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User profile for user: tamiboe
tamiboe Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

recovering deleted archived mail messages

I deleted my archived mail messages on my MacBook Air (Ventura 13.2.1) and it deleted the emails in ALL my folders. When I search for some of the emails I can remember, some appear while others do not. These are not emails I have stored on my computer, suggesting there is a way to access the deleted mail messages. I do not have Time Machine activated. I have searched the cache for the deleted archived emails but cannot find them. There are a ton of emails in my Trash Folder, none of which are the saved messages of dedicated folders. Help?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Mar 19, 2023 3:33 PM

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User profile for user: tbirdvet
tbirdvet
User level: Level 6
14,741 points

Posted on Mar 19, 2023 4:19 PM

Perhaps this might work:


To restore mailbox:

Open Finder

Click “GO” in top menu bar then click option key

Open mail folder

Open V9 (or similar) folder

Then find the folders labeled with cryptic titles (at this point you could open TM if you want to go back in time)

Look down through those folders to find a mailbox (note: there may be more than one with same label).


If it contains email you want you can copy the entire folder to your desktop

Go back into mail and import that folder from your desktop

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User profile for user: tbirdvet
tbirdvet
User level: Level 6
14,741 points

Mar 19, 2023 4:19 PM in response to tamiboe

Perhaps this might work:


To restore mailbox:

Open Finder

Click “GO” in top menu bar then click option key

Open mail folder

Open V9 (or similar) folder

Then find the folders labeled with cryptic titles (at this point you could open TM if you want to go back in time)

Look down through those folders to find a mailbox (note: there may be more than one with same label).


If it contains email you want you can copy the entire folder to your desktop

Go back into mail and import that folder from your desktop

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User profile for user: tbirdvet
tbirdvet
User level: Level 6
14,741 points

Mar 21, 2023 5:05 AM in response to tamiboe

If your folders are empty then you have no data. The .plist will not help. Normally when you see the email downloading hundreds of emails means a file was deleted so it is rebuilding the email files but if it is stating sending messages not sure why this would happen unless you have many emails in the outbox that had not been sent already.

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recovering deleted archived mail messages

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