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How can I copy all the email and the sub-folders?

D

Dervla

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 21, 2024
52
19
Hello,

Yesterday my email & internet provider notified me they would become internet only, ie, no email, at the end of this year and I should move any emails I want to keep.

There are many emails in many folders, not just Inboxes, and many emails in sub-folders of those folders.

How can I copy all the email and the sub-folders? PDF would be ok if that matters and I don’t think I will import the messages later, just keep for reference and I guess I will be writing to some senders to update to my new address. I do not use Command instructions.

Thank you for any help.
 
I don't see why it will remove them off your computer just because they aren't providing an email service.
Anything you've already downloaded should still remain there but you can use the 'archive' command I think or you can create a new mailbox using the 'create new mailbox' command- I think it's rt click.
Yes, got to 'all mailboxes'-for example-rt click (control left click does the same thing) and choose 'new mailbox' and choose 'on my mac'. Name it then drag all your emails into it. They should all be on your mac then, not on the server
Once the email service stops you won't get any more so you need to replace all the email addresses on all the acounts you use which is probably a bigger problem.
I've just been through the same process and it's a real pain.
If you are new to mac, search for 'hide my email'. It is something very useful you should get in the habit of using
 
First...
You need to make sure that all the email you want to save is in folders created using the "on my Mac" option. (see note at end of this reply)

Doing this ensures that the actual emails will be in those folders. Like this:
on my mac.jpg


Once that's done...
Navigate to your "Mail" folder -- it's here:
home/library/Mail
If you want a backup of this...
You can just copy the entire "Mail" folder to another drive, and everything will be copied with it. A very basic "archive" of old stuff.

There are one or more 3rd-party apps out there that can do this for you, perhaps in a more polished way. I know they exist, but I've never used them.

If you're using a decent backup app now, your Mail folder should be routinely backed up as part of your home folder.
If you're NOT using a backup app, I STRONGLY suggest that you START using one.
I'd suggest either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

Finally...
Why your old emails need to be in the "on my Mac" area...

If your emails are still on your ISP/email provider's server right now, when that server shuts down, those emails could vanish. Either immediately or over time.

The way to ensure that YOU "have them" is to move them into folders in the "on my Mac" area. When you do this, Mail.app will go to the server, and copy the body of the email AND any attachments.

Remember that (at least with IMAP) when you look at the list of emails in Mail.app, what you're seeing are "the headers". The actual body of the emails may not be on your Mac... just the headers. If they are removed from the server, they'll disappear on your Mac, as well.

So... that's why you need to "grab them" and force an actual "copy" onto your drive...
 
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an alternative way and one I’ve just recently done is create a new email address and re create the folders you need so it mirrors your old email.

Then I would highlight and copy to the new email addresses folder you just created. It will then sync to your new providers cloud storage
 
Fishrrman said:
First...
You need to make sure that all the email you want to save is in folders created using the "on my Mac" option. (see note at end of this reply)

Doing this ensures that the actual emails will be in those folders. Like this:
View attachment 2580888

Once that's done...
Navigate to your "Mail" folder -- it's here:
home/library/Mail
If you want a backup of this...
You can just copy the entire "Mail" folder to another drive, and everything will be copied with it. A very basic "archive" of old stuff.

There are one or more 3rd-party apps out there that can do this for you, perhaps in a more polished way. I know they exist, but I've never used them.

If you're using a decent backup app now, your Mail folder should be routinely backed up as part of your home folder.
If you're NOT using a backup app, I STRONGLY suggest that you START using one.
I'd suggest either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

Finally...
Why your old emails need to be in the "on my Mac" area...

If your emails are still on your ISP/email provider's server right now, when that server shuts down, those emails could vanish. Either immediately or over time.

The way to ensure that YOU "have them" is to move them into folders in the "on my Mac" area. When you do this, Mail.app will go to the server, and copy the body of the email AND any attachments.

Remember that (at least with IMAP) when you look at the list of emails in Mail.app, what you're seeing are "the headers". The actual body of the emails may not be on your Mac... just the headers. If they are removed from the server, they'll disappear on your Mac, as well.

So... that's why you need to "grab them" and force an actual "copy" onto your drive...
Click to expand...

Thank you very much. I am working on doing what you wrote.
 
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BrianBaughn said:
You didn't say if you wanted access to these old mails on other devices. If so, using JamesMay82's method will take care of that.
Click to expand...
I am not sure, but maybe.

