sw1974

Q: mail folders disappeared on OS X El Capitan

Having just installed the new El Capitan i've found an issue... when opening mail, all the folders previously associated with my iCloud account are not showing. when I choose 'Get Account Info' they are all listed but will not display in the mailbox. If I then click show messages in one of the folders in the 'get account info'. All the folders are then displayed in the mailbox which I thought had fixed the issue... seemingly not! when I close and reopen mail - they're all missing again.

 

Is there another way of ensuring that my iCloud folders are permanently displayed?

 

Thanks

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Sep 30, 2015 11:22 PM

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Q: mail folders disappeared on OS X El Capitan

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  • by BarefootFi,

    BarefootFi BarefootFi Apr 20, 2016 1:37 AM in response to Moonshine33
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apr 20, 2016 1:37 AM in response to Moonshine33

    Thank you Moonshine33 for a very easy solution to getting my mailboxes back.

  • by svhk,

    svhk svhk Apr 21, 2016 3:02 AM in response to Pammyf
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 21, 2016 3:02 AM in response to Pammyf

    Just a stupid hint, but who knows...? Have you clicken on the plus sign right from 'On my Mac'  menu item? That did it for me (was panicking, too!). Good luck.

  • by SamGordonLD,

    SamGordonLD SamGordonLD May 11, 2016 12:28 PM in response to Pammyf
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 11, 2016 12:28 PM in response to Pammyf

    I tried this several times and it hasn't worked for me.  I'm very frustrated.

  • by Lily G.,

    Lily G. Lily G. May 14, 2016 5:05 PM in response to SamGordonLD
    Level 1 (44 points)
    May 14, 2016 5:05 PM in response to SamGordonLD

    I just upgraded today -- the folders were there the first time I opened Mail, but the second time I went in later they were gone. Even when they were gone, though, I could find messages in the folders, and it even would tell me it they were in the folder I couldn't see.  (Try to see if you can find a message you know to be in one of the hidden folders)

     

    However, since I had multiple mail accounts on my system, the unclicking and reclicking thing only worked when I did it on each and every account - they stayed hidden until I clicked the last one.

  • by Seistrup64,

    Seistrup64 Seistrup64 Jun 3, 2016 1:48 PM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 3, 2016 1:48 PM in response to Nickk in UK

    Nickk in UK..... lifesaver.

    Thank u ever so. Lucky me you gave this reply half a year ago.

     

    Nick's description...

    "In Finder go to your Library

    Add the Mail folder that shows there to your sidebar shortcuts

    In Mail go to Import Mailboxes - under the File menu

    The finder window that appears will have Mail in its side panel

    Navigate to Mail/V3/Mailboxes

    you will find all of your mbox files here

    Select the one you want and import (you can do them all together).

    They will show up in Mail - although they will all be under an "Import folder" which you can rename"

    ......worked and more than 650 mails gone missing after an update to el Capitan was retrieved.

    I knew, they had to be there somewhere as I could create new mailboxes to the missing mailboxes, even though I couldn't see them.

  • by Peter of Mountfield,

    Peter of Mountfield Peter of Mountfield Jun 8, 2016 9:47 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 8, 2016 9:47 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    I have to thank Nickk in the UK for his patient expertise and Pammyf for her dogged naivety. Between them they have save several major projects.

  • by toted,

    toted toted Jun 12, 2016 12:17 PM in response to Moonshine33
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 12, 2016 12:17 PM in response to Moonshine33

    Thanks , so simple when you know how.

     

    thanks again . toted

  • by Mr. Twang,

    Mr. Twang Mr. Twang Jun 23, 2016 3:16 PM in response to sw1974
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 23, 2016 3:16 PM in response to sw1974

    This is to all my fellow Mac users scratching their heads about the email folders gone missing, as well as the preview pane below the list of emails.

     

    The true problem in my case was hideous UI in Mail; the answer extremely simple.

     

    After upgrading my wife's MacBook Air from Mt. Lion 10.7.5 to El Cap 10.11.5, which seemed to go fine, when she opened Mail, none of her custom folders for her Earthlink POP account were there, and none of the emails within.

     

    The problem was that the fresh update of Mail hid all the folders. You get them back by knowing this secret: in the sidebar on the left, on the far right next to "On My Mac," if you hover, a black circle with a + inside and the word Show will appear. Click the word Show, and the folders should suddenly all be listed below. You don't need to rebuild Mail, deactivate or activate any accounts. Hopefully it works for both IMAP and POP accounts, I haven't tested that, just her single POP account.

     

    Next: the missing preview pane that would display the text of any clicked email in the list on the right of the sidebar. At the very bottom of the window there IS a very faint grey dot, very easy to overlook it's so damned faint, just drag it upward and the preview pane will reappear, and you're back in what I call the 3-pane Classic view: accounts and folders on the left sidebar; list of emails at top of the right-side pane; and email contents in the pane below that.

     

    Hope this helps. I was tearing my hair out. Even an AppleCare senior advisor on the phone didn't know this, had me booting into recovery mode and reinstalling El Capitan. That MAY have helped, but I suspect the answers were right there all along.

  • by KABfromCA,

    KABfromCA KABfromCA Jul 22, 2016 6:02 PM in response to Mr. Twang
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 22, 2016 6:02 PM in response to Mr. Twang

    Mr. Twang,  This was the MOST helpful answer in the entire string.  I wish it were at the top of the forum page.  So simple, so un-intuitive.  Not very Apple-like.

  • by isabelle Canada,

    isabelle Canada isabelle Canada Aug 13, 2016 9:36 AM in response to KABfromCA
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 13, 2016 9:36 AM in response to KABfromCA

    I recently upgraded to El Capitan and had the same problem.

    Earlier this month and since the upgrade, I had a bug with "Word" where loads of documents would open until Word crashed and that was corrected by pressing the "shift" key while opening Word.

    I tried this, holding down "shift" as I opened Mail and my Mail is now working, good as new. This may not work for everyone but worked for me. From now on, any bug with El Capitan... I "shift"

  • by waveriderhawaii,

    waveriderhawaii waveriderhawaii Sep 9, 2016 12:10 PM in response to sw1974
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 9, 2016 12:10 PM in response to sw1974

    Yay it worked thanks!

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