Remove all versions of an email from trash

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Level 1

27 points

Remove all versions of an email from trash

I know, weird title right. Here is what I did. For some reason, I had no idea that ARCHIVE was actually every email that I had ever sent or received in the past 2 years. I am using a Paid Gmail account to manage 3 different emails. So, in an effort to do a little house keeping, I deleted all my ARCHIVED messages thinking that they were messages that I no longer needed. I have, over the years, placed emails into client folders. These are emails that I want to keep forever, or at least into the foreseeable future. I didn't realize that they also existed in the ARCHIVE folder. So you can imagine my surprise when I went to go and look into my INBOX and there was only about 20 emails in there. Then when I went to my specific client holders they were all empty. I just about got sick. Fortunately, All my e-mails are now and my "Trash" folder. Call that I am saying is that there are anywhere from 5 to 15 Versions of any one e-mail that I composed. Obviously Apple Mail continuously saves Versions of your compose e-mails as you are composing them. So my question is how can I delete all of these Versions of the compose e-mail except for the one I want to keep. Or are over 14,000 e-mails now in my trash I certainly cannot spend the time to go through all e-mails and delete the versions I no longer be. Also is there a way to put all these e-mails back into their appropriate folder. I certainly hope so or I will be spending god knows how much time putting them all back. Please tell me there is a way to do both of these things.

Many thanks,

Houston

Posted on Jul 11, 2014 7:19 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 11, 2014 7:38 PM in response to htown

Do you have a Time Machine or clone backup? If yes, you can easily restore.

If no, check online to see if the messages are still online. If yes, delete the Gmail account in Mail, then add account back. Mail will download again from the server.

It's also possible that since you have a paid account Gmail will offer you a backup option but I wouldn't hold my breath on that possibility.

Select messages in the trash and Control-Click (Right-click) and select Put Back. I would start with a few at a time to see what happens. You'll have to reindex Mail after adding messages to view in Mail.

I've never used Put Back with email so not sure how well it will work.

With Mail quit....

Go to your User's Library folder.

**Show Library Folder**

Select the Finder in the Dock. Under Go in the Menu bar > hold down the Option key and you’ll see the Library.

• Go to Mail folder.

Select the V2 > MailData folder.

Delete any files in MailData with envelope in the name. (should be 3)

Open Mail.

Mail will reindex your files.

If you don't have a clone backup it's time to start. Just like a seat belt and an air bag protect you in different ways when driving, you need both Time Machine and a clone for full protection.

Both of these applications can be used to create a clone.

SuperDuper! http://www.shirt-pocket.com/

CCC http://www.bombich.com/download.html

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Answer 2

htown Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 11, 2014 7:51 PM in response to dianeoforegon

Diane,

Thank you for that very clear and concise response. Much appreciated.

I back up just about everything except email. Dont ask me why. I think it is mainly because I was not sure what to back up. Meaning, I don't know where the file exists to backup. Never researched it. But it looks like I know where it is now. I use a program called ChronoSync to back up my data. I am assuming I can tell it to also back up that mail folder as well? I tried the right click thing and unfortunately, there is no "Put Back" option for me. Not sure why you are seeing it and I am not.

What is the difference between using Time Machine and a clone like ChronoSync?

Many thanks,

Houston

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Answer 3

htown Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 12, 2014 6:59 AM in response to htown

I am mot sure why I did not think of this before but I have A laptop that has all of my e-mails on it. So in essence this is sort of a backup if I knew how to force A same with who will mail. Right now I have my Wi-Fi turned off on my laptop so that it will not send up with all the e-mails that I have deleted. All my accounts are using the IMAP protocol. So my question now to you is can I use time machine on my laptop, let it do a backup, and then we store the e-mails back to my Desktop? If so how would I go about doing that? I am not familiar with Time machine as it does not seem to customizable. I am not really sure even what it is backing up. I certainly don't need everything that it has backed up, I just need the e-mails.

Does this all makes sense?

Many thanks,

Houston

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Answer 4

Jul 12, 2014 10:03 AM in response to htown

On the laptop that has all your emails, go to the User's Library folder. This folder is hidden by default. To unhide: Select the Finder in the Dock. Under Go in the Menu bar > hold down the Option key and you’ll see the Library.

Scroll down to the Mail folder in your User's Library.

Copy this entire folder to an external drive.

Attach drive to new computer.

You have two options. 1) replace the Mail folder with the one you dragged over or 2) import the data into your current Mail. If they are exactly the same do option 1, but if the messages under "On My Mac" (local folders) are different, we want to be sure we get all of these from both Mail folders. (Be sure Mail is quit when you are working with the folders in Library.)

Go to the User's Library. Rename the current Mail folder to Mail ORIG. Drag the Mail folder that has all the data to the User's Library.

We can discuss importing the "On My Mac" folders once we get a good working base.

