Catalina 10.15.6 not backing up mail

Hi Keith Lander,

​Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities. We understand you're looking to recover an email from a backup. That's definitely important and we're happy to help out.

It sounds like you're referring to a Time Machine backup. Is that right? If so, make sure you're following the steps here: Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac

"On your Mac, open a window for the item you want to restore.

For example, to recover a file you accidentally deleted from your Documents folder, open the Documents folder. To recover an email message, open your inbox in Mail.

If you’re missing an item from the desktop, you don’t need to open a window.

Use Launchpad to view and open apps on Mac and open Time Machine. A message may appear while your Mac connects to the backup disk.

You can also open Time Machine by clicking the Time Machine icon  in the menu bar, then choosing Enter Time Machine. If the Time Machine icon isn’t in the menu bar, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Time Machine, then select “Show Time Machine in menu bar.”

Use the arrows and timeline to browse the local snapshots and backups.

If you see a pulsing light to semi-dark gray tick mark, it represents a backup that’s still loading or validating on the backup disk.

Select one or more items you want to restore (these can include folders or your entire disk), then click Restore.

Restored items return to their original location. For example, if an item was in the Documents folder, it’s returned to the Documents folder."

Based on the suggestions above, try opening the mailbox in question in the Mail app and then use the Enter Time Machine option and use the timeline on the right-hand side of the Time Machine view.

If you're not able to locate it that way, you may want to verify next that your Mail isn't excluded from backup: Exclude files from a Time Machine backup on Mac

We hope that helps. Take care.

Hi Ryane77,

It looks like you presumed correctly that the OP, Keith was trying to use Time Machine.

Your review of Time Machine is noted and agreed. I have used it successfully for years.

Have you tried to replicate Keiths issue?

Can you please try and load your Mail app and enter Time Machine and see if you can access past Mail backups in the timeline?

Keith is not alone in discovering that Time Machine is not working for us all in Catalina.

I, too, can no longer access my Mail in Time Machine. And if you search this discussion site you will find several similar.

Can we conclude there is a programming glitch in Catalina for Mail? At least for a significant number of users.

Thanks.