How to import old Mail mailboxes into Mail on new MBP?

[gnownayr]

Hi,
i thought this would be simple...it probably is. i saw an imbox.mbox and sent messages.mbox on my old computer, emailed it to my new one, and tried to import it. however it said that they were not valid mbox files. so i went into target disk mode to look for other mail files, and couldn't find any. any suggestions?

 

[Jestered]

Go to your user folder->Library->Mail.

Copy everything in there to the same place on your new computer (get rid of everything in the new computers Mail folder first unless you have some new emails that have come through there already).

Go to your user folder->Library->Mail Downloads.

Again, copy everything to the new computer and same location.

Also, copy your mail preferences file to the new computer.

Start mail and it should be exactly like it is on the old computer. No need to import anything in the actual app itself.

 

[keenkreations]

Yeah, you can either do that or use all encompassing Migration Assistant.

 

[hoosker]

I know this is an old thread but I going from a G5 - 10.4 to a Mac Pro - 6.4. Will this work? Several generations between versions of Mail and all...I really don't want to use Migration Assistant as I have heard of problems and want to keep a clean system. Can you only update mail with Migration Assistant without all the other stuff?

 

[UltraNEO*]

I know this is an old thread but I going from a G5 - 10.4 to a Mac Pro - 6.4. Will this work? Several generations between versions of Mail and all...I really don't want to use Migration Assistant as I have heard of problems and want to keep a clean system. Can you only update mail with Migration Assistant without all the other stuff?

Copy the following folders to your new system, placing them in exactly the same place. For all your user passwords etc. copy the Keychains folder too!

'~' denotes user's home.

Mail Preferences & mailbox settings:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist (file)
​

Mailbox storage:

~/Library/Mail (directory)
​

 

[hoosker]

Hey thanks, I only half expected a reply and certainly not that fast!

I will give this a try when I get back home as I am at work right now. I guess I expected problems with permissions by doing it this way.

Also since you are so kind.. any suggestions on the best way to import address book contacts?