A search shows results, but mailbox shows nothing/empty!!

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Level 2

190 points

A search shows results, but mailbox shows nothing/empty!!

A search for email subjects (or sender) displays a list of several dozen messages in a specific mailbox. That mailbox is where I have rules to store messages with those specific words.

However, when I select/open that mailbox, it is absolutely empty!

If I also search that particular mailbox, for the same or even different words, they do appear, BUT only as long as the search box has the search term! In other words, without a search, simply selecting that mailbox fails to display any messages at all. 😳

By the way, all other mailboxes display any and all messages when the mailbox is selected. 👍

I assume I have accidentally activated a command to "hide-all-those-emails-unless-I-search-for-them". 🤪 If so, how do I toggle that command OFF?! 🤔

Mail v14.0, Big Sur 11.6.5

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.6

Posted on Jun 8, 2022 10:04 AM

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Answer 1

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xairbusdriver Author

Level 2

190 points

Jun 8, 2022 10:22 AM in response to xairbusdriver

Before trying the "Mailbox->Rebuild" function, I decided to try the "Mailbox->Export Mailbox..." menu item. Got the standard navigation dialog, sent the ".mbox" file to the Desktop. Strangely, I didn't see any option to name the file. I think the reason is that the file name is actually the Mail 'path' to that mailbox. In this case, the mailbox with the "missing/hidden" messages was a sub-folder of another mailbox. Thus, the Desktop now displayed a folder (with the name of the parent mailbox) with the problematic mailbox inside.

Those details aside, the amazing thing is that the simple act of exporting the mailbox seems to have now enabled all the messages to become visible!!! 👏 🥳 Not exactly an intuitive result but it worked! Remembering this "fix" may not be easy, however.

Hope this helps someone (me?) in the future!

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A search shows results, but mailbox shows nothing/empty!!

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