Mail update wiped my preferences, my mail, Grrrr.

[PinkTiger]

It set up a dummy email I don't have, and I don't have a clue how to get it all back. It is there on my hard drive, but I don't know how to put my mailboxes back and set up my accounts again. Ideas? Help? Margaritas???

Oh - I have 10.3.9 on an Ibook G4

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. Here's what works on my Mac (OS 10.3.9)

Click on your hard disk icon.

Click on whatever that icon on the side is that looks like a house. (It's named after your main user name.)

This will reveal a bunch of folders.

One of them is marked Library.

Inside of Library, there should be a file called Mail. Unless you're really, really unlucky, Mail contains a file marked POP(your ISP), which contains the Inbox, Sent Mail, Outbox, and Trash for your main account. Mail also contains any additional mailboxes you have created for filtering or storing messages.

Assuming you find this, open your Mail program and pull down the File menu. There should be an item that says Import Mailboxes.

When you click on that, you get a list of options (mostly other mail programs) for importing mailboxes. Click on Other.

When the dialogue then asks you for the name of the folder to import from, go Hard Drive->House Icon->Library->Mail.

Then click OK or Import or whatever they ask for. Sit back.

Actually, the moral of this story is that before updating any Mail program, you should save that Mail folder from your Library to an external hard drive or CD.

[cadmium]

2. That sounds familiar

When it happened to me I called Apple and they walked my through something like this and it worked Ok from then on.

[PinkTiger]

3. Thanks to both of you - I used the import mailboxes and it worked.

Like a charm!

Thanks again--