I think I may want to find an old mail now and them but beyond that I don't know.
 
Last edited:
If you use Apple Mail app, to to MailBox at top menu -> Export mailbox

this should export all your messages in a standard format .EML which you can import to your new provider.
you can use 3rd party tools Emailchemy and Mail Extractor Pro but they are paid

another way is to connect your new mailbox with Apple Mail then drag and drop folders from your old email to your new email. it should work
 
Last edited:
Fishrrman said:
First...
You need to make sure that all the email you want to save is in folders created using the "on my Mac" option. (see note at end of this reply)

Doing this ensures that the actual emails will be in those folders. Like this:
View attachment 2580888

Once that's done...
Navigate to your "Mail" folder -- it's here:
home/library/Mail
If you want a backup of this...
You can just copy the entire "Mail" folder to another drive, and everything will be copied with it. A very basic "archive" of old stuff.

There are one or more 3rd-party apps out there that can do this for you, perhaps in a more polished way. I know they exist, but I've never used them.

If you're using a decent backup app now, your Mail folder should be routinely backed up as part of your home folder.
If you're NOT using a backup app, I STRONGLY suggest that you START using one.
I'd suggest either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

Finally...
Why your old emails need to be in the "on my Mac" area...

If your emails are still on your ISP/email provider's server right now, when that server shuts down, those emails could vanish. Either immediately or over time.

The way to ensure that YOU "have them" is to move them into folders in the "on my Mac" area. When you do this, Mail.app will go to the server, and copy the body of the email AND any attachments.

Remember that (at least with IMAP) when you look at the list of emails in Mail.app, what you're seeing are "the headers". The actual body of the emails may not be on your Mac... just the headers. If they are removed from the server, they'll disappear on your Mac, as well.

So... that's why you need to "grab them" and force an actual "copy" onto your drive...
Click to expand...

Update:

moved emails from the mailboxes in the Favorites folder to mailboxes in the On My Mac folder

purchased Carbon Copy Cloner
backed up the iMac [1.07TB used of 2TB]
to a LaCie Rugged USB-C Media, USB External Physical Disk • GUID Partition Map, 4TB, formatted as APFS

copied Mail to an external hard drive
the files copied to the Desktop, then I copied that to the external drive, then I moved the file on the Desktop to the Trash
the external hard drive is a LaCie Rugged FW USB3 [with a USB-c adapter] Media, USB External Physical Disk • GUID Partition Map, 2TB, formatted as APFS


Questions:
How do I use the archived Mail app? If I am wondering about an old email could I search for it in the archive? How? Could I reply to it? How?

If I connect the external hard drive to either my iMac or another iMac and click on the archived Mail app folder I wouldn’t overwrite the Mail app already on the iMac, would I?
 
Somewhat different topic:

Migrating[?] not archiving, my emails, email folders & sub-folders and Contacts to another email provider,

is this standard procedure by a new email provider when someone opens a new account?
 
"is this standard procedure by a new email provider when someone opens a new account?"

I've never "migrated" old emails into a "new" account.
Rather, I consider the new account to be "a clean start".
(having said that, I've been using the same email account for around 33 years now)

Although...
In the "on my Mac" area, I'm thinking you could keep all your "old" mail there, if you wished. The old emails (and the folders its in) shouldn't affect anything with the new account.

I'm thinking again that the MailSteward app probably can handle this well...
 
Fishrrman said:
First...
You need to make sure that all the email you want to save is in folders created using the "on my Mac" option. (see note at end of this reply)

Doing this ensures that the actual emails will be in those folders. Like this:
View attachment 2580888

Once that's done...
Navigate to your "Mail" folder -- it's here:
home/library/Mail
If you want a backup of this...
You can just copy the entire "Mail" folder to another drive, and everything will be copied with it. A very basic "archive" of old stuff.

There are one or more 3rd-party apps out there that can do this for you, perhaps in a more polished way. I know they exist, but I've never used them.

If you're using a decent backup app now, your Mail folder should be routinely backed up as part of your home folder.
If you're NOT using a backup app, I STRONGLY suggest that you START using one.
I'd suggest either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

Finally...
Why your old emails need to be in the "on my Mac" area...

If your emails are still on your ISP/email provider's server right now, when that server shuts down, those emails could vanish. Either immediately or over time.

The way to ensure that YOU "have them" is to move them into folders in the "on my Mac" area. When you do this, Mail.app will go to the server, and copy the body of the email AND any attachments.

