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Level 1

88 points

Moving local mailboxes from one Mac to another

I've got a bunch of .mbox mailboxes copied from one Mac (that was using Apple Mail). I copied the files out of the Mailboxes folder, in the ~/Library/Mail folder. I stuck it in the same locaiton on a new Mac. When I opened Mail.app, I saw the entire complicated folder structure, but every folder was empty. I tried rebuilding each folder, but that had no effect.

I then tried doing a more traditional import, but that doesn't work either. It starts importing but eventually Mail crashes before getting very far.

Here's the catch. It's are a ton of emails. Many many many subfolders, many many levels deep. Also the total amount of mail is very large. About 70 GB. So it's not so easy to run through these .mbox files, or even to simply duplicate them.

Is there some more straight forward way to do this the way I originally tried? Just moving the files into the mail storage folder, and having Mail.app "see" the mail? That way, I wouldn't have to import or duplicate the massive bunch of mail.

Posted on Feb 1, 2013 9:08 PM

29 replies

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 7, 2013 8:59 AM in response to l008com

Yes, I remember, using the import maibox command is how it should be done but you seem to have an issue with the files.

Try this: download a free copy of Emailchemy and try using it to import, you will get to see whether it works for you. If it does then buy it ($39) and use it.

Feb 7, 2013 10:47 AM in response to Csound1

First of all, it's not BS, I found several other users had similar issues trying to export and import mailboxes. This is why I went to several of those posts and posted my "fix" - which I got from Apple Support after talking to them on the phone. They gave me this workaround. One should not have to buy any other software just to move mail from one apple device to the next. Oh and the "method" you refer too, is that the workaround I mentioned? Yes it does work I just did it this morning from an IMac to a Macbook Pro after trying everything else I came across on these forums...which is when I finally called Apple.

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 7, 2013 10:50 AM in response to mypalbill

Then why didn't it work for the posters you offered it too?

Emailchemy is not a workaround, the free copy will tell us whether or not the files are corrupt.

Free (by the way) means you don't have to spend money, but the file state will be clear at that point.

And why can't you tell us about the 'bug' did you forget where you read it?

l008com Author

Level 1

88 points

Feb 11, 2013 7:47 AM in response to Csound1

Ok I've simpllified the situation and I'm having the same end result, hopefully we can come up with a workable solution now:

I have a Mac Pro and a MacBook Pro, both running 10.8.2. I made a local "on my mac" folder on the Mac Pro, and copied about 2800 emails to it, about 15 MB worth. I quit mail on both machines, and copied the mbox from the Mailboxes folder on the Mac Pro, to the same folder on the MacBook Pro. Then I opened Mail. The mailbox shows up as a local 'on my mac' mailbox on the MBP, but it is empty. Choosing "Rebuild" from the Mailbox menu has no effect.

So what is happening here? The same exact version of Apple Mail created this folder, why is another version unable to see the mail inside of it? You can navigate to this mailbox in the finder and open up individual email files and see them. So they are in there.

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 11, 2013 7:58 AM in response to l008com

So you did not try my suggestion then?

l008com Author

Level 1

88 points

Feb 11, 2013 8:00 AM in response to Csound1

The old account is gone, all I have is the mailbox folder, so I have no way to export anything. All I have at this point (on the real 70 GB mailbox) is the raw contents of the /Mail/v2/Mailboxes folder. I'm sure on my little test, exporting will work fine. But that won't help me on the real problem.

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 11, 2013 9:01 AM in response to l008com

OK, it's up to you, good luck.

l008com Author

Level 1

88 points

Feb 11, 2013 9:02 AM in response to Csound1

What's up to me?

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 11, 2013 9:04 AM in response to l008com

What you choose to do next, I have made a suggestion but you don't want to try it and I am out of more suggestions.

l008com Author

Level 1

88 points

Feb 11, 2013 9:05 AM in response to Csound1

That's a very innacurate statement.

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 11, 2013 9:16 AM in response to l008com

Excuse me, do you know something I don't.

Why won't you try my suggestion ...

l008com Author

Level 1

88 points

Feb 11, 2013 9:20 AM in response to Csound1

If you are referring to exporting from Mail, it's because as I said twice now, the user accounts are gone. There is no Mail app to export from. Network accounts were deleted and the server was repurposed to a simple fileserver. So all I have is the mailbox files copied from the Mail folder. There is no old Mac I can fire up to export. There is no disk image backup I can restore from. All there is, is the contents of ~/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes copied from the network account before it was deleted.

If you are talking about something else when you say "my suggestion" then I don't knwo what you are talking about, can you please explain.

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 11, 2013 9:22 AM in response to l008com

l008com wrote:

blahblah

If you are talking about something else when you say "my suggestion" then I don't knwo what you are talking about, can you please explain.

Download the Emailchemy trial, use it to test whether you can import the mailbox you already have!

maryde

Level 1

13 points

Jan 11, 2014 8:53 AM in response to mypalbill

Thank you so much. I am spending far too much time transferring files from my MacBook to a new iMac. You have been a great help.

Mary de

Moving local mailboxes from one Mac to another