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 gardensea,

    gardensea gardensea Jan 30, 2016 12:11 PM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 30, 2016 12:11 PM in response to Nickk in UK

    I have imported my mail from my V3 folder to the side bar in my apple mail. But when I click on the imported file nothing appears. HELP! How do I make the lost imported mail from V3 show up? (My mail shows it is there in the side bar but when I click the imported folder it is blank) OBTW this is the end of Jan and the lost mail issue from the download of El Capitan has not been fixed and it is a nightmare issue! Even went to a Genius Bar and was told all my mail prior to El Capitan download was gone forever! Many, many lost hours as well as stress headaches & sleepless nights later..... Really hope someone can help!

  • by workinglikeadog,

    workinglikeadog workinglikeadog Jan 30, 2016 2:52 PM in response to gardensea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 30, 2016 2:52 PM in response to gardensea

    Same thing happened to me a couple of times. It said the import was done and that I could find the files in the import folder But there was nothing there. I deleted the empty import folder and tried again.

    third time it worked... Progress bar appeared and number of files remaining etc.

    I don't think I did anything different, just persisted.

    Thanks heaps Apple!

  • by gardensea,

    gardensea gardensea Jan 31, 2016 12:06 AM in response to workinglikeadog
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 31, 2016 12:06 AM in response to workinglikeadog

    One more thing I should add is that when I was at the genius bar at the apple store they set me up with a pop mail account. Prior to El Capitan it was set up differently. Don't know if this might have anything to do with it. I am going to try what you said and HOPE it works!  Thanks.

  • by kseniafromca,

    kseniafromca kseniafromca Feb 1, 2016 8:01 AM in response to sw1974
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 1, 2016 8:01 AM in response to sw1974

    I found my mailboxes by going to Sidebar in Mail, mailboxes, Inbox and click the arrow on the left side so it is pointing down. Now I have

    an inbox for each email account.

  • by The Balvenie,Helpful

    The Balvenie The Balvenie Feb 12, 2016 8:49 AM in response to sw1974
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Feb 12, 2016 8:49 AM in response to sw1974

    Hi -

     

    I thought I had the same problem, but No!

     

    It may be if you look to your Mail sidebar against 'On my Mac' ,there's a circle with a + inside and 'Show' alongside.

     

    If you click on the word 'show'  (not the +), your mailboxes might reveal themselves.

     

    Good luck.

  • by MikeinMS,

    MikeinMS MikeinMS Feb 19, 2016 7:12 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 19, 2016 7:12 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    My problem is very similar to all those listed but there may be some subtle differences.  I just upgraded from Snow Leopard to El Capitan on my iMac.  I had set up a bunch of e-mail folders that, as everyone has already said, have disappeared with the upgrade.  None of the suggested fixes has done any good.  I have discovered that when I click on Mailbox > New Mailbox the new mailbox box comes up with On My Mac showing by default as the location.  When I click on it, it turns blue with a selection arrow that when clicked on shows my mailbox list!  When I select one, all it does is change the location.  It is frustrating because my mailboxes are there, but I can't tell if something is still in them nor can I get them to show up in my folder tree in Mail.  Am I making sense?

  • by MikeinMS,

    MikeinMS MikeinMS Feb 19, 2016 7:20 AM in response to MikeinMS
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 19, 2016 7:20 AM in response to MikeinMS

    I just looked at a help file and it said to import my mailboxes!  The thought occurred to me that I did a Time Machine backup to an external HD last night before I uploaded El Capitan.  Does anyone think I may be able to import them from the external HD?  As you can tell, I am not a whiz at this stuff by a long shot!

  • by MikeinMS,

    MikeinMS MikeinMS Feb 19, 2016 7:36 AM in response to The Balvenie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 19, 2016 7:36 AM in response to The Balvenie

    To the Balvenie, thanks-a-million.  Such a simple solution for my problem.  Got everything back that I feared I had lost.  BTW, love the Balvenie myself!

