My Horror Story ...

[Mullmuzzler]

Good morning/evening all you Mac bright sparks, I sincerely hope that one of you kindly souls can pull me out of a hole here! Please don't laugh, but I am pretty much housebound, and hamstrung by my ancient Mac (no budget for an upgrade). This evening, I moved the Adobe folder from the 'Application Support' folder in the 'Library' folder, and whenever I put it back, catastrophe! Things started playing up, and whenever I restarted, horror of horrors, everything seemed to default to factory settings! I don't know what I did, but I have no music in my iTunes folder, my Internet is off, fonts have disappeared and, scariest of all, whenever I click on Mail, a window reading 'Welcome to Mail', and instructions about setting up my mail account! E-mail is my main form of communication, and I am absolutely terrified to proceed in case I might lose everything. Even tho' things have gone astray, the memory is still the same, but I guess I would have to sort out the Internet first? Please, can someone help me resolve this mess - I can muddle through the software, but I desperately need to have my e-mails as they were before this awful ordeal. Apologies in advance for the length of this e-mail, and many thanks if you have read this far - I pray that you can help! If anyone is kind enough to assist, I'm in the U.K., so I won't see anything for several more hours. Thank you. \m/

 

[Mullmuzzler]

Sorry, just in case anyone wondered, I wrote/sent the above on a borrowed tablet. Many thanks in anticipation.

 

[kinga]

Oof, that sounds rough! I’ve seen some unusual things happen when moving folders out of the Library; especially the Application Support ones. If the files are still there, you might not have lost anything; however, macOS can be particular about folder structure. The first thing I’d try is getting the internet back up so you can access any updates or help documents. Then, try restoring the Adobe folder to its original location and rebooting. Fingers crossed for you!

 

[ab22]

Good morning/evening all you Mac bright sparks...

One possibility seems to be that you somehow moved more than just the Adobe folder - perhaps the entire Application Support or even Library ?.

Another (and yes, it happens) is that you've restarted & logged into a different user account that has never been set up for Mail, iTunes etc.

Consider carefully what was moved & where it was put.

Are your Desktop & other Finder folders still as expected ?.

 

[Mullmuzzler]

Many thanks for your replies 'kinga' and 'ab22', I will check this out later. In the meantime, sorry in advance if this is a naive or stupid question, but would either of you have any suggestions where my files might have ended up as the memory hasn't increased from a loss of content, e.g., MP3 files, and all my e-mails etc. Thanks.

 

[ab22]

Many thanks for your replies 'kinga' and 'ab22', I will check this out later. In the meantime, sorry in advance if this is a naive or stupid question, but would either of you have any suggestions where my files might have ended up as the memory hasn't increased from a loss of content, e.g., MP3 files, and all my e-mails etc. Thanks.

Assuming there's just a single user account - I'd guess that say, the original Application Support, or even Library folder is now nested inside one with the same name that was (re)created when you restarted.

If Spotlight seems to be working - try a search for file/folder name/content… some relatively uncommon word.
eg I might look for 'screenshot' or the name of an MP3, or other item I know I have.

If you locate one, it's possible that everything else will be in the same area.

 

[Mullmuzzler]

Many thanks 'ab22' - will try that. The Internet is OK again. I *think* that the e-mails are in the 'Library' folder - now that I'm online again, if I proceeded to follow the Mail set-up instructions, would the e-mails automatically 'migrate' back to where they should be? Thanks in advance, will check back in the morning (here!).

 

[ab22]

Many thanks 'ab22' - will try that. The Internet is OK again. I *think* that the e-mails are in the 'Library' folder - now that I'm online again, if I proceeded to follow the Mail set-up instructions, would the e-mails automatically 'migrate' back to where they should be? Thanks in advance, will check back in the morning (here!).

Emails may not move, but could well be downloaded or available from Mail again once accounts are set up.

What did you do to get back online ? & are the rest of your account files (Desktop etc) all right where you expect them ?.

 

[Mullmuzzler]

Hi again, and many thanks for your message. In true Homer Simpson fashion(!), I was mistakenly led to believe that my faux pas had affected the Internet when everything went 'belly-up'! ... thankfully, as I discovered by accident last night, it hadn't! D'oh! I do think the files are there in the 'Library' folder, but I dread a scenario where I might have to manually reload instead of them filtering through themselves. Gonna brace myself, take on board what you good people have written, and maybe 'take the bull by the horns' sometime tomorrow! Will keep you posted if/when I 'take the plunge'! As always, thanks a lot for your valued assistance, and bye for now.