I'm trying to transfer my existing mail accounts from my old tiger mac book pro to a new lion mac book pro. I've tried to just copy the mail and mail download files over from the library but it hasn't worked out very well. What's the best way to go about achieving this? Thanks in advance guys
MacBook Pro
With either the old MBP in Target Mode, or with File Sharing setup on both, use Mail>File>Import Mailboxes>Mail for OSX, then select the whole top folder...
/Old MBP/Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail
Not anything inside that folder, give it time & it'll show you a list of Mailboxes you can import.
I pretty much followed that option earlier, although I just put the mail files on a USB stick and transfered them that way. Once on my desktop I dragged them to the library.
They are also in the "on my mac" folder rather than in a specific account. Do I need to set up the account before I transfer the old mails over for them to be in my actual account rather than "on my mac?"
Once on my desktop I dragged them to the library.
A flash drive will work fine, but dragging won't likely work, you need to use the Import function in Mail's menu as stated. 🙂
Do you have Mail already setup for any account on the new one?
I have one account set up, but it's not related to any of the old ones I'm trying to import. Should I do that first? then inport?
Just try Importing first, it'll put them in folders called Import 1, Import 2, etc.
We can add other accounts later if needed to move these imported ones to.
Ok great, will give it a go shortly. Thanks for your help
I just transferred mail from Tiger to Lion 10.7.2, and I used my old drag method, which I was happy to find still works. The trick is you have to drag THREE things: Mail and Mail Downloads folders, into the user Library (using the Go menu with the Option key to open, as it is now hidden in Lion), and com.apple.mail.plist from the Preferences folder, into the corresponding Preferences folder in your new Library. That last one is the key.
If you have an existing Mail folder, just delete it (assuming you haven't already been getting mail on the new machine. If you have, I guess the Import method would be best).
Then I opened the Mail folder, drilled down to the INBOX file for one of my accounts, and dragged that file onto the Mail icon in the dock. Mail then opened, warned me that it had to update my files, and I continued. This seems to get all the mail into folders exactly as it was on the old machine, with all the accounts intact. In the past (before Lion) I recall importing mail, and getting a mess of "imported" folders, with all messages marked as unread.
The final step is that you have to enter your password for each account TWICE, once when you get mail, and again when you send your first message from each account. Of course, be sure to check the "Save in my keychain" box, so you don't have to enter them again.
Dragging the old Address Book folder from user-account:Library:Application Support, after trashing the Lion one, also worked, to transfer the address book data.
Thanks Dave, good to know that way works too! 🙂
Dave,
I'm trying your method because I don't want my old email accounts in the "import" folder. However, when I drag my MAIL folder to the library of the new Mac, I get a msg Saying . . .
. . . "The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access "Mail".
BTW: I'm using OSX 10.6.8
Please help as I really need to have all my accounts appear exactly as they do on my old Mac.
Cheers,
Harj
Transferring mail from tiger to Lion
