In Mail - Empty InBox Folders - Yep! its missing.

[RayH]

iMacG5 OSX 10.5.6
Mac's Mail, has hidden or lost my mail.
I have just discovered that most of my email which I filed in labeled folders, within the InBox over the last several years is now missing. Empty Folders are present. I suspect this probably happened when I moved things from Tiger to Leopard.
I do not know much about how Mail works - I assumed that there was a library of all my valued emails residing safely somewhere within 10.5 guarded over by the big Apple, but where is that special place.
Well, my attempts to find my stuff haven't paid off. Here's hoping there are some pretty good ideas out there - I'll be grateful if pointed in the right direction.
I use Time Machine and an External HD and a 2nd Ext. HD on which I stored Apps and Docs while setting up Leopard.

RayH

 

[Guiyon]

All mail for your user is stored in ~/Library/Mail (where ~ is your home folder). Before doing anything drastic I would suggest rebuilding the mailbox, that usually helps when I hit this problem. Just select the mailbox that's giving you issues, pull-down the Mailbox menu and select "Rebuild".

 

[RayH]

In Mail - Empty InBox Folders - Yep! its missing.

Guiyon,

Thanks for helping. Your instructions for "rebuilding" the Mailbox were exactly what I needed. I'm well on the way to restoring each Mailbox (folder).

You've saved the day! Thanks!
RayH

 

[holtmama]

All mail for your user is stored in ~/Library/Mail (where ~ is your home folder). Before doing anything drastic I would suggest rebuilding the mailbox, that usually helps when I hit this problem. Just select the mailbox that's giving you issues, pull-down the Mailbox menu and select "Rebuild".

I just lost my in boxes as well but they are completely gone, not just empty. When I hit rebuild nothing happens. I don't know how to get my email set up again and am in desperate need of some help! I use an email address from my website so am not completely sure how to set that up again. Any help? I am lost on the forum...any help would be SO appreciated!

 

[chandsa]

Looks like holtmama's position is similar to that of mine. I am not totally familiar with the directory structure in Mail and I have started a separate discussion about this problem I'm facing.

However, here's what I have found ~Library/Mail has some directories/files in it. One of them is "Mailboxes"; however, when I look at the contents of the Mailboxes directory, I find only two files, outbox.mbox and sent messages (gmail).mbox in them. Where would the other .mbox files have vanished?

Thanks!