Manually transfer Snow Leopard mail to Mountain Lion

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Level 1

148 points

Manually transfer Snow Leopard mail to Mountain Lion

Hi There, I've searched the forums to find an answer to how I can manually transfer my email which was previously on a Snow leopard system to a fresh install of Mountain Lion (Mac pro).

While I did get some clues, I can honestly say I still don't know how to do it?

If anyone could perhaps tell me how to do this I would apprecaite it.

I have already clicked on Mail in ML and it asks me to create an email by entering all the details of my email, I then just click cancel and the app closes, leaving me with no option for mail to open and then using some kind of import function.

I hear guys saying you can copy the mail data and "plist" or something to mountain lion and it will automatically convert but no one tells you where to copy it to?! Or did I just miss something?

Appreacite any assistance the community might offer.

Mac Pro 4-Core 2.66 Ghz / Mac book pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 9 GB RAM,Cranesong,Mytek,LP 9.1.5

Posted on Aug 12, 2013 2:57 PM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Aug 12, 2013 4:01 PM in response to Chance Harper

Simplest thing to do is use the Setup Assistant to migrate the user accounts on first boot. Otherwise, if you've bypassed that step, you can start over or if you created a new account, using the same username/password combo as exists in the SL boot volume, all you have to do copy the entire Mail folder in the user's /Library folder, stupidly hidden in ML (and Lion), and launch Mail. It'll do the updating and away you go. I suggest starting over, either by following the steps in Pondini's Setup New Mac guide or making a clone of your SL installation and installing ML on top of it.

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Answer 2

Aug 12, 2013 4:02 PM in response to Chance Harper

There's no need to transfer mail after an upgrade.

Open Mac Mail. Your mailboxes should still be in tact.

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Answer 3

Chance Harper Author

Level 1

148 points

Aug 12, 2013 4:24 PM in response to baltwo

Thanks for the reply.

I am not in a possition to make use of the Migration assistant. Mac pro "A" has snow Leopard on it. Mac pro "B" has Mountain Lion on it and I am unable to put Snow Leopard on the Mac Pro B. It has been installed by a fresh copy of ML (in other words it was not upgraded from SL).

When you say "all you have to do copy the entire Mail folder in the user's /Library folder" ... where should I copy this to? As I understand things you are telling me to copy the mail folder from Mac Pro "A" to Mac pro "B" but I don't know to what location?

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Answer 4

Chance Harper Author

Level 1

148 points

Aug 12, 2013 4:20 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Hi Carolyn, I know what you mean but this was a fresh install of ML and no previous OS was on the mac pro. I am sitting with 2 mac pro's and the one (SL installed) has the mail on I want to place onto the other (ML on it). Hope I am making sense here?

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Answer 5

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Aug 12, 2013 4:28 PM in response to Chance Harper

Chance Harper wrote:

I am not in a possition to make use of the Migration assistant. Mac pro "A" has snow Leopard on it. Mac pro "B" has Mountain Lion on it and I am unable to put Snow Leopard on the Mac Pro B. It has been installed by a fresh copy of ML (in other words it was not upgraded from SL).

Why not?

When you say "all you have to do copy the entire Mail folder in the user's /Library folder" ... where should I copy this to? As I understand things you are telling me to copy the mail folder from Mac Pro "A" to Mac pro "B" but I don't know to what location?

What part of copy the entire Mail folder in the user's /Library folder was not understandable? That implies to the same user's Library folder on MP B.

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Answer 6

Chance Harper Author

Level 1

148 points

Aug 14, 2013 12:53 AM in response to baltwo

thank you thank you kind people! :-)

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Answer 7

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Aug 14, 2013 12:09 PM in response to Chance Harper

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Answer 8

Abu Suda

Level 1

0 points

Sep 26, 2013 9:06 AM in response to baltwo

Hi baltwo,

I'm in a similar mess. It would be kind of you to shed some light on the matter.

I'm running lion 10.7.5 and followed similar procedures but mail downloads every mail again after cataloging and indexing my earlier(snow leopard 10.6.5) mail. More details at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5373643

It would be great to find a solution as I'm struggling since two weeks.

Thanks,

Abu Suda

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