Apple Mail transfer from Monterey to Sonoma.

Question

Apple Mail transfer from Monterey to Sonoma.

Hello everyone,

I own a Mac Mini M2 Pro running Sonoma 14.7 and wish to transfer my Mail App from an older MacBook Pro 13" (Early 2015) running Monterey 12.7.5.

My initial plan was to simply copy the Mail folder from one computer to the other but read several posts describing how both operating system treat the Mail folder differently and many disasters users have experienced with this approach.

My Apple Mail app has e-mails dating back to 2006 and a large percentage are work-related and some even involved in legal disputes - hence I need to keep them for serious legal reasons.

My question is: Is there a SIMPLE and SAFE way to transfer the whole Mail app from my older notebook running Monterey to my newer Mac Mini running Sonoma?

It's important to me that EVERYTHING be transferred including mail received, sent, rules, different mail box structure with folder, attachments and others.

Thank you in advance for any help you may share.

Mac mini (M2 Pro, 2023)

Posted on Sep 28, 2024 8:13 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 8, 2024 1:24 AM in response to apple_customer

apple_customer wrote:

As I imported the entire unzipped folder for Mail, it produced a lot of folder with long names made of alphanumeric characters that contain themselves other folders. In essence it failed to produced the same structure and file hierarchy I currently have in Mail and created a mail client that is so disorganized that it can't be used.

My idea was to import Mail in such a way that it would preserve my folder structure and all the mail in them.

hmm works for me. Did you open and check all those alphanumeric imported folders? In my setup among them is a clear text "Local" folder that contains the clear text imported mailboxes from the old macOS Mail.app. I then drag the "Local" folder and the mailboxes inside it under "On My Mac", and delete "Import" folder (it has gmail mailboxes that are online). YMMV.

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Answer 2

Sep 28, 2024 11:21 PM in response to apple_customer

In the distant past just copying ~/Library/Mail folder worked but no more. So:

zip (right-click > Compress...) the ~/Library/Mail folder and move that Mail.zip to another account.

Then in another account (if that account has no mail I often first delete the existing ~/Library/Mail folder there) uncompress that .zip by double-clicking it and:

Mail.app > File > Import Mailboxes... > Apple Mail > choose that uncompressed Mail folder > choose all Items.

On the left-hand-side under "On My Mac" > Import, ..., look for and move "Local" and all mailboxes inside it up under "On My Mac". Right-click and you might delete "Import" folder (it has gmail mailboxes that are online). YMMV.

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Answer 3

Oct 7, 2024 7:34 PM in response to Matti Haveri

Hi Matti Haveri,

Thank you for your help and for the instructions on how to migrate Mail.

I have just tried it but it didn't work. As I imported the entire unzipped folder for Mail, it produced a lot of folder with long names made of alphanumeric characters that contain themselves other folders. In essence it failed to produced the same structure and file hierarchy I currently have in Mail and created a mail client that is so disorganized that it can't be used.

My idea was to import Mail in such a way that it would preserve my folder structure and all the mail in them.

Is there a different way to do this?

Thank you again for your help.

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Answer 4

Oct 8, 2024 4:22 PM in response to Matti Haveri

Hi Matti Haveri,

Thank you again for your help.

It's important to me to install Mail and have it be a continuation of what I had before without loosing any information. My Mail app has been customized with rules and many folders where I keep all my messages very organized. In addition, I have messages dating as far back as 2009 and this are important business messages I need to maintain. For this reason I need a solution that can simply migrate or update my Mail app while keeping it just the same as it is in Monterey.

In order to do this I tried something different today but I am not sure if it has worked. First, I installed Mac OS Sonoma on an external SSD. Second, I installed my computer running Mac OS Monterey and where I have my Apple Mail app to with the help of Migration Assistant. After that I tried finding the folder for Mail so I could transfer to my Mac Mini running Mac OS Sonoma but can't find the Mail folder.

What have I done wrong? Has the location of the Mail folder changed? Will mail work if I simply transfer or copy the mail folder considering it has been migrated to the newer OS?

Thank you again for your help.

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