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mkirman

Q: how do i save selected emails to time machine?

how do i save selected emails to time machine?

Posted on Apr 16, 2014 6:44 PM

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Q: how do i save selected emails to time machine?

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  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Apr 16, 2014 6:53 PM in response to mkirman
    Level 6 (17,700 points)
    Apr 16, 2014 6:53 PM in response to mkirman

    You don't. You can prevent selected folders from being backed up in the Privacy pane, but you can't select just selected files to exclude.

  • by mkirman,

    mkirman mkirman Apr 16, 2014 6:56 PM in response to R C-R
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 16, 2014 6:56 PM in response to R C-R

    where is the privacy pane?

     

    i spoke with a 'genius' who said if i moved emails into the 'on my mac' folfer in mail they would get backed up. i did a back up but now can not find them ...

  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Apr 16, 2014 7:07 PM in response to mkirman
    Level 6 (17,700 points)
    Apr 16, 2014 7:07 PM in response to mkirman

    The privacy pane is in System Preferences > Time Machine > Options.

     

    The "On My Mac" folders make local copies (on your HD) of mail messages stored on a mail server. If you allow Time Machine to back up everything (or at least don't exclude the folders containing local copies of your email messages) all your "On My Mac" mailboxes  will be included in the backup, along with all the index & other support files Mail.app needs to display the contents of those mailboxes.

  • by mkirman,

    mkirman mkirman Apr 16, 2014 7:16 PM in response to R C-R
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 16, 2014 7:16 PM in response to R C-R

    so i put some emals into the 'on my mac' folder which btw is under 'trash'?! and then did a backup. now going into that back up i am not finding them. here do i lok? mail does not appear as an application with anything in it.

  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Apr 16, 2014 7:29 PM in response to mkirman
    Level 6 (17,700 points)
    Apr 16, 2014 7:29 PM in response to mkirman

    Don't put emails you want to save into the Trash. In the mail sidebar you should see an "On MY MAC" section below the Inbox, Trash, Junk, etc., mailboxes. You can create mailboxes in this section for emails you want to save. (I suggest you check out Mail help & at least read the overview info.)

     

    Also, there is no point in looking for individual email files in Time Machine backups (or for that matter in the Mail folders on your HD). They are stored with names that won't make sense to you & cross-linked with database & other files Mail maintains.

     

    You are making this harder than it is. Just let Time Machine back up everything & it will take care of the rest of it.