Mail unable to import .mbox folder

hi--

I am currently in a plane grappling with this .mbox import issue on El Capitan (had to do a full clean install yesterday for an unrelated issue). This is tricky, but I think I've figured it out.The problem is that Importing the "Apple Mail" way won't let you inside the Main .mbox file. The only way to do it is to first go inside using the other .mbox method and then doing the Apple Mail import. So dumb.

Here's what I am doing right now:

1 - Import - .mbox file selection. Navigate INSIDE the .mbox that contains all those other .mboxes that are not importing. Then Click "Choose" -- Mail will tell it didn't find anything.

2 - Import - Apple Mail selection. Select the desired .mbox files from this newly-revealed and then press import.

Whammo--they will appear.

NOTE: I am having to dig several times with some of these .mbox directories (My hierarchy is usually Server:Year:Month for old mail) and it's taking forever, BUT I am totally getting these files back.

This is a huge issue for people who have been using email for a long time. A pity Apple can't create an import function that is, you know, intelligent.

Good luck!

mike

For some reason my edited reply isn't updating so here's another go:

hi--

I am currently in a plane grappling with this .mbox import issue on El Capitan (had to do a full clean install yesterday for an unrelated issue). This is tricky, but I think I've figured it out.The problem is that Importing the "Apple Mail" way won't let you inside the Ma. The only way to do it is to first go inside using the other .mbox method and then doing the Apple Mail import. So dumb.

Here's what I am doing right now:

1 - Import - .mbox file selection. Navigate INSIDE the .mbox (for me, it's one named, say, "2007") that contains all those other .mboxes that are not importing (all of the various months). Then Click "Choose" -- Mail will say it didn't find anything.

"2010.mbox" won't import because..

...it has a bunch of other .mbox files in it. Click "Choose" to continue and it will fail, but all is not lost..

2 - Import - Apple Mail selection. Select the desired .mbox files (all the months) and then press import. You will see this

Now you can select them! Do so and you will see...

Which is what you wanted to do in the FIRST place!

I am having to dig several times with some of these .mbox directories (My hierarchy is usually Server:Year:Month for old mail) and it's taking forever, BUT I am totally getting these files back.

This is a huge issue for people who have been using email for a long time. A pity Apple can't create an import function that is, you know, intelligent.

Good luck!

mike

Thanks. I found it easier/quicker to copy-drag the .mbox files that were inside another .mbox to another location on my Mac. Then, you can import all the folders at the same time using the Apple Mail selection. The only .mbox file that should be remaining is the one that held the other .mbox files.

There are other mbox folders inside that one. Please try importing them individually.

Nesting mailboxes inside others is a recipe for trouble such as you have now. Drill down until you find mbox folders that don't have other ones inside them. Try to import those.

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 and start typing the name.

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 take an action that isn't working the way you expect. Select any lines 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 or email address, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

If you have an account on Pastebin, please don't select Private from the Paste Exposure menu on the page, because then no one but you will be able to see it.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It makes no changes to your data.

Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

ls -@Oaen De*/F*.mbox | pbcopy

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

Launch the built-in Terminal 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 and start typing the name.

Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.

Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered.

The output of the command will be automatically copied to the Clipboard. If the command produced no output, the Clipboard will be empty. Paste into a reply to this message.

The Terminal window doesn't show the output. Please don't copy anything from there.

If any personal information appears in the output, anonymize before posting, but don’t remove the context.

What's inside those mbox folders? Yet more mboxes?

use iCloud and check mail. anytime you do a clean install all your mail will be available as long as you sign into iCloud with your apple id. also go to apple support and learn how to archive your mail. the box thing has not worked for years.

You would select Apple Mail as the format to import, not mbox.