Missing Mailboxes Mac Mail

[Ghoulardi57]

Upgraded from Catalina to Sequoia. In Mail, all the proprietary mailboxes I had set up have disappeared. Calling Apple support was a major disappointment, clueless. Is there a way to retrieve those? I used Migration Assistant to migrate from older iMac to newer model. I also have BU via Carbon Copy Cloner. I used that to try to transfer the Catalina Mail to the newer Mac, but still no luck.

Ideas...?

 

[chabig]

They should have all transferred. They are probably there but not being displayed. If you think they aren't there, can you post a screenshot of the Mail sidebar where you're looking for them?

 

[Ghoulardi57]

Here ya go. This is the Catalina version, the boxes under My Mac are missing on the newer one.

 

[Ghoulardi57]

And the new Mail.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

“On My Mac” mailboxes are essentially obsolete at this point. simpler & safer to store in IMAP, even if it’s necessary to pay for server storage.

But if that’s the way you want to keep them - https://support.apple.com/guide/mail/import-or-export-mailboxes-mlhlp1030/mac covers how to export from the old computer & import to the new.

 

[Fishrrman]

I don't see why "on my mac" is obsolete.
I prefer to keep locally-stored archived messages. I don't have a huge number of them, however.

OP:
What's in the "trash" folder/icon I see in the above pics?
Have you verified that what's there IS indeed "trashed" mail?

Aside:
I have a friend who for too long has considered putting email into the trash (and never emptying the trash) his "archives".
Somehow I see this as causing problems over the long term.

Having said all that:
What you could try doing is connecting your cloned CCC backup.
Then... open Mail.app and use the "File->Import" menu command to import the old messages from the folder in your account. It's at
home/Library/Mail

I try selecting the "Mail" folder and seeing if the import feature will work from there.
If it doesn't, you need to go "further into" the Mail folder.

I -think- the folder you need to select is "V10" (or "Vxxx").
The mailboxes are in the "long-numbered" folders within.

They will come into your NEW Mail.app as "imported mail".
Then you need to go into that folder and move things where you want them to be.
It's a little work, but one has to do what one has to do.

Good luck.

 

[Ghoulardi57]

I don't see why "on my mac" is obsolete.
I prefer to keep locally-stored archived messages. I don't have a huge number of them, however.

OP:
What's in the "trash" folder/icon I see in the above pics?
Have you verified that what's there IS indeed "trashed" mail?

Aside:
I have a friend who for too long has considered putting email into the trash (and never emptying the trash) his "archives".
Somehow I see this as causing problems over the long term.

Having said all that:
What you could try doing is connecting your cloned CCC backup.
Then... open Mail.app and use the "File->Import" menu command to import the old messages from the folder in your account. It's at
home/Library/Mail

I try selecting the "Mail" folder and seeing if the import feature will work from there.
If it doesn't, you need to go "further into" the Mail folder.

I -think- the folder you need to select is "V10" (or "Vxxx").
The mailboxes are in the "long-numbered" folders within.

They will come into your NEW Mail.app as "imported mail".
Then you need to go into that folder and move things where you want them to be.
It's a little work, but one has to do what one has to do.

Good luck.

Yes, I certainly did not understand the "obsolete" statement. The folders I created are to keep important emails organized, some have important info going back a couple years. Thanks for the reply, I will investigate and report back!

BTW
the trash is more recent stuff. I empty it manually as needed.

 

[hg.wells]

Yes, I certainly did not understand the "obsolete" statement. The folders I created are to keep important emails organized, some have important info going back a couple years. Thanks for the reply, I will investigate and report back!

BTW
the trash is more recent stuff. I empty it manually as needed.

I think in the sense that storing emails locally made sense with POP emails. However with IMAP now being the standard. Having those folders readily available on all of your devices vs one device is more desirable. If I’m out and about I have full access to all of those folders.

 

[Ghoulardi57]

Thanks so much, that worked! Had to go into the V folders, as suggested.

 

[Ghoulardi57]

I think in the sense that storing emails locally made sense with POP emails. However with IMAP now being the standard. Having those folders readily available on all of your devices vs one device is more desirable. If I’m out and about I have full access to all of those folders.

Not up on POP vs. IMAP, that one is beyond me. How might one set that up for IMAP?

 

[BrianBaughn]

Not up on POP vs. IMAP, that one is beyond me. How might one set that up for IMAP?

Folders readily available on all of your devices? You only need to copy all your email under "On My Mac" to folders under an already existing account (IMAP or Exchange).

If allowable space on existing accounts is an issue then one would either have to add a new account and use that space…or pay to increase the storage of an existing account.