On my Mac mailboxes won't delete after Monterey update

[VivM]

After updating to Monterey 12.1 on my iMac, my mail keeps creating import mailboxes in the sidebar with all the messages from 2015-2018 in there. Every time I delete the mailbox, another one turned up, with all the messages, and then the old one returns! I have mailboxes numbered import-2 to import-15, all with various combinations of these messages. Help! I want to clean up my mail and get rid of the old stuff, not having it create new mailboxes! I spent all night last night emptying the mailboxes of thousands of duplicated messages and deleting the bin straightaway. The empty mailboxes refused to be deleted, so I moved them to another Import folder that had created itself earlier. They are still inside there, and still empty, but now I've got two new import mailboxes turn up in the sidebar with the messages in them again. I've attached a screenshot of the import mailboxes – the ones inside the Import folder are all empty but won't delete, and lower down (under To Keep) there are two new ones, Import-2 and Import-3, between them containing over 5,000 messages that had been deleted.

If anyone knows how to delete these unwanted import mailboxes, please tell me the secret, as I'm stumped.

 

[JellicleKatz]

I'm having the same problems. Did you find a solution?

 

[VivM]

Not so far. It's to do with just one of my mail accounts. This week I deleted the account altogether, and got a warning that all messages related to the account would be deleted. Good, I thought. So then I created a new account under that address, and all the old files are still there.

I'm going to pay a small fee for an online call with the people who supplied my iMac, because they have tech help and hopefully can sort me out. If it's successful, I'll let you know.

 

[stefaan]

After updating to Monterey 12.1 on my iMac, my mail keeps creating import mailboxes in the sidebar with all the messages from 2015-2018 in there. Every time I delete the mailbox, another one turned up, with all the messages, and then the old one returns! I have mailboxes numbered import-2 to import-15, all with various combinations of these messages. Help! I want to clean up my mail and get rid of the old stuff, not having it create new mailboxes! I spent all night last night emptying the mailboxes of thousands of duplicated messages and deleting the bin straightaway. The empty mailboxes refused to be deleted, so I moved them to another Import folder that had created itself earlier. They are still inside there, and still empty, but now I've got two new import mailboxes turn up in the sidebar with the messages in them again. I've attached a screenshot of the import mailboxes – the ones inside the Import folder are all empty but won't delete, and lower down (under To Keep) there are two new ones, Import-2 and Import-3, between them containing over 5,000 messages that had been deleted.

If anyone knows how to delete these unwanted import mailboxes, please tell me the secret, as I'm stumped.

I have the same problem, and have work around for it.

Go to the ~/Library/Mail folder. There you find a folder that contain a list of all mail folders in mail. Here you can delete the unwanted mail folders. It after that you restart the mail program the unwanted folders still are still there, but now you can delete them !
Of course , these unwanted folders shoud not appear in the first place. But I have not found a way to prevent that.

 

[VivM]

Thank you for the tip, I tried that route before, and have just done it again following your instructions, but the mailboxes are still all listed in my mail window, some empty, and others still full of the same bunch of emails. I'm going to make an appointment with a technician at my nearest Storefront shop. There are other issues going on since the Monterey install that are slowing the Mac up and making apps hang, so they could be sorted too, I hope.

 

[BrianBaughn]

You may have to end up turning off Mail for all accounts, emptying the ~/Library/Mail folder completely, checking your email account web portals to see if everything looks correct there and then re-adding all Mail accounts.

If you accounts are all IMAP or Exchange and you have no "On My Mac" mail that you want to keep then you shouldn't need to backup anything.

 

[altimax]

Just to add to this, I've been working with a client who has this exact issue, and I went as far as to remove and replace his entire ~Library/Mail folder from a Time Machine backup in October of last year, which appeared to work initially but then began recreating the "Import-#" folders within a few minutes. He is now up to "Import-42" after only a few days. He was on Monterey 12.1, so we went to 12.2 but that made no difference.

Quitting Mail and deleting them all manually from the ~Library/Mail/V9 directory doesn't help either. nor did disabling or deleting all his accounts and then recreating them.

My best guess here is that the process that the Mail app in Monterey uses to import all mail when upgrading from Big Sur or earlier is flawed in that it never flags the import as completed, so the process restarts and never concludes, hence the sequentially-named Import folders.

