Apple Mail migration from OS 10.6.8 to higher OS (OS 11?)

Thanks for the reply, Eric. I'd been able to find info on everything you had recommended prior to posting from scouring the Internet and support forums, so it's good to know I'm on the right track! I should have posted initially that I had verified and repaired permissions, made a bootable backup using SuperDuper!, got a clean bill of health from EtreCheck, and made a second backup of just my Mail folder, Downloads folder, and preferences file. I will work on making a second bootable backup of my entire hard disk.

However, what remains unclear to me is how the system upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.11 handles the old emails from Apple Mail 4.6.

My understanding from research is that going from 10.6.8 to 10.11 is not the same as going from 10.7 to 10.11 with respect to Apple Mail. OS 10.6.8 stores the mail differently (in a "Mail"
folder) unlike OS 10.7-10.10, which stores mail in V2 folders, and OS 10.11, storing mail in V3 folders. I've not actually seen the difference, just read about it, but I imagine you are more familiar with this than I am.:-) So my sense is that the article I found for going from 10.7 to 10.11 will not apply for my situation, which is the reason I posted to the forums.

It isn’t clear whether I need to launch Apple Mail after the OS 10.11 upgrade and everything will show up automatically OR I need to copy stuff over before I launch Apple Mail to keep my existing database of emails. I guess I could see what happens to my current Mail folder after the OS 10.11 update. I’d prefer to know beforehand what’s supposed to happen and what I’m supposed to do.

My other concern was whether I have to use IMAP settings on 10.11 or I can stick with a POP account.

Maybe everything is run under IMAP settings these days, but I didn't want to change any setting that I didn't have to.

Thanks again for your time and consideration!

Kind regards,

Tessie

Belated thanks for your help, Eric.

I discovered in checking printer drivers that my old Brother 7420 lacks a printer driver for OS. 11, only OS 10.10, so I think I'll have to start another thread to figure out that issue. (I can't afford a new printer right now.) I called Brother and neither the CSR nor her manager could offer help, or a workaround, or an ETA for when they might create a driver that supports OS 10.11. I might have to upgrade to only OS 10.10.