I have an iMac running Monterey. I use Time Machine for backups. If I try to retrieve emails from local email folders nothing shows up in the Time Machine backup. I have read that this is not unusual. You can't retrieve backed up email this way. However, if I had a disk crash and had to restore everything to a new disk from a Time Machine backup, would my local email folders be restored?
iMac 21.5″, macOS 12.1
That will work with the following complication
That will work with the following complication
Yes, you can restore mail messages for a Time Machine backup. You can also retrieve individual emails but it is difficult since in Time Machine there is no subject in the file title. You can only find them by date. If you click on one it open. in the Mail app. You did notice that Mail app presentation like was there previously in Time Machine no longer exists.
I have an idea for recovering deleted emails. I have read that emails are stored on my Mac in my user area under Library/Mail. So I should be able to go into Time Machine to some previous date and restore the Library/Mail folder. When I exit Time Machine my old emails should be visible in Mail and I can save the emails I am looking for by either printing them or forwarding them to another machine. I then go back into Time Machine and restore Library/Mail from my latest backup. Do you think this would work? I haven't tried it for fear of messing up my system.
Thank you for your response. I am interested in knowing how to retrieve individual emails from a Time Machine backup. Is this procedure documented anywhere showing the details of how to do it?
Time Machine email backups