 

[BrianBaughn]

My best guess here is that the process that the Mail app in Monterey uses to import all mail when upgrading from Big Sur or earlier is flawed in that it never flags the import as completed, so the process restarts and never concludes, hence the sequentially-named Import folders.

I upgraded to Monterey directly from Mojave with three email accounts…one Exchange, one Gmail and one regular IMAP…and I didn't get any of these import boxes.

Also, if the accounts were removed, the ~/Library/Mail folder was COMPLETELY emptied and the accounts were re-added then there's nothing "imported" at all…it's just a syncronization at that point. It's not clear from any of the prior posts in this thread if this is exactly what has been tried.

 

[altimax]

Well, whether or not the messages are actually re-imported or just synchronized, the process that is occurring in this case is basically mimicking what happens to mail messages when you upgrade the OS, and it's mimicking it over and over again. I don't think this is a widespread issue at all, and I upgraded to Monterey with six email accounts and had no issues. But it's unfortunately very real for the people who are experiencing it, and their hard drives are slowly filling up with the "Import-#" folders (my client has 38K messages in each folder).

 

[altimax]

Also, ~/Library/Mail would not be completely emptied if the user has "On My Computer" messages stored there.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Also, ~/Library/Mail would not be completely emptied if the user has "On My Computer" messages stored there.

Exactly…as I stated in post #6.

In the case of having "On My Mac" mail that needs to be kept I'd back it up (export for reimport later) and then go through the complete nuke of ~/Library/Mail process…which again I'll say no one here with this issue has confirmed they've actually tried.

 

[altimax]

As I stated in post #7 above, I did do that.

 

[BrianBaughn]

As I stated in post #7 above, I did do that.

Maybe I'm not being clear about the procedure. In your post #7 you said

Quitting Mail and deleting them all manually from the ~Library/Mail/V9 directory doesn't help either. nor did disabling or deleting all his accounts and then recreating them.

You didn't say you deleted everything in ~/Library/Mail after disabling.

 

[altimax]

I was hoping that if I shared what I experienced with my client in this thread, given that the OP and the individual in post #2 experienced the same issues, we might be able to help each other. You apparently have not seen this issue, unlike the rest of us, so I am unclear as to how your input is helping in any way. I apologize for my obviously incompetent and useless contributions and sorry to have wasted everyone's time here.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Up until 2021 I was an active computer consultant with a couple of Apple certifications and, as you might expect, was called on to troubleshoot issues that I hadn't seen before.

Over many years I have seen, and experienced myself, wonky Mail issues.

Procedure clarity is important in these threads. The help here seems SO much better than what one finds at the Apple forums. For me, those forums just seem to muck up my troubleshooting internet searches with a ton of useless links.

 

[tony1athome]

I'm seeing the same problem and would welcome any workaround or solution.

 

[VivM]

I made a phone call appointment with an Apple technician, who couldn't help me and said that I should never go into ~/Library/Mail and delete files as it could make things worse. So I was left no better off. I haven't been using Time Machine since my last external drive died, only backing up to the cloud. But at the thought of deleting all my email accounts, I bought a new drive last week and am backing up with TM again. I hope that if I do delete my accounts I can restore stuff I need from Time Machine without including the import files, which now number 144, most of them containing the same 3,000 or so messages. If anyone can say this will work, I'd be very grateful before I start the process!

 

[shooskater]

I had this same problem, and tried the ~library/Mail delete the import# folders and it didn't work. They went away for a day and then came back. But what did work was using Finder to go into my account/library/mail/V9 folder and find the hex file that contains the troublesome import# folders and delete them. Then I went back in mail and the import# folders would delete. It's been a couple weeks now and they haven't returned. I also had an upgrade to my IOS to Monterey version 12.4 beta that may have also helped, but the import# folders are gone.

 

[rexv]

I had this same problem, and tried the ~library/Mail delete the import# folders and it didn't work. They went away for a day and then came back. But what did work was using Finder to go into my account/library/mail/V9 folder and find the hex file that contains the troublesome import# folders and delete them. Then I went back in mail and the import# folders would delete. It's been a couple weeks now and they haven't returned. I also had an upgrade to my IOS to Monterey version 12.4 beta that may have also helped, but the import# folders are gone.

shooskater -- Please tell me how to try the solution you describe -- first, how to "go into my account/library/mail/V9". And "the hex file that contains the troublesome import# folders." I think I can figure out how to delete them. Sorry for the rudimentary lesson, but I'm not familiar with poking around in the innards of my iMac. Hopefully, I can follow your instructions and get rid of my repeated Import mailboxes. Will appreciate your help!

