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Cottonsworth · Feb 11, 2010, 06:17 PM

I'm currently running Apple Mail on Tiger on my MBP. I want to backup the mail on my MBP and read them on my iMac without having to import the mail folders onto Apple Mail on my iMac. Is this possible? (As a side note, I'm currently running Leopard on my iMac and will be upgrading to Snow Leopard soon, so I would like to be able to read my mails in Snow Leopard).

I remember back in the Panther days, you could read individual emails from Apple Mail mailboxes that you backed up without having to import them back into the program.

Thanks!

ibook_steve · Feb 11, 2010, 08:42 PM

Is your mail account IMAP (instead of POP)? If so, all you have to do is set up the same mail account on the iMac and get access to the mail off the IMAP server. If it's POP, I'm sure others can help.

Steve

besson3c · Feb 11, 2010, 09:36 PM

If you don't have an IMAP account, get one, you'll never have to worry about backing up your email again and negotiating different mailbox formats and all that.

Cottonsworth · Feb 11, 2010, 10:17 PM

It is neither an imap or pop, it is an inactive email address and I want to save the emails and be able to look at them in the future without having to populate them in my current mail program. You use to be able to do that in Apple Mail under Panther but that function was lost once Apple updated to Tiger. I wonder if there is anyway around that. I'm planning on upgrading all my machines to Snow Leopard.

Art Vandelay · Feb 11, 2010, 11:11 PM

You mean Mail > Mailbox > Archive Mailbox...

Cottonsworth · Feb 11, 2010, 11:30 PM

There isn't an Archive Mailbox option in Apple Mail in Tiger.

Cottonsworth · Feb 11, 2010, 11:54 PM

Basically, I want to be able to save the mailbox and pull up individual messages or the mailbox without having to import them back into Apple Mail. I do not that is an option or not.

besson3c · Feb 12, 2010, 12:03 AM

I think Tiger used mbox for its mailbox format, but if it were me I'd not go the route of negotiating mailbox formats, as within OS X Mail alone they have changed between versions, and there is no real standard here that will work in all clients.

What I would do instead is run your own IMAP server. It could be on the Mac you use, or on another PC in the house. Host this archived mailbox there. Alternatively, if there is no sensitive data in this email account and you are certain that you are not putting yourself at risk, create yourself a GMail account and store your mail within this account.

IMAP is going to be your best intermediary in accessing your messages.

Cottonsworth · Feb 12, 2010, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by besson3c

I think Tiger used mbox for its mailbox format, but if it were me I'd not go the route of negotiating mailbox formats, as within OS X Mail alone they have changed between versions, and there is no real standard here that will work in all clients.

What I would do instead is run your own IMAP server. It could be on the Mac you use, or on another PC in the house. Host this archived mailbox there. Alternatively, if there is no sensitive data in this email account and you are certain that you are not putting yourself at risk, create yourself a GMail account and store your mail within this account.

IMAP is going to be your best intermediary in accessing your messages.

That is a very interesting solution. A bit more work than I wanted but that seems like the only way I can access my old archived Panther and Tiger mailboxes without having to import them directly into Snow Leopard. Thank you for the suggestion, I will definitely look into it.