Apple Mail backup/export Archives

Question

Level 1

20 points

Apple Mail backup/export Archives

Hi

I have saved many mail archives divided by year that I would like to take to another mac to free up space.

1. I have read and verified that using 'export' not all mails are exported to an 'mbox' file (file limit <=2.15 Gb, which is a really low limit)

2. I then tried pointing to the archives in ~Library/Mail/V10, but I have problems importing them using 'import' (there are always some differences between #msg in the original archives and #msg in the imported archives).

I have tried simply copying the structure ~Library/Mail/V10 to an another disk (anothe mac) simply copying the archives, but does not work correctly.

I would like to avoid changing clients, as Apple Mail has a nice interface and a really efficient search system, but I would like to find an efficient mail backup/export system

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Mac mini

Posted on Oct 3, 2023 12:30 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 4, 2023 12:09 AM in response to andrews111

In my setup this has worked with no missed or duplicated messages:

Mail > File > Import Mailboxes... > Apple Mail > choose an old ~/Library/Mail folder > choose all Items.
On the left-hand-side under "On My Mac" > Import, ..., look for and move "Local" and all mailboxes inside it up under "On My Mac". Right-click and you might delete "Import" folder (it has gmail mailboxes that are online).

In the past (after OS X 10.11) simply copying ~/Library/Mail to the same directory did not work anymore. I then went through some hoops and in the end I used Emailchemy to export Apple Mail OS X 10.10 mail files as mbox. Apple Mail OS X 10.11 imported them OK. After that the previous method has worked OK.

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Answer 2

brbo

Level 8

38,887 points

Oct 3, 2023 11:00 PM in response to andrews111

Re: Apple Mail backup/export Archives

Seems Apple support's article (link below) is the method most in use.

For MacOS Sonoma (or choose another MacOS at the top for accurate info. if needed for the other Mac)

Import or export mailboxes in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

________

Resource: Mail User Guide (MacOS Sonoma) : Mail User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

________

More info. / support / contact options: Mail Support Website: Mail - Official Apple Support

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Answer 3

Oct 4, 2023 3:18 AM in response to andrews111

> Can it be an indexing problem or is it just my wrong approach ?

Maybe some messages are calculated differently? I always check the message count before and after and lately they have matched.

I use mainly gmail and occasionally iCloud mail. Before any major macOS upgrade (usually a clean install just for fun a as a spring cleaning) I archive them both in local mailboxes in Mail.app and separately in the gmail cloud. Especially gmail sent messages is a headache, and sometimes some extra moving and copying is needed to make the messages match. Then there is also Outlook .pst mail from work that needs a 3rd party converter (with those large .pst mailboxes I stumbled on the 2.15 GB export limit in Mail.app and for a while wondered what on earth was happening when numerous messages were silently ignored). But YMMV.

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Answer 4

andrews111 Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 3, 2023 11:13 PM in response to brbo

Hi brbo

the problem is that 'Export' stop exporting when file mbox arrives at 2.15GB (without any notice I have a box file that is missing a lot of mails )

That's why I was hoping for an alternative solution

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Answer 5

andrews111 Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 4, 2023 12:57 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Thank you for your reply

maybe the problem is due to the fact that I try to import only some archives from ~/Library/Mail/V10 (e.g. I splitted my archives by year and I want to copy only the 2022 archive and I take only the mailbox folder related to 2022)

When I go to the other Mac and do the procedure you say (import Apple Mail ...) I don't have the exact number of mails I had at the start (gap of a few dozen of emails)

Can it be an indexing problem or is it just my wrong approach ?

thanks

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