  • by MichasMac,

    MichasMac MichasMac Feb 25, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 25, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    Thank you so much for your instructions, they were spot on!!!  After working on this for hours, your tip was exactly what I needed and save me many hours manually moving these over.

  • by Geoff-Vancouver,

    Geoff-Vancouver Geoff-Vancouver Mar 19, 2016 4:30 PM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mar 19, 2016 4:30 PM in response to Nickk in UK

    Nickk in UK--your method works great:

     

    1) In Finder go to your Library

    Add the Mail folder that shows there to your sidebar shortcuts

     

    2) In Mail go to Import Mailboxes - under the File menu

    The finder window that appears will have Mail in its side panel

    Navigate to Mail/V3/Mailboxes

    you will find all of your mbox files here

     

    Select the one you want and import (you can do them all together).

     

    They will show up in Mail - although they will all be under an "Import folder" which you can rename

     

    I have about 7 saved mailboxes that disappeared.  Importing just 1 of them using your method makes it appears under a new  "Import" folder.  But the process immediately makes all 7 disappeared mailboxes (including the one I just imported) magically appear back where they belong.

     

    To clean things up, I deleted the 'import' folder, and everything is back to normal. 

     

    I had to do this about a month ago, too, so there is some instability in the mailbox system of El Capitan.

  • by John Williams4,

    John Williams4 John Williams4 Mar 30, 2016 8:22 AM in response to Nickk in UK
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 30, 2016 8:22 AM in response to Nickk in UK

    Hey there.  I have had this problem as well.  I tried your technique and it all went as described until we get to the point where it says, your boxes will be found under the imported folder in Mail.  Unfortunately, I cannot find any folder or mailbox or anything else in Mail labeled Import or imported.  Where is this supposed to be?

  • by julezd,

    julezd julezd Apr 4, 2016 3:39 AM in response to Pammyf
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 4, 2016 3:39 AM in response to Pammyf

    My wife was in a panic on her MacBook Pro. After she downloaded El Capitan all her sub folders disappeared from the Left hand side bar.

    She didn't realize that if you move your cursor onto the words 'On My Mac' in the side bar, there's a little plus icon and the word 'Show' or 'Hide' will appear. It's hidden until you move your cursor over the words 'On My Mac'. If your folders have gone, and your cursor brings up the word 'Show' then press on that and all those vanished folders will be there..... they will appear like magic. Well, they did for me anyway! The opposite of course is true. If you don't want to see those folders, then press on 'Hide' and they'll disappear again and vanish like before until you press 'Show' again. If this has helped even one person then I'm happy! Happy emailing!

  • by John Williams4,

    John Williams4 John Williams4 Apr 4, 2016 7:42 AM in response to julezd
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 4, 2016 7:42 AM in response to julezd

    I am very happy for your wife but my problem is that they ON Your Mac portion of my left column has vanished and with it all of my folders with literally a decade of archived mail!  This i s a disaster in no uncertain terms...

    John W

  • by John Williams4,

    John Williams4 John Williams4 Apr 4, 2016 8:34 AM in response to workinglikeadog
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 4, 2016 8:34 AM in response to workinglikeadog

    so a quick update.  I just double clicked on all of my mbox archives and looked inside most of them to see that there is NOTHING in those mailbox archives!!  Now unfortunately in the middle of the conversion to El Capitan my backup drive died and had to be reformatted and I could not save any of my previous time machine backups.  So I am guessing that I am now TOTALLY SCREWED as there is NO way to go back and find the emails again.  This is TERRIBLE performance and my trust in Apple is now at an all time low.  There were quite literally tens of thousands of emails that were important from my previous position some of which  were to be preserved for legal action.  Terrible terrible help and documentation on this Apple.  TERRIBLE!!!!

     

    JohnW

  • by Elin Carlson,

    Elin Carlson Elin Carlson Apr 14, 2016 7:05 PM in response to The Balvenie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 14, 2016 7:05 PM in response to The Balvenie

    Ding!

    The "show" option worked and the folder is there.  Thanks!

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