Hello. Email has disappeared from Mac Mail. Running last updated Mavericks. I went back in the time machine settings to revert to the day before the mail disappeared, and each time I go in there, I can see the mail showing up. Except, when I go to revert, nothing transfers back into the account. Any advice on what is going on and how to fix it? Years of mail are now "gone."
MacBook Air, iOS 6.0.2
You have to select the messages in Time Machine to restore them.
You have to select the messages in Time Machine to restore them.
Did that. Goes through the whole process of saying it's getting the emails back, and when done, looks the exact same as before I did the retrieve. Still missing all the emails.
The mail should be restored to a new mailbox called "Recovered messages." Make sure you're not overlooking it. If you aren't, see below.
Quit Mail. Force quit if necessary.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder
from the menu bar. Paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V, then press return.
A folder window will open. Inside it there should be files with names as follows:
Envelope Index
ExternalUpdates.storedata
Move those files to the Desktop, leaving the window open. Other files in the folder may have longer names that begin as above. Move those files, if any, to the Trash.
Relaunch Mail. It should prompt you to re-import your messages. You may get a warning that the index is damaged and that Mail has to quit. Click OK. Typically, the process takes a few minutes, but it may take hours if you have gigantic mailboxes. In that case, you may be able to speed things up by temporarily adding your home folder to the Privacy list in the Spotlight preference pane. Remove it when Mail has finished importing.
Test. If Mail now works as expected, you can delete the files you moved to the Desktop. Otherwise, post your results.
Thanks for your reply!
Unfortunately, there was no new mailbox entitled "Recovered Messages."
I did the next set of instructions, and after relaunching Mail, everything still looks the same. Mail still missing from all four main inboxes.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Mail/V2
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Open
from the contextual menu.* A folder should open. Inside it are subfolders representing your Mail accounts. The names refer to the email addresses you use.
Enter Time Machine and scroll back to the snapshot you want. Select the account folders you want and then select Restore ... to... from the action menu (gear icon) in the toolbar of the snapshot window. Restore the folders to the Desktop, not to their original location.
From the Mail menu bar, select
File ▹ Import Mailboxes...
Choose Apple Mail as the format and import from the mailboxes in the folders you restored to the Desktop. The imported messages will appear in a new mailbox. Move the ones you want to keep wherever you like and delete the rest. Then delete the folders on the Desktop.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.
Okay, tried that. It actually got a portion of the emails over, but over 2/3s of them are stilling missing (it only did 2013-2014, but there's emails from 2008-2013 that are all gone). They are showing up when you look at the time capsule backup in the folder view. But something is not working right to get the emails over. Not sure what's going on. Thoughts?
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen. Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try to restore some of the missing messages in Time Machine. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.
Okay, there is definitely an error message coming up in the log. I only selected a few messages from 2008 to restore. I selected just one of the error log messages I received (essentially one for each email it tried to restore). Thanks for all your help. As an aside, if it helps you to respond, I've just started a computer science degree, so I'm starting to feel my way around this stuff, but have a good cursory understanding. Not to say that your directions aren't just succinct and perfectly laid out!
