Can't import a mbox file.

Question

Level 1

44 points

Can't import a mbox file.

I recently restored from a backup after a disastrous crash and was able to restore all accounts and mailboxes in Mail except one. It appears as a mbox file (Unix executable file) in the INBOX.mbox folder and I can see the messages and headers if I double click it and it opens in TextEdit. But I can't get it to import using the File-Import Mailboxes method: I've tried it as both "Mail" and "Other" when prompted for the type of app., and I've selected every folder up the tree from INBOX to Home. In the same INBOX.mbox folder is a Messages folder and those get imported, which are just messages received since the crash. How can I get Mail to see this mbox file? Or can I do something else to import it?

PowerBook 17, Mac OS X (10.4.10), 1.5ghz 512Mb

Posted on Nov 3, 2007 8:46 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 4, 2007 4:16 AM in response to Dom Shaw

Hello,

The file named mbox is not a file that Tiger and Mail 2.x used or added anything to. Its contents would be what existed at the time you upgraded to Tiger. If they were not fully converted at the time of the upgrade, then they should never have been available in Mail 2.x. Do you think you saw the messages after the upgrade?

See the topic at the link below, for info about checking all xxxx.mbox folders that may have originated in an earlier version of Mail, and for specific help about recovering messages from an xxxx.mbox folder constructed to only contain the previously utilized mbox file:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5664866&#5664866

Question and clarifications please, before doing anything you are not comfortable with.

Ernie

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Answer 2

Dom Shaw Author

Level 1

44 points

Nov 4, 2007 8:11 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

Coincidence: I tried the linked solution independently just for the heck of it after I had posted: I copied the mbox folder, deleted the Messages file and imported. It worked. Thanks for the explanation of why - that's going to help me out as I restore more stuff.

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