sw1974

Q: mail folders disappeared on OS X El Capitan

Having just installed the new El Capitan i've found an issue... when opening mail, all the folders previously associated with my iCloud account are not showing. when I choose 'Get Account Info' they are all listed but will not display in the mailbox. If I then click show messages in one of the folders in the 'get account info'. All the folders are then displayed in the mailbox which I thought had fixed the issue... seemingly not! when I close and reopen mail - they're all missing again.

 

Is there another way of ensuring that my iCloud folders are permanently displayed?

 

Thanks

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Sep 30, 2015 11:22 PM

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Q: mail folders disappeared on OS X El Capitan

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  • by mad_kiwi_novice,

    mad_kiwi_novice mad_kiwi_novice Oct 3, 2015 4:28 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 4:28 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    Hi Nickk,

     

    Thanks, that worked and also I can see the all the subfolders as well - it'll take a while but I can get all my files back- thanks for the help.

  • by Pammyf,

    Pammyf Pammyf Oct 3, 2015 4:34 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 4:34 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    I've edited this because instead of trying to import one mailbox, I'm importing the entire Mail folder and it seems to be working - spinning wheel taking forever. As a previous person has mentioned, it takes awhile so I'll hold on and try not to panic. Then will look at trying to get the sub/sub folders off of Time Machine.

     

    Fingers crossed!

     

    Hi Nickk

    It was easy to drag the Mail folder from ~/Library to Favourites. I'd never done that and I've learned something new. Many thanks for that.

     

    Now, when I attempt to import a relatively insignificant mailbox, I get the Error message - No valid mbox files were found.

     

    Is the point now when I have to do the terminal command?

  • by Nickk in UK,

    Nickk in UK Nickk in UK Oct 3, 2015 4:29 AM in response to mad_kiwi_novice
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 4:29 AM in response to mad_kiwi_novice

    Hi Darryl,


    The ~/Library/Mail/V3/Mailboxes folder shows the top level structure once migrated, but not nested mailboxes.

    The place I could get the nested mailboxes (and almost all of my mailboxes are just one level) was Time Machine and CarbonCopy (I use two back up systems simultaneously).

    All of the Mail folders were timestamped with the El Capitan install time, so I think the old structure has gone.


    Nick  


  • by Nickk in UK,

    Nickk in UK Nickk in UK Oct 3, 2015 4:41 AM in response to Pammyf
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 4:41 AM in response to Pammyf

    Hi pammyf

     

    I don't think so - that is for when you have restored ~/Library from Time Machine to a different location.

     

    Did you select the right mailbox type (Apple Mail) in the import dialog before selecting ~/Library/Mail/V3/Mailboxes/your_mailbox_name.mbox in the choose file dialog? Make sure also that you are only selecting .mbox files

     

    If you did all that, it sounds like you will need to restore ~/Library/Mail/V3/Mailboxes. Do restore to a different location to avoid damaging anything else and then import your mailbox files from the restored copy. That is when you can use the Terminal command to unhide the restored copy of the Library folder

     

    Nick

  • by mad_kiwi_novice,

    mad_kiwi_novice mad_kiwi_novice Oct 3, 2015 4:49 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 4:49 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    Hi Nickk,

     

    Thanks for your help.  When I look in the V3 folder and then open the 1st level Mail folder I can see all the 2nd level and so on etc.  Brilliant!!! heart attack averted  now I can breathe easier, can't believe that the normally reliable upgrade process has a major bug like this, but the good news is that all is not lost.

     

    Darryl

  • by Pammyf,

    Pammyf Pammyf Oct 3, 2015 4:52 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 4:52 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    Hi again

    I went through Apple Mail and the import seemed to be progressing, especially when I saw the message, the mailbox will show up under Import. But unfortunately this folder is not showing up on my Mail sidebar. I've quit and restarted Mail, but this doesn't bring up an Import folder.

     

    The mailbox I want to import is an .mbox.

     

    When you say 'do a restore of ~/lbirary etc' do you mean simply drag the file to the desktop?

  • by Nickk in UK,

    Nickk in UK Nickk in UK Oct 3, 2015 4:52 AM in response to mad_kiwi_novice
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 4:52 AM in response to mad_kiwi_novice

    Hi Darryl,

     

    It's a pleasure. Glad the second level folders are there - I never looked, expecting the import process to bring each level in, hence me having to restore to recreate when it turned out they didn't.

     

    Nick

  • by Nickk in UK,

    Nickk in UK Nickk in UK Oct 3, 2015 4:58 AM in response to Pammyf
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 4:58 AM in response to Pammyf

    Hi

     

    Apple Mail is the right type to tell the importer, although .mbox shows as well, and the files are .mbox.

     

    So when I imported the mailboxes the "Imported" folder showed up straight away. The second time I got "Imported2" and so on.

     

    I mean restoring  ~/Library etc from a backup - not copying them from the current Library, which is what a drag to desktop will do. You need to go into Time Machine and restore the .mbox files that you want to import, and them import from that restored copy.