 

[shooskater]

shooskater -- Please tell me how to try the solution you describe -- first, how to "go into my account/library/mail/V9". And "the hex file that contains the troublesome import# folders." I think I can figure out how to delete them. Sorry for the rudimentary lesson, but I'm not familiar with poking around in the innards of my iMac. Hopefully, I can follow your instructions and get rid of my repeated Import mailboxes. Will appreciate your help!

First open a Finder window. You can use [command] [tab] to see active progs, and finder will be one of them. Then when you are in Finder use the file tab to open a new finder window. In the left side of the finder window you will see a column of Favorites. In that listing will be a folder that has an image of a house on it, on mine it has my name. That's your account. Click that home folder and you will see a listing of folders, one of them being Library. Click Library and in that folder look for the Mail folder. Click the mail folder and you will see a V9 folder. One of the folders in the V9 folder will contain your import# folders. I deleted all the numbered import folders and left only the import no number folder.
Now go back into mail and you will be able to delete the import# folders and their contents. You may need to restart mail. Like I said I also updated my IOS at this time so it may have helped. Good Luck

 

[rexv]

Many thanks, shooskater! I appreciate the clear instructions you gave me. I have tried to follow them and only get a little way into the process until I can't find Library. Except, once, and only once, I got far enough into the process to find Mail and Library and then found only V2. Feeling daring, I went into V2 and saw some old Mail and took a chance and deleted some of the stuff. As I recall, there were a number of folders(?) or files(.) similar to V2, but when I exited V2 hoping to return to the list hoping to find V9, I have not been able to locate the list again, which may contain V9. ☹️ Anyway, I went back to my Mailboxes and there were 3 Import boxes -- the first in several days! I don't want to burden you further. I'm using Monterey 12.3.1 on a 27" late 2015 iMac Retina, on which I assume I should be able to find the folders and files you describe. I'll keep working on your suggested process until I give up or get another suggestion -- or just keep deleting the offending Import boxes! Once again, thanks for your help!

 

[doray]

Is it possible that the mailboxes are listed under Favorites in Mail? I thought I had a mailbox that wouldn't go away -- when I deleted it, it would come back. Turns out I had to control-click on the mailbox and choose "Remove from Favorites".

 

[jyothi7]

First open a Finder window. You can use [command] [tab] to see active progs, and finder will be one of them. Then when you are in Finder use the file tab to open a new finder window. In the left side of the finder window you will see a column of Favorites. In that listing will be a folder that has an image of a house on it, on mine it has my name. That's your account. Click that home folder and you will see a listing of folders, one of them being Library. Click Library and in that folder look for the Mail folder. Click the mail folder and you will see a V9 folder. One of the folders in the V9 folder will contain your import# folders. I deleted all the numbered import folders and left only the import no number folder.
Now go back into mail and you will be able to delete the import# folders and their contents. You may need to restart mail. Like I said I also updated my IOS at this time so it may have helped. Good Luck

Thanks for this, shooskater. I did this a couple of days ago. Maybe a week. We actually reloaded my entire computer from scratch using a time machine. The numbered import folders have not reappeared BUT the single import folder still amasses thousands of emails a day. It looks as though the bug in the code that keeps telling the computer to recover or store messages is not fixed. In addition, I now proliferate "recovered mail" folders "on my mac" as well as the single "import" folder.

 

[Bazza1]

I had a similar situation some time ago, and after trying some of the suggestions above, I tried going to the online equivalent of the affected account (in my case, Mac Mail) and found the folders there, too. I was able to delete them there and this was then reflected on my Mac. Hasn't returned (yet....).

 

[tybrewer]

I think I found the answer. I couldn't see anything under accounts in Mail Preferences, but when I went to "Internet Accounts" in "System Preferences" the account I was looking to get rid of showed up there. When I removed the account from there, voila — Mail.app was cleaned up.

Hope this helps!