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Answer 5

Jul 12, 2014 10:30 AM in response to htown

A clone is an exact bootable copy of your drive. Complete backup is one of ChronoSync options. ChronoSync also allows for copying specific files as you have been doing. Because of it's many options users often don't have the experience to know what to select for back. The files you have are also not bootable.

Time Machine keeps all your files backed up. Time Machine is not bootable.

A clone is an exact copy that runs on a schedule (I do mine every night) and makes bootable copy of your drive.

Let's say you updated OS X and found problems with applications, printer etc. You can boot back into a clone and be back to work within minutes. Time Machine can also restore data but in this case, do you know what to restore?

I like to think of Time Machine as an ooops fixer. Ooops I deleted a file last week. I want it back. I worked on a project and now it's all messed up. Ooops, I can go back in time and restore my previous version. Ooops, I deleted all my Gmail and need it back. I can go back in Time Machine and restore.

A clone is more of an OMG fixer. I updated and totally trashed my files. One example of how a clone saved one of my clients: He runs a restuaruant. All his scheduling, reservations, payroll, ordering etc is on his computer. He was having drive problems and had to take his computer in for repair. We cloned his drive. He attached drive to his wife's computer and booted from his clone. He was able to work from his clone for the week his computer was in for repairs. When his computer was returned he had a new drive with no data. We cloned back and he was working on his new drive within hours.

I like software for cloning that is simple to use and one a user can't mess up with lots of choices.

there is no "Put Back" option for me

Not all files have Put Back. Delete a file from your Desktop then see if it has a Put Back open in the trash.

Because of the way messages are stored by account, folder and size, putting messages back would be a daunting task for an expert.

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Answer 6

htown Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 14, 2014 10:54 AM in response to dianeoforegon

...

You have two options. 1) replace the Mail folder with the one you dragged over or 2) import the data into your current Mail. If they are exactly the same do option 1, but if the messages under "On My Mac" (local folders) are different, we want to be sure we get all of these from both Mail folders. (Be sure Mail is quit when you are working with the folders in Library.)

Go to the User's Library. Rename the current Mail folder to Mail ORIG. Drag the Mail folder that has all the data to the User's Library.

We can discuss importing the "On My Mac" folders once we get a good working base.

Although you have given me two options to move emails from the laptop to the desktop, your main instruction looks as if you are wanting me to replace (overwrite) what is currently there. If I do this, won't I loose all the emails that I have received since this problem started? Other than emails that I was able to recover from the laptop and imported back into specific client folders, I have lost all my inbox emails prior to July 11.

Currently, I have copied the entire "Mail" folder to a thumbdrive. I will wait to hear back from you with regards to my question above.

Really really appreciate you help on this. 🙂

Many thanks,

Houston

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Answer 7

Jul 14, 2014 11:51 AM in response to htown

Although you have given me two options to move emails from the laptop to the desktop, your main instruction looks as if you are wanting me to replace (overwrite) what is currently there. If I do this, won't I loose all the emails that I have received since this problem started? Other than emails that I was able to recover from the laptop and imported back into specific client folders, I have lost all my inbox emails prior to July 11.

When you rename the current Mail folder to Mail ORIG, when you drag in the copy it will not overwrite. This allows you to have both files in the Library folder. Simply renaming to "Mail" by removeing ORIG, would allow Mail to reopen that data if needed. However, we would use import option to get any messages we need from the folder.

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Answer 8

htown Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 15, 2014 9:14 AM in response to dianeoforegon

OK so let me get this strait. Now that I have a backup copy of my email before July 11 from my laptop, I can now go my desktop and rename the MAIL folder to MAIL ORIIG. Then copy the MAIL foldler from the USB drive to my desktop. Then when I start Mac Mail, it should populate with the mail from the MAIL folder that I just copied over. Of course, this will only have mail in it from July 11 and prior. What will happen when it tries to sync with Google mail as these are IMAP accounts. Will it just not put everything back the way it was or will all those emails start to upload to Gmail and of course my laptop too when I turn it on.

Then you mentioned something about importing from the renamed folder "MAIL ORIG". I assume you are talking about now importing mail to bring everything up to date. But how do I import? Do I import the entire folder using FILE > Import Mailboxes using "Apple Mail" as the method?

Many thanks,

Houston

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Answer 9

Jul 15, 2014 12:52 PM in response to htown

The Mail folder you have copied over has to be in the User's Library folder for Mail to access.

Yes, it will have only the older mail (July 11 and prior). IMAP will sync back to server. (Optional: Put Mail into Offline mode, delete IMAP accounts and let everything sync back from server)

If you stored messages under "On My Mac" folders and they are not on a server, you would need to import these into the current Mail. These messages are stored in the Mailboxes folder. The other folders are your IMAP and POP folders. All local custom folders are in Mailboxes.

Under File > Import Mailboxes... you would navigate to the Mailboxes folder and select to import. The messages will show up under a folder named Import. Toggle open. Find only the newer messages that are missing from your current folders and move those messages to the correct folders. Delete the Import folder and the older contents when finished.

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