Move Apple Mail w. all data to 2nd Mac. Possible? How?

[Solomon Oppenheimer]

Following situation:
2 Macs, both M1, both identical, current OS.
#1 has been in use for a longer time already
#2 has been in use for about 1 month

#1 is the main machine for mail, #2 has not been used for mail yet.

Now all data from Apple Mail - and ONLY from Mail - should be transferred from #1 to #2.

Migration Assistant is ruled out because data and apps are already installed on #2, data would then (probably) vanish and experience has shown that a lot of old data-rubbish is copied over with such a migration, data which is neither desired nor needed and also contains (partially confidential) data that simply shouldn't be sent to #2.

For that reson I ask the following...

Question:

(How) can user transfer Apple Mail with all associated data, i.e. mails, accounts, folders, drafts, settings, folder structures, signatures, filters, rules, shortcuts, etc. from Mac #1 to Mac #2, so that user can sort of 1:1 start/continue to work w. Mail on #2 like he/she was working w. Mail on #1? :°)

What has already been tried - unfortunately unsuccessfully:
- using tools like AppDelete, AppZapper, AppClean to identify all files belonging to Mail, and copy them from #1 to the corresponding directories on #2. Unfortunately that didn't work.

What is known and does not need to be addressed here/again:
- as already said, the Migration Assistant (which seems unchanged since like forever and only goes "all or nothing")
- retrieve old mails from the respective mail servers (given all mails are still there, which is highly unlikely)
- Export messages as mbox from #1, import to #2. The context ("conversations"), settings, and everything else would be missing.

Is there a way to kinda "move" Mail from #1 to #2 or is that THE feature that Apple (since generations of macOS) has forgotten to this very day?  🤷🏼‍♂️ 🙂

Cheers 🙏🏻
Sol

 

[lcubed]

migration assistant. click the proper options

 

[NYCValkyrie]

It's truly infuriating that mail setup/preferences doesn't sync across devices. Like cmon, Apple. it's one of the reasons I can't use it. Spark syncs across all iOS devices and works fantastically.

 

[Fishrrman]

As lcubed suggests, I'd go back an look at the options offered in migration assistant more closely.

Another way that might be worth trying.

You'll need an external USB drive, or perhaps a USB flash drive (if it's large enough to hold everything).

Then, do this:
On the Mac where Mail is already up-and-running:
- connect the USB drive
- go to home/library
- copy the "Mail" folder to the USB drive

On the NEW Mac:
You will need to create an account for Mail (perhaps by doing so through the "Internet" preference pane).
I'd give the account the same email name and password as on the old Mac.

Get this set so that you can receive and send mail on the NEW Mac.
Once Mail is working:
- connect the old drive
- in Mail's file menu, choose "import mailboxes"
- in the window that opens, choose "import data from Apple Mail", then click continue
- now you need to "point the way" to Mail folder on the USB drive. You -might- need to open it and click on the folders with the "V" prefix.
- if this is successful, it should import all the mailboxes into a folder named "imported" (or something similar).
- it WILL be necessary to manually move the mailboxes in this folder to where they need to go.

No promises, but I've be able to import mailboxes this way in the past.

 

[Solomon Oppenheimer]

- connect the old drive
- in Mail's file menu, choose "import mailboxes"
- in the window that opens, choose "import data from Apple Mail", then click continue
- if this is successful, it should import all the mailboxes into a folder named "imported" (or something similar).
- it WILL be necessary to manually move the mailboxes in this folder to where they need to go.

Thank you Fisherman, that's what I tried already
Besides having to move mails from generic folders named like "Import #87" to the respective Mail box which has the be set up 1st as you outlined, one has to kinda "guess" which mailbox the import folder belongs to. All "conversations" missing, all relations between mails, accounts etc. gone, but worst of it all: import stopped at ~60% with some very vague, yet reproducible error 🤷🏼‍♂️🥴

 

[Solomon Oppenheimer]

It's truly infuriating that mail setup/preferences doesn't sync across devices. Like cmon, Apple. it's one of the reasons I can't use it.

...and the main reason, why I do not buy a new Mac too often 😉

 

[Doc69]

Is there a way to kinda "move" Mail from #1 to #2 or is that THE feature that Apple (since generations of macOS) has forgotten to this very day?  🤷🏼‍♂️ 🙂

Did you figure out how to do this? I'm in the same situation and I ended up dragging all the mailboxes 'On My Mac' to iCloud to move them that way. However, I'm still trying to figure out how to move my Mail Rules, of which I have hundreds.

 

[adrianlondon]

Try coping over the entire Mail folder from ~/Library

Rename the existing Mail folder to e.g. Mail-old and copy over the one from your old laptop. Make sure Mail isn't running when doing this, of course.

When you start Mail it should have all your mails. I can't remember whether preferences get copied over or not. I know it's possible (I've done it) but don't remember whether I needed to take over another file/directory as well as ~/Library/Mail.