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smart mailboxes missing

Nothing devastating, but after ugrading to Mountain Lion and having my email converted over to Mail 6.0, all of my smart mailboxes I set up are missing. I assume the emails are still in the system, but the smart mailboxes do not appear.


I will note that I can set up new smart mailboxes, which appear correctly in the side panel.


Andy

Posted on Jul 25, 2012 4:04 PM

Reply
22 replies

Jul 26, 2012 3:24 PM in response to Andrew Smith15

Thanks to all for replying...


Like Malacandrian, there was no Smart Mailbox category at all, because there were no longer any smart mailboxes. Adding a new one does show the category, but the original smartboxes are still missing.


As I mentioned in the original post, it's not the end of the world, but thought I'd note it in case anyone else encounters the same issue.


Thanks again,

Andy

Aug 2, 2012 11:21 AM in response to Andrew Smith15

On mine, the prior 'smart mailboxes' are there, after you un-hide the "ON MY MAC" but they are no longer smart mailboxes. They are just like any other folder that you drag mail to. I did create a new Smart Mailbox with the same criteria that I recalled from one of the old Smart Mailboxes and it populated with all the mail that was in the folder that used to be the Smart Mailbox. Does that make sense?


It just seems like Mountain Lion just lost the Smart Mailbox functionality in the conversion. The mail is still there but the criteria that got it there is absent.

Sep 3, 2012 3:00 AM in response to Andrew Smith15

You're smart folders are stil there, I think.The solution is somewhere in /Users/ACCOUNTNAME/Library/Mail (in finder use alt-key to go to library or use terminal).


Apparantly some things changed towards a more cloud-synced model.


I had a similar problem with my rules and I solved it to by copying the rules to the file "unsyncedRules.plist".


I found my old smart folders in the file SmartMailBoxes.plist and some other .plist files wich seem related to the smart mailboxes, but I didn't succeed in getting it to work by copying my SmartMailBoxes to the other files.


I gues I'll have to recreate them. This has been a very troubled update so far (had some problems with filevault also). I waited untill 10.8.1 to avoid them, but alas.

Jul 20, 2013 11:08 AM in response to Andrew Smith15

I solved it! — Hope this will work for you!


Hi folks!


After facing the problem since the original release of Mountain Lion (don't ask me to describe how I was frustrated), I've finally decided I had to find a solution. I was heavilly using Smart Mailboxes and today was the day I was not able to handle waiting another day with no solution from Apple!


So here's the solution to get all your bunch of Smart Mailboxes back on Mail.app!


  • Quit Mail.app
  • Press  + Shift + g and go to your folder "~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/" (without quotes)
  • Make a backup of this folder somewhere
  • Here, locate and open with a text-editor SmartMailboxes.plist and SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist
  • SmartMailboxes.plist should look like this:

User uploaded file

SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist should look like this:

User uploaded file

Edit SmartMailboxes.plist and REMOVE the necessary lines after <plist version="1.0"> so it match the look of SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist. I personnaly had to remove:


<dict>

<key>globalDisplaySortOrder</key>

<array>

<string>CE2C3DB9-443F-489A-9DA4-4EA5DE6B8B82</string>

—a bunch of them—

</array>

<key>mailboxes</key>


Scroll down to the end of the file and remove


<key>version</key>

<integer>2850</integer>

</dict>


  • Verify SmartMailboxes.plist so it's structure seems to match the one of SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist
  • Select all the text of SmartMailboxes.plist, Copy and Paste on SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist
  • Save both files
  • Press  + Shift + g and go to your folder "~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData" (without quotes)
  • Locate and open with a text editor the file ubiquitous_SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist
  • Select all the text of SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist, Copy and Paste on ubiquitous_SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist
  • Save ubiquitous_SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist
  • Close all files
  • Restart Mail.app


BOOM!

All your Smart Mailboxes are instantly here! And guess what, sync is working: I wake-up my second computer which add the same problem and Mail instantly updated without having to relaunch the app.

Now, I'm really happy!


I really hope this will work for you guys!

Take care.


Édouard


<Link Edited By Host>

Dec 10, 2013 10:02 AM in response to Edouard Puginier

This is for anyone (like me) who experienced a somewhat different problem and ended up on this thread. This post pointed me in the right direction.


My SmartFolders disappeared one day. They came over into Mavericks without a problem and worked fine for months -- but when I started Mail.app a day ago, the Smart Folders simply weren't there.


Following the instructions in Édouard's post, I took a look at the ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist file and found that it had been cleared.


I restored the file from a TimeMachine backup, and all was good.


If you have trouble getting to the TimeMachine backup of a Library file (because the Library can remain hidden even in TimeMachine) you can follow other instructions to make it visible (I followed these: http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how_to_permanently_restore_the_visibility _of_the_users_library_folder. )


Thanks Édouard!, and I hope this helps someone else!

Dec 16, 2013 3:51 PM in response to ADeweyan

I've had the same problem since shortly after upgrading to Mavericks. One day, all of my Smart Mailboxes were gone. Even if I restore the SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist from a backup, as soon as I launch Mail, it just zeros the file out. I was hoping that today's 10.9.1 update would solve my problem, but it didn't. On a whim, I tried restoring a working SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist file and then locking it with the Finder. When I load Mail, I see my smart mailboxes! I can't make any changes, mind you, but it's a small price to pay to have them back. I've spent far too long trying to work out what could be wrong... I'm not actually sure why it's using a file called "SyncedSmartedMailboxes.plist" when I don't have any iCloud Mail syncing, but there you go...

Feb 22, 2014 9:12 AM in response to Andrew Smith15

Hi all,


Smart Mailboxes disappeared one day randomly (I think is due to iCloud-Document and Data Sync), or when creating new smart folders. If that is the case, I have checked these two files and discovered the following:


SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist

SmartMailboxesLocalProperties.plist (no change required in this file)


I found that the data and filter rules are all intact, what is causing it not to show is due that the value for "mailbox type" is incorrect.


Close Mail,

Open up SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist,

for more technical savvy people (can do a find/replace), ensure this for relevant mailboxes:


<key>MailboxName</key>

<string>mailboxname</string>

<key>MailboxType</key>

<integer>0 or 7</integer>

7 - top level smart mailbox/folder

0 - sub level smart mailbox/folder

FYI:

<key>IMAPMailboxAttributes</key>

<integer>1 or 2 or 17 or 18</integer>

17-top/mailbox

18-top/folder

1-sub/mailbox

2-sub/folder


*sub - any level that is non-top,


One of my smart mailbox within a smart folder has its <key>MailboxType</key> set as 7, which is incorrect. That's why it "disappeared" in mail osx.

By changing it to '0', the smart mailbox reappear upon mail launch.

smart mailboxes missing

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