9/23/14 7:16:07.421 PM Mail[3178]: *** Assertion failure in -[DateCell _initDateFormatter], /SourceCache/Mail/Mail-1878.6/Mail/Mail/MessageList/RowUI/DateCell.m:475
DateCell requires its date formatter to have 10.4 behavior
(
0 MailCore 0x00007fff89ad08bc -[MCAssertionHandler _handleFailureWithPreamble:description:arguments:] + 141
1 MailCore 0x00007fff89ad072d -[MCAssertionHandler handleFailureInMethod:object:file:lineNumber:description:] + 215
2 Mail 0x0000000100f1fe0f Mail + 97807
3 Mail 0x000000010104b51b Mail + 1324315
4 AppKit 0x00007fff925bd9f0 -[NSTextFieldCell init] + 31
5 Mail 0x00000001010fdc23 Mail + 2055203
6 Mail 0x00000001010fe096 Mail + 2056342
7 Foundation 0x00007fff8c017dbe -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) setValue:forKey:] + 389
8 AppKit 0x00007fff925e2f0d -[NSObjectParameterBinder _updateObject:observedController:observedKeyPath:context:] + 1298
9 AppKit 0x00007fff925d9f08 -[NSObject(NSKeyValueBindingCreation) bind:toObject:withKeyPath:options:] + 652
10 Mail 0x00000001010f2e21 Mail + 2010657
11 Mail 0x00000001010f3cba Mail + 2014394
12 Mail 0x0000000101139bfb Mail + 2300923
13 Mail 0x000000010113aaff Mail + 2304767
14 Mail 0x000000010113af62 Mail + 2305890
15 Foundation 0x00007fff8c035784 __NSFireTimer + 96
16 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff880973e4 __CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_TIMER_CALLBACK_FUNCTION__ + 20
17 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff88096f1f __CFRunLoopDoTimer + 1151
18 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff881085aa __CFRunLoopDoTimers + 298
19 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff880526a5 __CFRunLoopRun + 1525
20 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff88051e75 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 309
21 HIToolbox 0x00007fff8884ba0d RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 226
22 HIToolbox 0x00007fff8884b7b7 ReceiveNextEventCommon + 479
23 HIToolbox 0x00007fff8884b5bc _BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInModeWithFilter + 65
24 AppKit 0x00007fff9255124e _DPSNextEvent + 1434
25 AppKit 0x00007fff9255089b -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 122
26 AppKit 0x00007fff9254499c -[NSApplication run] + 553
27 AppKit 0x00007fff9252f783 NSApplicationMain + 940
28 libdyld.dylib 0x00007fff86fdd5fd start + 1
)
Back up all data before proceeding.
1. Open this folder in the same way as before:
~/Library/Mail/Bundles
If the folder exists and has contents, move the contents to the Desktop. Relaunch Mail and test. If there's no change, put the contents of the folder back and quit Mail again.
2. Repeat with this:
/Library/Mail/Bundles
This time you may be prompted for your login password when you remove the items. Make sure they're removed from the folder and not just copied to the Desktop. If necessary, copy them first and then move the originals to the Trash.
There's no /Bundles folder. The second suggestion looks to be the same folder as the first?
No, it's not the same. Follow the procedure in my earlier comment to open the folder.
If you mean getting there by the Go operation, I've entered in the information as you have it, and it says the folder cannot be found.
Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually login automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.
Yes. The email amounts are the same between starting in safe and regular mode.
Back up all data before proceeding.
Step 1
Select all your mailboxes, and then select
Mailbox ▹ Export Mailbox...
from the Mail menu bar. Export the mailboxes to the Desktop folder.
Make a note of the settings for all your Mail accounts – everything you'd need to reconstruct the settings from scratch.
Quit Mail.
Step 2
In the Finder, hold down the option key and select
Go ▹ Library
from the menu bar. Move the following items (some may not exist) from the folder that opens to the Desktop:
Application Support/AddressBook/MailRecents-v4.abcdmr
Containers/com.apple.corerecents.recentsd
Containers/com.apple.mail
Containers/com.apple.MailServiceAgent
Note: you are not moving the Mail application. You’re moving a folder named “Mail.”
Launch Mail. It will behave as if you were setting it up for the first time. Go through the setup process with one of your accounts, using the information you noted earlier. Test. If Mail works now, recreate the rest of your settings.
If there’s no improvement, quit Mail and put back the items you moved to the Desktop, replacing any newer ones that may have been created in their place. Stop here and post your results.
Step 3
This step should not be necessary with IMAP or Exchange mailboxes, because they synchronize automatically with the server. Nevertheless, if the mailboxes are very large, importing them may spare you the need for a long download.
Import the mailboxes you exported:
File ▹ Import Mailbox...
Test. If Mail is still working, delete the items you moved to the Desktop in Step 2.
Email disappeared from Mac Mail.
