[iBook] More on my mail crash troubles

[Scott Warren]

I have often found that a corrupted mailbox can freeze up Mail on start 
up.  What I will do to cure this is go to the \home\library\mail 
folder, make a "backup" folder in \mail, move everything from with in 
\mail into the backup folder, then restart mail.  When it comes up, it 
will download ALL of the messages from the server again.  You will not 
see any old email or any customized folders because they are safe in 
the backup folder we just made.  Once this is done quit mail, then 
start this loop:

- COPY 1 mailbox from \mail\backup\mailbox  to  \mail\mailbox
- run the Mail.app again
- open that mailbox and see if you can view your emails.  sometimes 
going to the top menu Mailbox --> rebuild will fix a troubled mailbox.  
(always good to have backups before you do this)
- Quit mail, go back to the top and repeat until you have all your 
mailboxes back.

Once these are in, you can go to 
\mail\backup\POP-<youremail at yourdomain>.  In here is stored your Inbox, 
Sent, and Drafts folders.  Rename the inbox to something else (like 
Inbox1 or OldInbox) and copy that to the \mail\mailbox folder.  The 
newly named inbox will show up in your customized mailbox list.  Open 
it like in the steps above.




On Dec 13, 2004, at 10:04 PM, Thomas Bridgeland wrote:

>> I don't want to trash it and reinstall Mail, because there are some
>> important recent e-mails I need to save. Any hints would be
>> appreciated.
>
> You said:
>
> ....All of your Mail files should be found in your Users folder in
> Library-->Mail -- so I'd start by making a back-up copy of that file,
> just in case.
>
> You might try trashing the Preferences for Mail in your Users folder in
> Library-->Preferences (it's called "com.apple.mail.plist"), and see if
> that helps....
>
>
>
> First, thanks for suggesting that I pull the Mail files out of the 
> Users-Library folder, I hadn't known that, or forgot it anyway. It 
> should save the stuff I need.
>
> I did try trashing the Preferences but no effect.
>
> I got something new last time I tried to troubleshoot, a message box 
> with:
>
> 'The Mailbox "~/Library/Mail/POP-tmbridgeland at etc etc my e-mail 
> address/INBOX.mbox" is currently locked by "Bridgeland Thomas" on host 
> "etc etc my computers name.local.". If you open a mailbox that is in 
> use you may damage its contents.
>
> This was followed by three choice buttons, Cancel, Open Read Only, and 
> Open Anyway. I have seen this box twice and tried Open Read Only and 
> Open Anyway. In both cases  Mail froze again in a second or two 
> anyway.
>
> Any more good advice? Thanks!
>
> Tom
>
>
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