Mac Mail Problems!!!!

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I had to create a new UserID. Before I did that I backed up the info from my old UserID. My MacMail messages were stored in the Deleted Users/Library/Mail folder on my HD.
When I launched the MacMail program as the new user, I set up my accounts, etc. but when I tried to import the stored messages, it would only import the messages in folders I created... NONE were imported from the old InBox. So I created a new folder and dumped all the inbox msgs in there and tried to import from that folder. It would only import messages through to Nov 16th of 2006. I called Apple, they didn't seem to know.
So I tried to drag all the messages into the new User's Mail InBox folder, none of the old messages appear when I launch MacMail. If I simply double-slick on an individual email it opens and views in MacMail, I just can' seem to import them. I don't get it! They are all .emlx files. I haven't upgraded the OS. Does anyone know why my most recent mail won't import and/or how I can correct this situation? This is so frustrating.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Mac Studio, M1 Max, 32 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD
Would it be possible to simply do this? Without Mac Mail running, use Finder to completely overwrite your home folder's Library/Mail folder with the one you used to have.

Now for a little magic. Start up a Terminal session and type the following (we are going to change all those files so that they now belong to your new userid, BEFORE we start up Mac Mail):

cd Library
sudo chown -R youruserid: Mail
(put in the admin password when asked)

and close out the Terminal session. These commands change the ower id (hence "chown" = change owner) of all of the files in your Mail directory and then descends recursively through all of its folders doing the same thing (hence "-R" = recursive).

Note, the full colon ":" at the end of youruserid is critical! Don't forget it or the command won't do what you want!

Now start up Mac Mail and see what it does. With any luck, you just slid you old Mail setup in right under its feet and it doesn't even notice the difference.

... with any luck. I haven't done this before myself, but this is what I would be trying if faced with the same issue. I use Thunderbird myself for email, so I can't test this out with Mail. I have done nearly identical things to Thunderbird's folder hierarchies for the same reasons.

Good luck!
 

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