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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Lost inbox msgs when switching provider

jjonahjansen - Feb 26, 2008 - 3:48 pm

Hi, I lost all the messages sitting in my inbox when I switched providers from Telus to Shaw. I'm using Mail 1.3.11 ( I dunno, is that the same as the 3.1 others here refer to?) on an iMac G4 running OSX 10.3.9. I tried talking to support at Telus to see if they had the messages on their server but they said that when I deleted my account with them, everything went, but that given that I was using a Mac I should be able to find them in cache or get help from a Mac users forum. I am a bit of an ignoramus when it comes to my Mac and have had no luck finding the lost mail. So, to be specific, I lost ONLY the inbox messages, everything that I had moved to another folder was retained. There was some stuff that I need in there, so any help you can give me would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
jjj

ScottW - Feb 26, 2008 - 4:22 pm

John,

If you haven't deleted the account form Mail.app, chances are it might still be on the your hard drive, but no guarantee. Your not running Time Machine are via Leopard?

In your Home directory, go to Library then Mail. Inside this folder you will see IMAP-xyz@whatever.com. These will be your IMAP folders. If you where using IMAP with Telus, it would be like that. Otherwise, go to Mailboxes and see if anything exists in there.

Dig around in that folder and see what you can find. Let me know if you find anything remotely referencing your old account.

Scott

jjonahjansen - Feb 26, 2008 - 4:48 pm

Hi, thanks for quick response. I did delete the account when I switched. I show only my current POP for Shaw. There is nothing for IMAP. I have nothing in the locations you suggested referencing old stuff. Every click leads to current mailboxes.
There is some stuff about 'MessageSorting.plist.backup' but I'm guessing that is not what we're looking for. I had to choose an application to open that up and I chose Mail (because I haven't a clue ;-)) and I don't know how to change that back now. :-(
So, to summarize; I followed your instructions and found nothing labelled IMAP, dug around all locations within folder and found nothing resembling my missing msgs.

ScottW - Feb 26, 2008 - 4:57 pm

Okay, well, you didn't find POP one for Telus either eh? Okay, well, unless you have a backup, you might be out luck. I'd trying doing a Spotlight search to reference one of the emails your missing and see if it comes up with anything.

Did you have a POP or IMAP account with Telus?

Scott

jjonahjansen - Feb 26, 2008 - 7:02 pm

Nope; no POP for Telus, no backup. I don't think I have Spotlight. I have tried finding the emails with the Q window in finder, but no luck.
And I have no memory of whether my account with Telus was POP or IMAP. I just tried going thru home/library/caches and found a whole lot of stuff for Mail but am unable to see what they are. I am prompted to select an application to try opening the items. Any idea what I should do here? As I mentioned before, I have no idea how to undo a choice.
Thanks again.

jjonahjansen - Feb 27, 2008 - 8:28 pm

Hi, I just got a 'waiting patiently' email from you, but I have not yet gotten a response to my last entry. Please see above.

jjonahjansen - Feb 28, 2008 - 8:44 pm

Hi, just got another 'waiting patiently' query. Looks like my responses are not being seen at your end. If this is still the case by tomorrow I'll start another question and refer back to this. If you do see this one, as above;
jjonahjansen - Feb 26, 2008 - 6:02 pm
Nope; no POP for Telus, no backup. I don't think I have Spotlight. I have tried finding the emails with the Q window in finder, but no luck.
And I have no memory of whether my account with Telus was POP or IMAP. I just tried going thru home/library/caches and found a whole lot of stuff for Mail but am unable to see what they are. I am prompted to select an application to try opening the items. Any idea what I should do here? As I mentioned before, I have no idea how to undo a choice.
Thanks again.

jjonahjansen - Feb 29, 2008 - 9:10 pm

Got another waiting msg; so I'll let this one expire and start a new one.

TechSupport - Mar 4, 2008 - 11:40 am

We apologize for not being able to resolve the issue you asked of us. It is the absolute worst case scenario for us to do this. In our review of why this happens, it generally is related to either the particular issue being addressed or frequently, incomplete or incorrect information provided. We hope by moving your request to the public forums that you will be able to get a solution without leaving you empty handed.

Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:

http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=298926

Again, thank you for using Macosx.com. We hope you will consider using us again in the future.

jjonahjansen - Mar 4, 2008 - 11:42 am

Hi, maybe re-opening will get thru; if this doesn't work, I'll start a new ticket. Here's the gist at this point; I tried going thru home/library/caches and found a whole lot of stuff for Mail but am unable to see what they are. I am prompted to select an application to try opening the items. Any idea what I should do here? I have no idea which application to choose and when I've done so in the past, I find that will always be the application chosen and if I choose the wrong thing, I have no idea how to undo it.
Thanks again.