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Q: i lost folders in mail since updating to el capitan.  they just disappeared!

I lost folders in "icloud mail" since updating to El Capitan.  They just disappeared! And all my emails in those folders are NOWHERE to be found!!!

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Apr 4, 2016 8:40 PM

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Q: i lost folders in mail since updating to el capitan.  they just disappeared!

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  • by Linc Davis,Solvedanswer

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 4, 2016 9:04 PM in response to skn8848
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Apr 4, 2016 9:04 PM in response to skn8848

    In the Mail preferences window, please select the Accounts tab, then select one of the accounts from which messages are missing. Under Account Information, uncheck the box marked

              Enable this account

    then check it again. Quit and relaunch Mail. If the missing messages now appear, repeat the procedure with any other affected accounts.

  • by skn8848,

    skn8848 skn8848 Apr 4, 2016 9:07 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 4, 2016 9:07 PM in response to Linc Davis

    NO, IT DID NOT WORK!!!!  THE FOLDERS ARE STILL GONE! THX FOR YOUR HELP, THO!

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 4, 2016 9:10 PM in response to skn8848
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Apr 4, 2016 9:10 PM in response to skn8848

    What kind of mail accounts do you have—IMAP, POP, Exchange?

    Do any other devices access the same accounts?

    If you sign in to the accounts on the corresponding websites, do you see the missing mail?

    What backups do you have?

  • by skn8848,

    skn8848 skn8848 Apr 4, 2016 9:39 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 4, 2016 9:39 PM in response to Linc Davis

    -IMAP, I THINK.

     

    -ONLY OTHER DEVICE IS AN IPAD ... MAIL FOLDERS ARE GONE ON IT AS WELL.

     

    -REGARDING OTHER QUESTION, DO NOT KNOW WHAT U MEAN ... CORRESPONDING WEBSITES?? WHAT R U REFERRING TO?

       ... I AM KINDA OUTA MY LEAGUE! ... 'COMPUTER TECH' CHALLENGED, I SUSPECT.

     

    -BACKUPS ARE ON IMAC. BUT I DO NOT KNOW IF IT BACKS UP MAIL ACCTS.

     

    I ALSO HAVE A GOOGLE(GMAIL) ACCT. NOTHING UNUSUAL HAPPENED TO MY GMAIL ACCT NOR THE FOLDERS.

     

    ALSO STARTED USING THE icloud ... could this be a problem?

     

     

    ANYWAY, THE FOLDERS ARE GONE. NO SIGN OF THEM OR THEIR CONTENTS!

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 4, 2016 9:52 PM in response to skn8848
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Apr 4, 2016 9:52 PM in response to skn8848

    Please bring the Mail browser window forward, then enter Time Machine. You'll see a series of Mail windows cascading back in time, each representing a snapshot of the Mail database.

    Scroll back to the most recent snapshot containing the messages you want to restore. Select the messages, or select a whole mailbox, then click Restore. The messages will be restored to a new mailbox named "com.apple.Mail.backup" in the On My Mac group. From there you can move them wherever you like.

    If you don't see the restored messages, position the cursor over the On My Mac heading in the mailbox list. An element Show or Hide will appear to the right of the heading. If it's Show, click it.

    Depending on how many mailboxes you have, you may have to scroll the mailbox list up or down to see the new entry.

    According to some reports, you might have to relaunch Mail, or perhaps wait a while for the database to be reindexed, before it shows up. I can't confirm those reports.

  • by skn8848,

    skn8848 skn8848 Apr 4, 2016 10:11 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 4, 2016 10:11 PM in response to Linc Davis

    OH, I HAVE NOT SET UP TIME MACHINE YET!

    MEANING TO DO BUT HAVE NOT DONE SO, YET.

     

    PERHAPS TOMORROW ... I MUST GET SOME REST NOW!

    THX. WILL TRY TO RESPOND TOMORROW.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 5, 2016 7:28 AM in response to skn8848
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Apr 5, 2016 7:28 AM in response to skn8848

    I suggest you shut down the computer immediately and don't turn it on again until you have at least one external hard drive (two or more recommended) to dedicate to backup. Each backup drive must have at least enough capacity to hold all the data on the internal drive comfortably, as well as any data that you have on secondary drives. Then follow the instructions in this support article.


    After you've backed up, go to the website of the mail service provider in question. Somewhere on that website there should be a page where you can read your mail. I'm sure you already know how to do that with your Gmail account. See whether the missing mail is on that page.