Recover intelligent mailboxes

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cgassler Author

Level 1

17 points

Recover intelligent mailboxes

Today, Apple Mail forgot all the intelligent mailboxes, which I find to be very annoying.

This is how it happened

signed out of iCloud
signed in to iCloud again

When I opened Apple Mail, the 28 intelligent mailboxes I had set up - were gone.

In a time machine backup, I found two folders that looked related:

SmartMailboxesLocalProperties.plist
SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist

I found no way to make Apple Mail accept these files though.

How can I get back these mailboxes?

iMac 27″, macOS 11.6

Posted on May 4, 2022 10:33 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

babowa

Level 9

78,429 points

May 4, 2022 11:18 AM in response to cgassler

Use Smart Mailboxes in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

Use mailboxes to organize email on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-use-smart-mailbox-mail-mac/

I have tons of mailboxes, but none that would be considered "smart"; so I can't relay a personal experience, but mine are "on my Mac". If yours are not, you may have to recreate them.

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Answer 2

cgassler Author

Level 1

17 points

May 18, 2022 2:02 PM in response to cgassler

These actions solved my issue

quit out of Mail.app
delete Mail index with Onyx.app
restore the Library/Mail folder from a time machine backup
move the contents of Library/Caches/ to the trash
log out and restart the Mac

Notes: I find these steps a bit rough, but due to lack of other/better info, I tried this and it worked. :-P

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Answer 3

cgassler Author

Level 1

17 points

May 4, 2022 12:20 PM in response to babowa

Thank you for the links. They don't address my issue though.

I could manually recreate the mailboxes, but they have been set up over a long time and it would take a long time to configure those mailboxes again.

The information about the mailboxes is present, but Apple Mail does not accept it or needs further input. To me it looks like Apple Mail is set up in a way that forbids an easy fix - although it might feel easy, once the fix has been applied.

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Answer 4

May 4, 2022 12:44 PM in response to cgassler

You have listed .plist files as folders. Where were these files originally? You can quit Mail and move these files to your Library folder (you can find Library by pressing the option key and clicking on the Go Menu). Moving the .plist files here: Library/Mail/v(number)/MailData might actually get your Smart mailboxes back when you re-open Mail.

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