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Where are emails stored?

Good evening.


Does Mail store emails on your harddrive until you specifically delete them from Mail?


I ask, because I am transitioning from an old email program . That program stores the emails on the provider's computers.


I want to essentially delete almost everything from the old program, but have Mail save everything that's already in Mail (and therefore saved on my harddrive?).


Thanks for your time.

PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8), G4 1.67 mHz 15" A1138 aluminum

Posted on May 22, 2015 5:56 PM

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1 reply

May 22, 2015 6:11 PM in response to Bruce A

What Mail does depends on what type of mail account you setup - POP or IMAP. The former downloads all mail from the server when it is read. The latter stores everything on the server. The only thing Mail keeps are the mail headers.


In either case Mail keeps data in the Mail folder located in the user's Library folder. The exact location of the data depends on the type of email account setup as to whether data are kept entirely on the servers or saved in mailboxes located on the local computer.


I don't see that there is much for you to do. Your old account is an IMAP account set up in a different mail program. When you remove that account you will delete everything associated with the old program. If you want Mail to store all email data locally, then you would setup all Mail accounts to use POP provided that is what they support.

Where are emails stored?

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