Time Machine and email

The bottom line is that Apple removed Apple Mail backups to Time Machine, starting in macOS Catalina. My understanding is that they believe that any previous emails would be stored on the email provider's servers.

My suggestion, going forward, is to NOT rely on Time Machine for this purpose. Instead, a couple of options would be:

1. Use another third-party solution for backups, like Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Use an email archiving app, like MailSteward, to maintain an archive of all of your email messages.

Perhaps it does again. I tried opening Time Machine while in Mail and it just goes to the desktop. So, I'm not sure how helpful that is.

No longer works starting with Catalina. With Monterey TM will not even let you open the mail window. It is gone altogether. I use a program called MailbackupX for my mail.

byomtov Said:

"Time Machine and email: I tried to restore an email from TM and it didn't work. Apparently this functionality has been removed. I know it used to be possible because I've done it.[...]"

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How I do so...

Avoid Syncing:

Backup works just fine for me. Thing is, you need to just avoid synchronizing with your eMail provider once restored. You'd power off your router while restoring and then export it all as an archive. Once exported, close Mail. Then, enable WiFi. then open Mail. Once opened, import the archive. Find out about this here: Backing up and restoring Mail archives - Macworld

Asking your eMail Provider:

Contact your eMail provider, asking them how to avoid this synchronization, when you go about re-syncing it.

byomtov Said:

"Time Machine and email: Thanks, but I can't get to the 'once restored' stage."

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Perhaps I Misread?:

Seeing it as though you were trying to restore your Mac from a time Machine Backup, and are losing the eMails upon the restoration. So, basically, if you are not looking to do that, then try doing so. You'd restore once more, this time performing the "avoid the syncing" method I described.

IOW: If you are not restoring your Mac from a Time Machine Backup, then it would not apply.

byomtov Said:

"Time Machine and email: No. What I'm trying to do is restore a specific email that was deleted."

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Then you fro the followup reply.

You might want consider what I'm getting at: Perform a (second) restore, avoiding the syncing and internet connections. Then manage the eMail.

byomtov Said:

"I don't understand. I can't even do a first restore."

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??? Maybe I'll Make a User Tip.

Here are all of my user tips - all 32 as of this reply: The Littles - User Tips - Apple Community

No. Time Machine does not backup email.

I don’t believe that you can do that now. If I open mail and then enter time machine, it goes to the desktop. There is no ability to restore an individual message.