Nicky McCatty
Level 1 (44 points)
Mac OS X

Q: mail Rules disappeared!

Yesterday I had several hundred mail-sorting rules that I've built over the years. This morning they have all disappeared. Poof!! How could this happen, how do I fix it, and how can I prevent this in the future?

 

I can't help wondering if iCloud is to blame. Thanks to the stupid ways that their servers deal with passwords, I have been forced to Log Out and Log In several times, and one of these events may have caused the erasure.

 

 

 

PS: Wasn't there previously a feature for attaching screenshots?

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11), 3 GHz core duo, 8GB RAM

Posted on Dec 8, 2015 8:20 AM

by Nicky McCatty,Solvedanswer
Nicky McCatty Nicky McCatty
Level 1 (44 points)
Mac OS X
A:

I finally found the disappearing Mail/Data files in the Time Machine backup, but there was not any message rules.plist. I did copy syncedrules, which the Level 2 Mac Supporter told me is the name I need to look for. I restored, but I still see only 1 rule in my Rules list. Do you have any more ideas? I have been using rules since way back in 10.1 days, so it's more than ten years of getting my epistolary scheiss together, and obviously there's no real starting from scratch.

Posted on Dec 14, 2015 9:31 AM

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Nicky McCatty

Q: mail Rules disappeared!

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Dec 8, 2015 9:25 AM in response to Nicky McCatty
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    Dec 8, 2015 9:25 AM in response to Nicky McCatty

    Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J.  When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder.  Select Library//Mail/MessageRules.plist. Enter your backup and restore.

  • by Nicky McCatty,

    Nicky McCatty Nicky McCatty Dec 11, 2015 10:50 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 11, 2015 10:50 AM in response to Eric Root

    Thanks for the reply, Eric. I looked for message rules.plist, and I couldn't find it anywhere. Just to be sure that my Search wasn't acting funny, I went to the deep folders in the Library/Mail folder, but it simply wasn't there. So where could it be hiding?

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Dec 12, 2015 11:42 AM in response to Nicky McCatty
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    Dec 12, 2015 11:42 AM in response to Nicky McCatty

    You are welcome. Clarification question - are you looking in your backup?

  • by Nicky McCatty,Solvedanswer

    Nicky McCatty Nicky McCatty Dec 14, 2015 9:31 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 14, 2015 9:31 AM in response to Eric Root

    I finally found the disappearing Mail/Data files in the Time Machine backup, but there was not any message rules.plist. I did copy syncedrules, which the Level 2 Mac Supporter told me is the name I need to look for. I restored, but I still see only 1 rule in my Rules list. Do you have any more ideas? I have been using rules since way back in 10.1 days, so it's more than ten years of getting my epistolary scheiss together, and obviously there's no real starting from scratch.

  • by Nicky McCatty,

    Nicky McCatty Nicky McCatty Dec 31, 2015 7:08 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 31, 2015 7:08 AM in response to Eric Root

    Yes, I did look in my time Machine backup.

     

    It's still a mess. After recovering the .plist files, my message rules were still not appearing, neither were my signatures. The next thing I did was to recover the entire mail data folder, again without any luck.

     

    I was thinking about recovering the ENTIRE MAIL FOLDER from the day before the mishap. My hope is that I can then import the subsequent mails, and have them get sorted during the re-import process. Does that sound plausible to you?

     

    Another possible path is the on in this article. Whaddaya think? Mail Rules Missing

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Dec 31, 2015 10:35 AM in response to Nicky McCatty
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    Dec 31, 2015 10:35 AM in response to Nicky McCatty

    Worth a try. Link is a good problem solver.

  • by Nicky McCatty,

    Nicky McCatty Nicky McCatty Jan 4, 2016 7:51 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 4, 2016 7:51 AM in response to Eric Root

    Thanks Eric, I'll give it a try.

     

    Have a great 2016!

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Jan 4, 2016 9:40 AM in response to Nicky McCatty
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    Jan 4, 2016 9:40 AM in response to Nicky McCatty

    You are welcome. Hope you have a great year.