     

    Nick

  • by Pammyf,

    Pammyf Pammyf Oct 3, 2015 5:13 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 5:13 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    Hi Nickk

     

    Rather than try to import one mailbox, I've imported the V3 mailbox and the Import folder On My Mac has showed up. As I had many many folders that are importing, I imagine this will take awhile. I'm taking a break while this goes on but I wanted to thank you once again for hand holding while I went through the process.

     

    I hope this thread helps other luddites like myself who've worked with Macs for many years but don't know how to get under the bonnet, so to speak, and rely on community spirited experts like yourself.

  • by stratos 2,

    stratos 2 stratos 2 Oct 3, 2015 7:07 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 7:07 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    I have been following this question for some time, as I have the same problem. My email folders are missing from my Mac, but still show up on the iPhone and iPad. I have tried some of the suggestions on here and still lost.

    When I go into finder, under the Go heading, I do not have a library and therefore there is no Mail folder. What did I do wrong or am I in the wrong location?

    My last time machine update was in May, until I updated it yesterday, After the new ELlCapitan was downloaded.

     

    Is there a way to move the folders from the iPad to the mac?

     

    I am not a computer wizard and only can handle the basics so any help would be greatly appreciated.

     

    thanks stratos2

  • by Nickk in UK,

    Nickk in UK Nickk in UK Oct 3, 2015 7:17 AM in response to stratos 2
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 7:17 AM in response to stratos 2

    ~/Library only shows up in the Go menu item in Finder when you hold the Option key down.

     

    That will give you access to the mail folder.

     

    If you have folders showing on your iPad then they are on your mail server, IMAP, Exchange or similar. I've been trying to recover local mailboxes on the Mac - which are only on the Mac. So best be clear which you are recovering.

     

    To make the server folders show up, some of the earlier discussion about reactivating Accounts after the upgrade may help you, or even recreate the email account.

     

    To recover mailboxes on your Mac, the later part of the discussion does work. And you have a Time Machine back up from yesterday.

     

    Good luck

  • by srs1000,

    srs1000 srs1000 Oct 3, 2015 10:33 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 10:33 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    Nick, I want to thank you so much.  I thought I had lost a lot of emails my father had sent to me before he passed away and now I have them back.  No words can thank you enough for taking the time to talk us all through sorting this problem.  The library, shortcut, import solution worked for me.  I still can't understand why two of my email accounts simply disappeared from the mail but I've now recreated them and they are working for new incoming emails.  Thank you again for your time.  Sarah. 

  • by JMinNC,

    JMinNC JMinNC Oct 3, 2015 11:24 AM in response to sw1974
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 11:24 AM in response to sw1974

      I, too, have this problem. I was able to solve it (I hope) by restoring folders from my latest backup, but I want to describe what happened in case it might be helpful to Apple or anyone else in understanding the problem or a fix.  My Mail (v9.0) on my iMac links to two different earthlink addresses, one for me and one for my wife.  Both accounts normally show, along with associated folders, in my Mail window.  iCloud synch is not on for these, so this couldn't be a factor.  All mail is (or was) on my iMac, except for a few recent ones on the earthlink server.  My account (vs. my wife's) was probably the last account open before I upgraded. After the upgrade, my Sent folder was completely empty (it previously had >1500 emails in it), my inbox was empty except for brand new emails just pulled from the server (previously had about 10), and my trash was also empty. But the inbox, trash, and sent folders for my wife were all there and populated as they were before the migration. I see from other posts that others have lost subfolders, but I didn't.  In fact, I didn't lose any of the folders I created myself (though I haven't checked to see if all have everything they should within; kind of afraid to look...), and no subfolders lost.  So why such main and important folders (inbox, sent, trash) only?  How could Apple miss that these might not migrate?

    By the way, the unchecking and rechecking "enable this account" didn't fix it, and I didn't try taking anything from the library because the V2 list had a post-migration time on it and the V3 list had a 2012 date. Doesn't mean it wouldn't have worked; just afraid to try it and time machine seemed easier.

      I would sure be interested in hearing from Apple how something this major could have slipped through and also how to ensure that everything, not just things we happened to notice are missing, has been restored/transferred properly.

    Thanks!

  • by DebSaks,

    DebSaks DebSaks Oct 3, 2015 11:38 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 3, 2015 11:38 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    Thank you so much!  This solution worked for me (when the check mark thing didn't work).

     

    I appreciate the help.  All 6,400 messages are back!

  • by Anthony Glaser,

    Anthony Glaser Anthony Glaser Oct 3, 2015 1:11 PM in response to Moonshine33
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2015 1:11 PM in response to Moonshine33

    Doesn't work for me. My mailboxes are all there, but the Inbox is empty and I cannot get or send mail. When I try to send mail I get "This message could not be sent. It will remain in your Outbox until it can be sent. This message could not be sent because your account does not have a preferred outgoing mail server. Select an outgoing mail server from the list below." - Of course, there is no "list below"

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