Remember that (at least with IMAP) when you look at the list of emails in Mail.app, what you're seeing are "the headers". The actual body of the emails may not be on your Mac... just the headers. If they are removed from the server, they'll disappear on your Mac, as well.

So... that's why you need to "grab them" and force an actual "copy" onto your drive...
Click to expand...
Just to check.. If you switch off your wifi and you can still load an email, then it's not on the server. Once you've read them they should be on your computer or saved in icloud.
 
Ruggy said:
Just to check.. If you switch off your wifi and you can still load an email, then it's not on the server. Once you've read them they should be on your computer or saved in icloud.
Click to expand...
Good idea, thank you

I checked,
Wi-fi is turned off on the iMac
turned iMac off, disconnected the ethernet wire
turned iMac on
opened [Apple] Mail

there are still emails in Favorites/All Inboxes/various email accounts [shouldn’t that be impossible?]
as well as in On My Mac/various mailboxes I have created

We do have a router so we have wi-fi for cellphones. Should I turn the router off and try again?

I did try to send an email and it didn’t send. It is in Mailboxes/Outbox, which is where things end up if they cannot be sent.
 
Oh - my email accounts on the iMac are POP. Would that explain why there are [still] emails in the Inboxes even after disconnecting the ethernet cable?
 
I believe that with POP, when you click on a "header" for an unread msg (inbox list), it will download and save the contents of the msg and any attachments in your inbox.

However, with IMAP, I believe things work differently. When you click on the header, the Mac "reaches out" to the email server and gets the msg contents, but doesn't save the contents locally. The content remains on the server, UNLESS you move the msg into a folder in your "on my Mac" area. In that case, the msg contents and attachments are saved.

I could be wrong, and welcome correction by others who may know more.
 
Just change the password of the account online.
Mail will keep everything downloaded and give an offline error. I've got accounts like this in both Mail and Outlook; it's just easier than exporting mboxes etc, and Time Machine still backs everything up.
 
POP email downloads to the local device when you do a send / receive on your Mac. My dad has an older POP email account and he can access emails on his iPhone until such times as he does a send/receive on his computer, at which time they get pulled down and solely exist on the local machine.

I have an IMAP account and by default the emails stay in the cloud but are synched to the connected devices when you do a send / receive (so you can read them offline, and it will sync back next time you are online). I need to manually move my emails into a local file structure (On My Mac) periodically so the emails don’t build up and exceed my allowed cloud storage.

IMAP is much better for modern, multi-device scenarios.
 
danmart said:
POP email downloads to the local device when you do a send / receive on your Mac. My dad has an older POP email account and he can access emails on his iPhone until such times as he does a send/receive on his computer, at which time they get pulled down and solely exist on the local machine.

I have an IMAP account and by default the emails stay in the cloud but are synched to the connected devices when you do a send / receive (so you can read them offline, and it will sync back next time you are online). I need to manually move my emails into a local file structure (On My Mac) periodically so the emails don’t build up and exceed my allowed cloud storage.

IMAP is much better for modern, multi-device scenarios.
Click to expand...

I don’t understand.

Is this correct:
you use an iCloud address for email,
when you check for new email on your Mac they appear in the Inbox in Mail on your Mac,
from time to time you move the emails from the iCloud mailbox on your Mac to the On My Mac section on your Mac.

Is that correct?

Are you using any other email software besides iCloud and Mail your Mac?

Thank you
 
danmart said:
POP email downloads to the local device when you do a send / receive on your Mac. My dad has an older POP email account and he can access emails on his iPhone until such times as he does a send/receive on his computer, at which time they get pulled down and solely exist on the local machine.
Click to expand...
He could change the settings on his computer to leave mail on the server for a week or two, so he can still receive them on his phone.
 
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It is, however it’s a small ISP based in the UK so probably not the most convenient option for a person in the US. My friend runs the company, so I am confident I will have plenty notice before my account should ever go away. 🙂

You might find a good option by creating a new topic asking for recommendations for ISPs who offer email services in the USA?
 
danmart said:
It is, however it’s a small ISP based in the UK so probably not the most convenient option for a person in the US. My friend runs the company, so I am confident I will have plenty notice before my account should ever go away. 🙂

You might find a good option by creating a new topic asking for recommendations for ISPs who offer email services in the USA?
Click to expand...

Thank you, I will try that.
 
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