Going from a MBAir 10,1 (Monteray) to a Mac Mini 7,1 (Big Sur). I am doing all the migration manually, as there is valuable, irreplaceable stuff on the Mini. I can handle the manual transfer of apps, but have no idea how to properly transfer mailboxes. (I don't even know where to find them.) I wish I could use the Time Machine of teh old one to restore the mailboxes on the new one, but I doubt that's possible.
TIA
Mac mini, macOS 10.13
AFAIK, you can't downgrade the Mail database from Monterey back to Big Sur; so even if you copy the Monterey Mail database to your Big Sur Mac, it probably would not work.
If your email accounts are IMAP based, you should only have to set up your email accounts on the Big Sur Mini and IMAP will populate all your existing folders & emails from the server.
But for any POP accounts or any email saved "On My Mac" you would have to manually transfer them. Your only option may be to export each mailbox to MBOX, then import each MBOX package into Mail on your Big Sur Mini. See Import or export mailboxes in Mail on Mac - Apple Support
Note that MBOX only works with single-level mailboxes. If you have nested mailboxes you must carefully export the child mailboxes one at a time. Don't export a parent mailbox that has child mailboxes within it.
AFAIK, you can't downgrade the Mail database from Monterey back to Big Sur; so even if you copy the Monterey Mail database to your Big Sur Mac, it probably would not work.
If your email accounts are IMAP based, you should only have to set up your email accounts on the Big Sur Mini and IMAP will populate all your existing folders & emails from the server.
But for any POP accounts or any email saved "On My Mac" you would have to manually transfer them. Your only option may be to export each mailbox to MBOX, then import each MBOX package into Mail on your Big Sur Mini. See Import or export mailboxes in Mail on Mac - Apple Support
Note that MBOX only works with single-level mailboxes. If you have nested mailboxes you must carefully export the child mailboxes one at a time. Don't export a parent mailbox that has child mailboxes within it.
zip (right-click > Compress...) the ~/Library/Mail folder and move that Mail.zip to another account.
Then in another account (if that account has no mail I often first delete the existing ~/Library/Mail folder there) uncompress that .zip by double-clicking it and:
Mail.app > File > Import Mailboxes... > Apple Mail > choose that uncompressed 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). YMMV.
Why can't you use TM?
In Finder?Co to Folder enter this & press enter...
~/Library
Highlight the Mail folder, then enter Time Machine.
Actually, it worked quite simply. As soon as the mail accounts on the mini got hooked in with my ISP, immediately it filled me up with ~6K emails (between two accounts) — I had no idea that there were storing so much of mine. I already had a copy of the complete Mail folder from the M1 Air on the mini's desktop, started the import process.
I really don't remember which folder I clicked on first, probably the 930F. But it tore through all of them in 4 separate imports. Each of my original mailboxes (BTW, none nested) appears in only on import, so these mailboxes can get transferred out of the import folders and up to the top level.
All without up grading the OS, or resorting to .mbox format. Thanks, everyone, for all these ways to skin a grape.
mrbl wrote:
Thanks, I don't mind upgrading the mini to Monterey, if that will make the import work. I've got to set up mail on this machine anyway, and have to contact my ISP (local phone co.) for the incoming and out-going mail servers. Back in OSX, this info was available in the individual mail account windows.
Upgrading the mini to Monterey is certainly one of the paths you could choose. It may be the simplest way to 'migrate' your mail database to your mini ... as long as upgrading to Monterey doesn't mess up any of the "valuable, irreplaceable stuff" you said you have on your mini. BTW, make sure you have at least 1 good backup of that "valuable, irreplaceable stuff" before you attempt upgrading.
After upgrading to Monterey, to copy your Monterey mail database from your MBAir to your mini, you would do something similar to what @BDAqua suggested earlier: On your MBAir, navigate to ~/Library and copy the entire /Mail folder to ~/Library on your Mac Mini.
After upgrading to Monterey, to copy your Monterey mail database from your MBAir to your mini, you would do something similar to what @BDAqua suggested earlier: On your MBAir, navigate to ~/Library and copy the entire /Mail folder to ~/Library on your Mac Mini.
That used to work in some earlier OS X like but nowadays the user must import the mail folder to Mail.app.
Obviously the mail format has changed so simply copying ~/Library/Mail does not work anymore from OS X 10.10 to 10.11 (or even between 10.11 Macs) because the local folders are ignored.
Beware that some weird reason Mail.app can export only up to 2.15 GB mailboxes so old messages are silently ignored! BTW, remember to choose "Export all subfolders" option, if necessary! (Or: It's best not to use the Export Subfolders option. The MBOX specification does not support subfolders. When Export Subfolders is selected, Mail will export an MBOX file but it will contain only the messages in the top level (parent) mailbox. Any subfolder mailboxes are exported to their own individual MBOX files but they are written to a separate folder that is independent of the parent MBOX file but has the same name. Many people do not realize, and most will not remember, that the subfolders are not in the main MBOX file.)
Just thought of another way to accomplish it, what do you think???
Clone the old Monterey setup with CCC, move that the cloned drive to the new mac. install Big Sur to that drive.
That should convert all the Mail boxes to the usable version, then move the Mail folder with Mail not running.
Thanks, I don't mind upgrading the mini to Monterey, if that will make the import work. I've got to set up mail on this machine anyway, and have to contact my ISP (local phone co.) for the incoming and out-going mail servers. Back in OSX, this info was available in the individual mail account windows.
Thank you for the suggestion. As I guessed, it wouldn't work, because TM on the target (mini 7,1) would not access the ** of another. TM gave me an alert to that.
MartinR had correct response.:)
Thanks! :)đź‘Ť
Migrating Just Emails to a New Mac
