Is Mac Mail backed up to Time Machine?
IF it is backed up, is it possible to restore ALL the mail that I previously stored in my "On My Mac"? I'm on a 2020 iMac running OS Monterey.
iMac 27″, macOS 12.6
Question marked as
Time Machine does still back up the Apple Mail app ... if that is what you are asking. However, since macOS Catalina, you will not be able to use TM to restore messages via the TM interface. Instead, you would need to rely on the Finder app to locate the messages you need to recover.
The steps to do so, are as follows:
- If running, close the Apple Mail app.
- Open a new Finder window: Finder > File > New Finder Window
- To view hidden files, use the <cmd><shift><period> key combination. Note: They don't need to be held down simultaneously.
- Select your Time Machine backup drive from Finder.
- Open: Backups.backupdb > Your Mac's Name > The backup folder with the date you want to restore from > Macintosh HD or Macintosh HD - Data (on Catalina+) > Users > Your User Name > Library > Mail > Vx (where x = 9 for Monterey)
- Copy (NOT move) the entire V9 folder somewhere on your Mac, preferably somewhere not syncing with a cloud service. A good place would be the Downloads folder.
- Open the V9 folder you just copied to the Downloads folder. You’ll see a bunch of alphanumeric folders ... one for each email account and one for the "On My Mac" mailboxes. Open each one until you find the mailboxes you’re looking for. Be sure to note the directory path to where it is located.
- Open the Mail app.
- Choose File > Import Mailboxes, navigate to the noted location
- Choose “Import as Apple Mail”.
- Next, in the Mail app, you’ll see a new “Import” folder, maybe with another sub folder. Your mail should be in there.