferences individually to read/write. Thanks apple_Mikey

You are my hero! Thanks for this! I spent a day trying to migrate my data and following various other instructions, none of which worked. I think you are correct in that the key is to migrate the account file. It really is a shame that this is so hard. Thank you for writing this up!

Hi apple_mikey,

unfortunately, that didn't work for me. Most of the Folders and files where there and I replaced it, but Mail didn't show anything.

But as I archive all the mails from time to time to local folders, I'm right now importing all the Local Mailboxes which seems to work well using the import function. Still running... hope everything is there when finished.

I have two IMAP mailboxes, downloading them should also be no problem. So that's my workaround to get my mails into my fresh install of El Capitan.

Oh, holy heaven, Apple! This is ridiculous!  I have many accounts and have tried this a million times already, but I'm thinking that your permissions thing might be my issue -- did you have to change the permissions in every single file you moved over?

Hi. So only these file is enough? a part of the mail file in library?

Which posting did you reply to?

I imported the Mails i had in "Local mailboxes" using the import function. Import - Apple Mail... 10.000s of mails, takes some time, but worked good.

I'm archiving the IMAP mails from time to time in local mailboxes (inbox 2013, 2014 and so on) and I'm saving attachments somewhere else and remove them from the mails, so the imap folders don't get too big.

See this post for an extensive description of problems and steps taken to solve them in migrating mail from a cloned 10.8 system to a fresh install of 10.11.

In the end, I almost succeeded — everything was there: messages, mailboxes on my Mac, smart mailboxes, rules, other preferences, etc. Except that I only had 5,000 messages instead of the 7,000 I had on my 10.8 system.

Some of the steps described here didn’t work for me, but I have to admit I never tried the whole sequence, and my other post does not address that. Curious and insatiable as I am, I think I will redo my mail transfer following these exact steps and see what happens.

Thanks for your post. I know how much experimentation goes into discovering and describing this kind of thing effectively.

Thank you apple_mikey! I did a clean install of El Capitan and was able to fairly easily customize and/or copy Library files from my old Mac to my new Mac, but could not come close to getting Mail (along with hundreds of folders and subfolders) to work on the new Mac. Then I found you solution, carefully followed it,  and--low and behold--it worked! The only think I needed to do to get it to fully work was a restart of the Mac.

Thank you so much for taking the time to work through this and for the detailed solution!

You did great job. Thank you!

I had the same issue. And tried everything written here... it didn't work... But i solved it in another way, maybe it will be helpful.

So my goal was to move all my mail from old MBP 2011 Mavericks to new MBP El Capitan. I have 5 mail accounts(boxes).

after several attemts to move some library files and folder (Mail, mail download etc) it didnt't work.

0 So i just opened a brand new mail app, and added (logged in) all my accounts manually. Fortunately google and some other accounts automatically downloaded all my mail history including sent files (it took me couple of hours).

But unfortunately one account didn't want to download it's history and sent files.

I did the following:

1 On old MBP Mavericks, at mail app, i right clicked on this account incoming mail box icon -> exported mail box to usb drive

2 Then i did the same to the sent files of this account mail box (on the left side of a sent mail icon (paper plane) there is an arrow sign. Click on it and you will see divided boxes with sent mail for each of your account. Chose the one you need, then right click and export to your usb/external drive.

3 Then i plugged usb drive to the new MBP El Capitan. There i opened mail app, then -> File -> import mail box -> picked 1st file with incoming mail (you will need to wait plenty of time (10k mails took me about 1,5 hours)

4 Then you do the same with the sent mail on your usb drive... wait patiently.

5 Once all boxes are imported to your Mail app, you can see them in the bottom in a import folder.

6 Pick the 1st imported mail box (that one with incoming mail), you see all  your messages. Pick all of them - cmd+a or holding the shift key pick first and the last message -> right click -> move to -> chose the mail box account where you want to move them. (you will have to wait....)

7 the same for sent files. Choose them all, then right click and move them to the sent mail folder of your account.

This is very boring and time consuming method (especially if you have a long mail history) but it worked for me.

All income and sent messages are in place including attached files. Search bar works.

The only bad thing - no flags/tags for email were transferred, no vip contacts... you'll need to do it again manually.

Hope this will help you. Good luck!

PS

Hope apple will fix this issue in the future and make mail migration easier.

Thanks so much for this apple_mikey - it worked a treat! Shame on Apple for not providing this information. It's not unusual for Mac users to have to manually migrate their data, especially when there is some corruption or conflict that is difficult to track down (therefore Migration Assistant isn't an option).

Hi

Just to let you know that I am in the same sort of position- trying to import all my mail from 10.8.5 Mountain Lion to 10.11.5 El Capitan.

iain@meek.demon.co.uk- yet to get this one working

iaintsmeek@gmail.com- this one seems to be working

Hi Ignatzmouse:

Same issue over here. Mid-2012 Macbook Pro running (perfectly, I might add) Mountain Lion 10.8.5 to new Macbook Air 11 inch (new out of the box) running El Capitan 10.11.5. No one at Apple seems to be be able to understand their own program! First answer was "Well, you have to upgrade your OSX on the Macbook Pro first to El Capitan." Why is that always the first answer? That is not the answer. Second answer was "Migration Assistant" which moves over everything and then there are problems on the new Macbook Air, to which Apple says "Well, there may have been something bad on the source computer that you moved over." But Migration Assistant doesn't let you choose specific programs like Apple Mail to move. Shouldn't that be a top priority with Apple, if only to avoid unnecessary tech calls? 2 simple buttons on Migration assistant: 1 that says "Migrate only Apple Mail, mail accounts and folders" and 1 that says "Migrate only iTunes and Playlists". Seriously. I just need my Apple Mail (and all of my created work mail folders and emails within) to exist on 2 computers. In any case, any step by step instructions come your way? I followed something I found on the web but that turned out to be a bust. Nice new Macbook Air just sitting here...

i just tried this in El Capitan 10.11.6, the only file i could not find was /Preferences/com.apple.MailMigratorService.plist (file)

if you can edit your location instructions for

/Mail Downloads (folder)

it is located in

/Users/your user account/library/containers/com.apple.mail/data/library (at least this was the case for me)

one more thing in order for changes to take effect you must log out of your account.

thank you you have saved us a great deal of time. a 6 pack for you.

I found an Apple Tech person who searched for the answer. From Mountain Lion to El Capitan it's really very simple. With Apple Mail open on the source computer, select the mail folder(s) you want copied and press on track pad with 2 fingers and you'll get a pop up menu. Choose "Export Mailbox" and export it to a USB flash drive. Place USB flash drive in destination computer. Open Apple Mail on designation computer and go to "File" > "Import Mailboxes…"  A window will pop up. You'll have about 5 different options of what kind of file you'd like to import. Choose the first one titled "Apple Mail". It will be important and will slowly populate. Note: during the exporting/importing process you won't see a typical "blue" transfer time-bar indicating at what stage the transfer is at. It's fast but give it a few minutes anyway. If on your source computer you don't know if it's complete try to eject the USB flash drive. If you get an error message saying it's in use, then wait -- it's still writing. Do the same thing with your sent mail folders. Then, on destination computer, add your mail accounts (Preferences>add account) and with your source computer Preferences >Accounts open, simply type in the information from the source computer into the correct fields on the source computer. Special thanks for Janet Murray from Apple who took the time to trouble shoot this and turned a complicated issue into a simple solution!