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message could not be moved to the mailbox

I somehow inadvertently deleted thousands of sent mail messages in my mailbox, resulting in a constant message that says "Message could not be moved the the mailbox".


Help! Are my messages lost forever? How do I stop this error message from popping up?


Posted on Jul 19, 2023 9:39 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 22, 2023 7:53 PM

Re: "thousands of sent mail messages" : Help! Are my messages lost forever?


Wondering which Mac model, and which MacOS version you are using.


You. might want to check the Mail app's "Bin" / "Trash" and / or "Archive" folder to see if your recently deleted messages are all there ... if so, you can recover them. If not, it is possible they have been permanently deleted.


Depends on your settings where the deleted messages would go, or whether they've been permanently deleted:

Eg: In Mac OS Ventura:  Use the Mailbox Behaviours pane to change where draft, sent, junk, deleted, and archived messages are stored.


If necessary, you could also search for a missing message: Search for emails in Mail on Mac – Apple Support

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Re: "message could not be moved to the mailbox" : "How do I stop this error message from popping up? "


Am no expert, so I could be wrong.

Seems your Mac needs to complete the task of moving all those deleted messages, and can not do so.


Wondering if the folder your deleted messages would go to is at full capacity (?), triggering the error message.

If so, guess you could keep emptying that folder for deleted messages, until all those deleted mail messages have completed moving there.

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 22, 2023 7:53 PM in response to cms6797

Re: "thousands of sent mail messages" : Help! Are my messages lost forever?


Wondering which Mac model, and which MacOS version you are using.


You. might want to check the Mail app's "Bin" / "Trash" and / or "Archive" folder to see if your recently deleted messages are all there ... if so, you can recover them. If not, it is possible they have been permanently deleted.


Depends on your settings where the deleted messages would go, or whether they've been permanently deleted:

Eg: In Mac OS Ventura:  Use the Mailbox Behaviours pane to change where draft, sent, junk, deleted, and archived messages are stored.


If necessary, you could also search for a missing message: Search for emails in Mail on Mac – Apple Support

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Re: "message could not be moved to the mailbox" : "How do I stop this error message from popping up? "


Am no expert, so I could be wrong.

Seems your Mac needs to complete the task of moving all those deleted messages, and can not do so.


Wondering if the folder your deleted messages would go to is at full capacity (?), triggering the error message.

If so, guess you could keep emptying that folder for deleted messages, until all those deleted mail messages have completed moving there.

Jul 22, 2023 8:10 PM in response to cms6797

cms6797 Said:

"message could not be moved to the mailbox: I somehow inadvertently deleted thousands of sent mail messages in my mailbox, resulting in a constant message that says 'Message could not be moved the the mailbox'. Help! Are my messages lost forever? How do I stop this error message from popping up?"

-------


If using Microsoft Outlook:

Troubleshooting MS Outlook Folders:


A. Reset the Mail Index:

You may need to reset the Mail index. This will fix any search issues and bugs. Go to the Help menu for that.


B. Contact Microsoft:

They are the developer of the software. Start Here:  Microsoft Contact Us Virtual Agent - Microsoft Support. Perform a chat session with Microsoft using a computer, as it would be more user-friendly doing so.

message could not be moved to the mailbox

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