Syncing mail folders and mail to new Macbook Pro

[Soundhound]

I've got a new Macbook Pro that I'm syncing through MobileMe to the older macbook pro it's replacing, as well as my desktop iMac. It has synced the mail properly, but on the laptop, which has been my main mac for mail etc, there are a lot of folders, old mail etc. I never had these folders etc on the desktop. I would now like to sync (copy) these folders and all the saved mail in them to the new laptop, and sync the whole thing with the iMac. Is there a way to do that? Thanks!

 

[QCassidy352]

Yes, you can do this. Are you using OS X mail? If so, this is very easy. It's actually probably very easy anyway, but I know Mail better than other programs.

All you have to do is:

1) create new folders in the sidebar of Mail
IMPORTANT: the new folders have to be under the "mobile me" heading!

2) drag the messages from the old (local) folders to the new folders (the upload may take a long time, depending on how fast your connection is and how many messages you're dragging over)

3) There's no step 3. There's no step 3!! (reference, anyone? )

But seriously, that's it. Assuming mobile me is already set up on the imac, the next time you launch its Mail program it will sync with the server and get all of the new folders and the messages you dragged in to them. Let me know if you have any questions... but this is about as simple as it gets.

 

[Soundhound]

Thanks so much! When you say pull over the folders, copy them onto a them onto a flash drive or something like that? Or maybe have the two macs hooked up by FireWire?
Also, i'm going to move my home folder over from the old laptop using migration assistant. Doyou know if migration assistant
might recreate the mail folders if I move my mail with it?

Yes, you can do this. Are you using OS X mail? If so, this is very easy. It's actually probably very easy anyway, but I know Mail better than other programs.

All you have to do is:

1) create new folders in the sidebar of Mail
IMPORTANT: the new folders have to be under the "mobile me" heading!

2) drag the messages from the old (local) folders to the new folders (the upload may take a long time, depending on how fast your connection is and how many messages you're dragging over)

3) There's no step 3. There's no step 3!! (reference, anyone? )

But seriously, that's it. Assuming mobile me is already set up on the imac, the next time you launch its Mail program it will sync with the server and get all of the new folders and the messages you dragged in to them. Let me know if you have any questions... but this is about as simple as it gets.

 

[Merlosso]

Thanks so much! When you say pull over the folders, copy them onto a them onto a flash drive or something like that? Or maybe have the two macs hooked up by FireWire?
Also, i'm going to move my home folder over from the old laptop using migration assistant. Doyou know if migration assistant
might recreate the mail folders if I move my mail with it?

What the other person is saying, is that the mail is saved locally on your old computer. By creating new folders under the MobileMe account, you are creating them in the cloud. Then you drag the original folders (or just the email in them) to the new folders under MobileMe. Doing that will copy the emails to MobileMe and then the folders will be on all computers and iPhones that you sync with MobileMe.

I have no experience with migration assistant so I can't help you there. Sorry.

 

[QCassidy352]

Thanks so much! When you say pull over the folders, copy them onto a them onto a flash drive or something like that? Or maybe have the two macs hooked up by FireWire?
Also, i'm going to move my home folder over from the old laptop using migration assistant. Doyou know if migration assistant
might recreate the mail folders if I move my mail with it?

You don't need a flash drive or a FW cable. You can do this all on your old macbook pro, within the Mail program.

What the other person is saying, is that the mail is saved locally on your old computer. By creating new folders under the MobileMe account, you are creating them in the cloud. Then you drag the original folders (or just the email in them) to the new folders under MobileMe. Doing that will copy the emails to MobileMe and then the folders will be on all computers and iPhones that you sync with MobileMe.

Yes, that's exactly right. Even though Mail shows all the folders in the sidebar, the ones under the mobile me heading are not local - they're linked to the cloud.

So on your old macbook pro, nothing will have changed except those old emails will now appear in folders under the mobile me heading rather than in local folders that aren't under a heading. The magic happens when you set up mobile me in Mail on any other mac.

Migration assistant will get all of that mail on to your new macbook pro even if you don't move the folders to mobile me like I said before. But if you also want those emails on your imac, and to stay synced between the new MBP and imac in the future, you need to move those emails in to folders under the mobile me heading.

If you want the old emails to be synced on the OLD macbook pro, then drag them to mobile me BEFORE you run migration assistant. If you're not going to be using the old macbook pro any more, then you move the emails and then run migration assistant or run migration assistant and then move the emails on your new MBP - it doesn't matter.

If this is unclear, I can post some screen shots showing you what I mean when I get home tonight.

 

[RobColorado]

Related Question

I have a similar question. I have an iMac and a MacBook. From my MB, I set up folders of email by subject on MobileMe.

The folders show up on my MB in the Mail sidebar as "On .Mac"

I can't seem to figure out how to have the same access to those folders on my iMac. Any suggestions?

Thanks