Sent Folder in Mail Missing in TM

Daisy Newcomb wrote:
The Sent folder in my Mail program accidentally got deleted. I figured it was ok, I would retrieve it from TM. No go, it's not there. Can anyone explain where it might be? I searched User>Library>Mail then sifted through all of the folders there, including of course the Sent folder.

How did you do that?

Enter Time Machine (the "Star Wars" display) and navigate to a backup from before the deletion.

That mailbox should be under <your home folder>/Library/Mail/<mail account>/

But it won't contain any actual messages, just indexes, etc., as the actual messages are on your mail server.

Daisy Newcomb wrote:
Well, I was trying to figure out a problem in Mail for my sister (dang if I can think what is was right now). Anyway, I read that for to fix the problem, drag the Mail preferences into the trash.

Oh, gadzooks! That's BIG trouble. That one file contains all your account information, passwords, server names, preferences, etc., etc.

That's when the sent messages disappeared. So I took the preferences out of the trash and put them back, but the messages were still gone.

Does the mailbox still appear in the Mail sidebar? If so, try +Mailbox > Rebuild+ from the Mail menubar.

Daisy Newcomb wrote:
I've tried Rebuild without success. Any other suggestions? Thank you!

Rats. But apparently the mailbox does still show up in the Mail sidebar?

I'm out of my depth there. You might want to browse, search, and/or re-post in the +Mail and Address Book+ forum. Specify whether the mail account in question is an IMAP or POP account; that may make a difference to the mail gurus.

Good luck!

Don't know if this will help...
All my sent emails are missing before 26 Jan. Don't know why yet, but if I go to a time machine back up before that date, and look in- user, library, mail, mailboxes, sent mail, they seem to be all listed and can be opened. I a haven't restored that folder yet, just thankful they're there if needed...
Sam

first, have you tried entering TM from Mail? when Mail is active click on TM in the dock and scroll back in time right in Mail (not in finder). do you see your sent mailbox in the past? if yes, restore it. if it doesn't show up that way then

quit Mail and copy the whole folder home directory/library/mail AND the file home directory/library/preferences/com .apple.mail.plist to the desktop. then restore that entire folder and that file from TM from before the problem started. start Mail and say yes when it asks to import your messages. see if Mail is back to normal.