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Q: my draft mailbox has disappeared! Where did it go?

My Draft mailbox disappeared with all my template emails I use for my business.  I had them all addressed to myself in case they accidently got checked to "send" but they are nowhere to be found.  Not in Time Machine.  not in user/library/mail/mailboxes. This is tragic. I need those drafts.  Sophos virus notified me I had a trojan in my mail, in the backup file, so I trashed that file but I pulled out the Drafts.mbox. (cannot open) They are on my desktop but how do I import them back into the mail drafts?  How do I find those emails?

iWeb '08, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Apr 16, 2015 10:41 PM

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Q: my draft mailbox has disappeared! Where did it go?

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  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Apr 17, 2015 1:41 AM in response to branch
    Level 10 (187,831 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 17, 2015 1:41 AM in response to branch

    Contact Sophos. Seem they identified them as a virus/malware and quarantined them. You have to go through Sophos to read/recover them

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Apr 17, 2015 3:53 AM in response to branch
    Level 7 (30,889 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 17, 2015 3:53 AM in response to branch

    NEVER allow anti-virus software to remove files from your computer, especially when those files are e-mail messages! Assuming the message even actually contains malware, removing it this way will corrupt Mail's mailboxes and doesn't properly remove the message from the server under certain common conditions. See:

     

    How to remove infected files

     

    As for how to solve the current problem, I'm a little unclear on exactly what has been done. It sounds like you may have removed the Drafts mailbox yourself. If that is the case, and if that mailbox is still intact, you should be able to quit Mail, then put the mailbox back where you removed it from, replacing any newer Drafts mailbox that has been created. If that doesn't work, import the messages it contains (in Mail, choose File -> Import Mailboxes).

     

    (Fair disclosure: I may receive compensation from links to my sites, TheSafeMac.com and AdwareMedic.com.)

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 17, 2015 8:31 AM in response to branch
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Apr 17, 2015 8:31 AM in response to branch

    Remove the worthless Sophos product by following the instructions on this page, and also this one, if applicable. If you have a different version, the procedure may be different. Never install any "anti-virus" product again.

    Back up all data before making any changes.

    From the Mail menu bar, select

              File ▹ Import Mailboxes...

    Choose Apple Mail as the format and import from the mailboxes in the folders you moved 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.

  • by branch,

    branch branch Apr 17, 2015 10:12 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 17, 2015 10:12 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Hi Linc and thanks for the help!  That was an easy fix with your instructions - tho I don't quite agree with you about the "worthless Sophos and other anti-virus".

     

    Back to the email problems. with your instructions I was able to restore the drafts.  Now I see that many of my emails are gone.  Where would they be stored (both sent and received but not unread). Using Lion Mac 10.7.5

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 17, 2015 10:37 AM in response to branch
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Apr 17, 2015 10:37 AM in response to branch

    You seem to have tried to restore the messages in Time Machine. How did you do that and what happened?