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Restoring deleted Mail

Approximately Dec 2021 I rearranged some of my Mail folders and gave them new names. I dragged the emails into their new folders and deleted the old folders. Yesterday, I noticed that some of those new folders are empty. How do I find the original emails in Time Machine when they are now in renamed folders and I do not know the exact date I made the changes on? I also don't remember the old names for the folders. I generally make a back-up to Time Machine every 2 weeks. Machine in question is MacBook Pro running macOS Big Sur. Thanks.

Posted on Feb 9, 2022 2:54 AM

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Posted on Feb 9, 2022 12:25 PM

so sorry. I mucked up the file reference I posted above. it should be this, which I will explain further:


~/Library/Mail/V6


it starts with tilde [~] active shorthand for "current user files".


next is Library folder in the current user directory, which is hidden by default, and spotlight does not search.

inside that is the Mail folder.

then V6 (yes, for version six) of mail, in the Mail folder


If you choose:


Finder> Go Menu > go to folder .... and copy/paste this string.. it will take you to the mail folder:


~/Library/Mail


then look for folder with a name like V6, and look inside it for folders named with UUID names, (long hexadecimal strings, seemingly random.)


SOME will be structured like my first example above, others like my second.


¿can you find any that look like that in your current folders? (not involving the backup just yet)

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 9, 2022 12:25 PM in response to R_W_Apple

so sorry. I mucked up the file reference I posted above. it should be this, which I will explain further:


~/Library/Mail/V6


it starts with tilde [~] active shorthand for "current user files".


next is Library folder in the current user directory, which is hidden by default, and spotlight does not search.

inside that is the Mail folder.

then V6 (yes, for version six) of mail, in the Mail folder


If you choose:


Finder> Go Menu > go to folder .... and copy/paste this string.. it will take you to the mail folder:


~/Library/Mail


then look for folder with a name like V6, and look inside it for folders named with UUID names, (long hexadecimal strings, seemingly random.)


SOME will be structured like my first example above, others like my second.


¿can you find any that look like that in your current folders? (not involving the backup just yet)

Feb 9, 2022 7:35 AM in response to R_W_Apple

Mail is stored in:


~/Library/v6 ...(or whatever is the current version for the MacOS you are running)


in folders with UUID names. Most of these support active Mail Servers, and have structure something like this:



note telltale presence of standard items like inbox, draft, trash, etc


--------

a few may store "on My Mac" and look more like this "shopping" mailbox:



The Application that helps you restore form backups is Time machine.app, (not to be confused with Time machine control panel) and found in the /Applications folder.



.

Feb 9, 2022 9:07 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

@grant bennet alder


Many thanks for your suggestions. I have tried accessing previous back-ups in Time Machine exactly as per your image above, however no individual mails appear under any folders no matter which back-up day I choose (near or far). I have the option to hit the RESTORE button on any given back-up day, however when I do that no mails or anything appears in the default folder in MAIL called 'Recovered Messages'. Do you have any idea what I could be doing wrong? Many thanks.

Feb 9, 2022 10:04 AM in response to R_W_Apple

Mail messages are not stored out in the open in easy to identify, easy to read form. This will take some serious digging on your part.


First, you have to identify UUID-named folders that contain "on My Mac" messages, and differentiate them from active, server-connected mail folders.


¿have you been able to find any "on My Mac" -related folders in your backups?

Feb 9, 2022 12:18 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

@grant bennet-alder


I Googled and found how to get to the V8 file! I have now been able to find some old mails I am looking for. They appear to be .emlx files. If I double click one, it opens automatically in MAIL. How do reinstate it into MAIL? I also see that attachments (photo's) seem to be stored separately from the .emlx file. Thanks for any further advice.

Feb 9, 2022 12:25 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

@grant bennet-alder


After Googling, I found the V8 file on my MacBook Pro. I have found the old mails! Now if I double click each one I see on the top right MOVE TO, I am then selecting the new folder I created and it is appearing in that folder. It's going to be painstaking to click on every mail I 'lost' individually, but it will be worth the work. These mails are very precious to me. Thanks so much for your help!

Restoring deleted Mail

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