[LarsCA]

I searched all the forums for help about mail and emails disappearing, but nowhere did I find an answer to my specific problem.

I just updated from OS 10.2.8 to Tiger. Before installing Tiger, I backed everything up to my external HD using Carbon Copy. Then I erased my HD before installing Tiger, and so far everything has worked out just fine except for mail.

I can't get my old emails. I tried to import them using the import function in Mail, but it only imports the mailboxes, not what's in them.

I tried to copy over all the old mailboxes in my backup -->library->mail->everything in here, but that didn't help either (it worked for all my contacts in AddressBook though).

Can anyone tell me what I should try to do? Is there a problem because I'm trying to jump from 10.2.8 to 10.4.1? Exactly which files should go where, and how should I get them there? Should I rename some files, delete others?

I really need my old emails, and I know they are there (there's got to be a reason some of these files are 100MB or so), but how can I get Mail to see them?

[Thinine]

Start from scratch (delete the Mail folder in your Library) and retry the import. If it still doesn't work, check and see if there's a Mailboxes file in your ~/Library/Mail folder. If there is, and it's not a directory, delete it and retry the import. I had this problem when I updated too.

[LarsCA]

Originally Posted by Thinine

Start from scratch (delete the Mail folder in your Library) and retry the import. If it still doesn't work, check and see if there's a Mailboxes file in your ~/Library/Mail folder. If there is, and it's not a directory, delete it and retry the import. I had this problem when I updated too.

Thanks for your help. It worked out just fine. All my old emails was imported once I deleted the mail folder and started from scratch.

However, now there's a new problem...

Once I have imported my old emails, everything is there. Then, when I shut down Mail, and reopen it, all my old emails and mailboxes are gone again. I can delete the mail folder in library and import them again, but how do I keep them in mail so that I don't have to do this every time? Does anyone know?

[Thinine]

Is there a Mailboxes directory (not file) in your Mail folder? If so, what's inside it? That's where your Mail should be. Check and also make sure that inside the Mailboxes folder is an Imported (or Imports) folder, which is where your imported Mail should go. And if you see all of your messages fine, move them out of the imported section in Mail to a custom box or your inbox and they should stay between restarts.

[LarsCA]

Originally Posted by Thinine

Is there a Mailboxes directory (not file) in your Mail folder? If so, what's inside it? That's where your Mail should be. Check and also make sure that inside the Mailboxes folder is an Imported (or Imports) folder, which is where your imported Mail should go. And if you see all of your messages fine, move them out of the imported section in Mail to a custom box or your inbox and they should stay between restarts.

I'm at work so I can't look at my computer right now, but...

What is a Mailboxes directory? Is that a p.list?

Inside my Mail folder in the users->library-> folder, there are a Mailboxes folder. There is also a POP (name) folder, and some other stuff that I have no clue of what they are. Inside my Mailboxes folder, there was an Imported folder. I highlighted all my folders inside of this (I have 8 different folders named things like Private, Business, Shopping etc. where I put my emails) and moved them out of the Imported folder and into Mailboxes. What happened was that all my folders showed up in the Mail program, and also all of my old emails. But after about 5 seconds, all my old emails were gone but the folders remained in the sidebar.

I assume there is some rule that tells the Mail application to move these emails out of there, or I just haven't placed them in the right place.

I plan on starting from scratch by trashing my Mail folder in Library, and do another import. That works up until i shut down the Mail application, then upon reopening all my emails are gone again.

If I can't figure out what's going on, I think you get 90 days Apple Care with the purchase of Tiger, so I guess that's where I'm heading next.

Does anyone know why there is no sound when you send emails?