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Importing mail messages?
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bballe336
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Feb 19, 2009, 07:23 PM
 
So I just put leopard on my machine (installed a new drive and used migration assistant to bring everything over). Everything works fine except for 2 complaints with mail.

First, it didn't bring over any of my messages, I need those, if I connect the other drive to my machine where on the drive would I go to find everything? Hopefully I don't need to boot the computer from that drive to accomplish this do I?

Second, when I click the mail icon in my dock it doesn't bring up my mailbox. In tiger I'd leave mail open, close the mailbox, then click the mail icon to show the mailbox, leopard makes me go to file>new viewer window. How do I make it just show a new viewer window when I click on the icon?

Thanks for any help.
     
besson3c
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Feb 19, 2009, 07:54 PM
 
Is your email account POP or IMAP?
     
bballe336  (op)
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Feb 19, 2009, 08:18 PM
 
POP. My messages are no longer on the mail server however.
     
besson3c
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Feb 19, 2009, 08:56 PM
 
Messages are saved in ~/Library/Mail or something, but I would suggest getting an IMAP account and uploading your messages to this account so that they are accessible on your new Mac. As far as I'm concerned, IMAP is vastly superior to POP, and there is very little reason to have a POP account in general.
     
fisherKing
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Feb 19, 2009, 09:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by besson3c View Post
Messages are saved in ~/Library/Mail or something, but I would suggest getting an IMAP account and uploading your messages to this account so that they are accessible on your new Mac. As far as I'm concerned, IMAP is vastly superior to POP, and there is very little reason to have a POP account in general.
sure, but that doesn't answer the question.

try opening mail while the other drive is connected, and try importing them from that drive (they're where bessonC3 said they are).

you'll have a lot to sort out, but start there (everything will go into new folders).

second, mail SHOULD open a new window when u click the icon...did you copy preferences over from the old mac? or try running a system update...
"At first, there was Nothing. Then Nothing inverted itself and became Something.
And that is what you all are: inverted Nothings...with potential" (Sun Ra)
     
bballe336  (op)
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Feb 19, 2009, 10:05 PM
 
I copied everything using migration assistant during the installation, the system is fully updated, and I have repaired permissions as well.

Also shouldn't importing my mailbox mean that it would import everything the way it was? I really do not have the time to sort through thousands of emails and put them back in the proper folders if that's what you're saying I'm going to have to do.
     
fisherKing
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Feb 19, 2009, 10:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by bballe336 View Post
I copied everything using migration assistant during the installation, the system is fully updated, and I have repaired permissions as well.

Also shouldn't importing my mailbox mean that it would import everything the way it was? I really do not have the time to sort through thousands of emails and put them back in the proper folders if that's what you're saying I'm going to have to do.
migration assistant didn't get it? but it DID get your account settings? and mail DOES NOT open a window when you click on the icon?

do you have a lot of new mail? if NOT, you could try removing (don't delete yet) the Mail folder in your home library, and copying the Mail folder from the backup drive to the same location...see if everything comes up...

anyone else??
"At first, there was Nothing. Then Nothing inverted itself and became Something.
And that is what you all are: inverted Nothings...with potential" (Sun Ra)
     
bballe336  (op)
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Feb 19, 2009, 11:12 PM
 
I'll try swapping the mail folders. It is quite a strange situation as everything else appears to work. I'm also noticing that mail won't quit and I have to force quit it.

According to gmail when I logged in to it I only had 5 new messages, which mail did not download even though it has my proper account settings in it.
     
bballe336  (op)
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Feb 20, 2009, 08:58 PM
 
I tried swapping them ail folders, however it didn't change anything. Also mail won't quit and has to be force quit every single time, and it won't let me import anything.

Should I delete mail from the system and reinstall it with pacifist (awesome program if you haven't tried it) and then import everything?
     
bballe336  (op)
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Mar 1, 2009, 12:35 PM
 
Well I was given a solution on how to fix this, it work's perfectly, I'll copy and paste it here:

"Hello,

I've seen this issue twice, once during a simple migration from an older (10.4) computer to a brand new one a few weeks ago and once today, after installing 10.5.6 on an older Mac Pro. Mail comes up empty, no windows and you have to force quit to leave the application. All mail appears lost. The first time it happened, I thought it was some random problem and I resolved it manually. I had to re-do the customer settings and manually import the old mail. It was not such a big deal b/c the user had a very small amount of RAM. Today it was a big deal as the user had three accounts, 4GB of mail with all kinds of folders. I decided to call in for help and hit my friend Google, I found a solution which worked perfect to the letter. It solved my issue and I suspect we will be seeing more of this. I do think it has something to do with 10.5.6 either installing it or migrating to that version of the OS:

I work for an Apple Specialist in California and have found a solution to this relatively common issue. There is an interesting bug with mail I found that happens occasionally in a 10.4 (Tiger) to 10.5 (Leopard) migration. This bug will cause Mail to be unable to quit and all your messages will not appear in the mail window. I don't know if this problem manifests in any other situation but a 10.4-10.5 migration. I have seen this problem more than once since the release of 10.5.6. To fix this issue:

1. Navigate to your Library folder inside your home folder.

2. Locate the Mail folder and drag it to your desktop.

3. Launch the Mail application.

4. Mail will now ask you if you want import your messages. DO NOT HIT CONTINUE YET.

5. Navigate back to your Library folder inside your home folder. Notice there is a NEW mail folder that was created. You cannot delete this folder yet because it is in use by mail so we will just rename this folder Mail2.

6. Drag your OLD mail folder located on your desktop to your Library folder located in your home folder.

7. Go back to the Mail application and click continue. Your messages and settings should import fine now.

8. Verify that your messages and settings imported correctly and quit Mail. Navigate back to your home Library folder located in your home folder and delete the Mail2 folder.

9. Launch the Mail application again and make sure everything functions correctly.

I found a fix to this by just messing around with the issue for awhile. I have found NO good resolutions online for this bug. Good luck to you all
."
     
   
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