Backing up Mail from an older Mac?

[stanw]

I'm going to wipe an old Macbook Pro, and I have old mail downloaded into Mail. I have Mail 4.5 (1084) installed.

1.) how can I backup everything in the program?
2.) Is there a way to only backup certain email accounts?
3.) how can I open everything that I backed up on another Mac to just view my emails temporarily, and not copy them to the Mac? In other words, I do not need all of that old mail installed on my other Mac, I may just need to reference some emails sometimes. Is this possible?

Thanks

 

[Fishrrman]

The quickest way I can think of would be to do this:

- Go to home/library/Mail (for the account(s) in question on the old Mac)

- Save the "Mail" folder anywhere you like. You can amend the folder name to whatever you wish.

- Inside the Mail folder you will find this pathway:
Mail/V2/Mailboxes
This is where the actual mail messages and attachments are stored.

You will have to poke through the mailboxes to find individual messages, and I'm sure this isn't the best way to do it.
But save the "Mail" folder above, and the messages and account info will at least be "preserved" for future use...