Mailbox problem

[fielker]

My ordinary Trash mailbox has disappeared from its position near the top of the Mailboxes list.

There is another Trash box at the bottom under 'Waitrose' where trashed messages up to two days ago are stored, but I cannot find more recent ones.

This is awkward, partly because having the Trash box at the top is more convenient, but mainly because sometimes I trash messages by mistake and need to recover them.

David

I have High Sierra on a 21.5 inch iMac, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 with 8GB memory. HD has over 800 GB available out of 999.35 GB.

 

[ferrarr]

When I delete an email by mistake, I usually just hit undo (cmd+z), and it undos my last action. Obviously, this only helps, if you just did it, and it’s not the next day or any other situation.

I don’t know about the Trash, sorry.

 

[IWT]

Hi fielker

In order for me to get my head round this, some questions, if I may:

I'm assuming you're using Apple's Mail app?

Is your email account(s) POP3 or IMAP? It makes a difference how Trash is set up.

Was the "lost" Trash for "On My Mac" or for one or more of your email accounts?

For example: in my case I have a Btinternet account and an iCloud account - both IMAP. My Trash Folder has a small disclosure triangle next to it. Opening this reveals separate Trash Folders for Btinternet, iCloud and "on My Mac".

Hence all these tiresome questions

It helps to know your setup.

Ian

 

[fielker]

Thanks, Ian.

I think I'm using Apple's mail app.

And I think I use iMap.

I think Trash was under Mailboxes at the top. 'On my Mac' seems be those mailboxes I created.

I don't remember seeing a red triangle against it.

Under Accounts I have listed iCloud (contacts, calendars, Safari), Waitrose (mail & notes) and my email address (Game Center).

Under Accounts in Mail Preferences I have 'Waitrose iMAP' and 'iCloud inactive'.

David

 

[ferrarr]

Here's an image of my Mailboxes, which has been like this for a long time. Nothing has changed, and nothing can be moved around. All three are IMAP accounts.

 

[fielker]

I've taken a screen shot of my mailboxes but I cannot seem to copy it here. What do I do?

 

[ferrarr]

Sure, see this.

 

[fielker]

Ok:

 

[IWT]

Thank you David. And well done negotiating the attaching-an-image minefield

Now, what you have shown is what I was referring to.

Only the Inbox, Sent and Junk are directly linked to your email account(s), in the sense that they sync with them.

All the other Mailboxes are "On My Mac" which means just that. They are unique to the Mac in question. They don't sync with your email account(s). You have created them yourself to stay on the Mac.

The "Trash" which "has disappeared" was linked and synced to your email account(s). One explanation - no accusation or offence - is that you inadvertently deleted that Mailbox.

Look again at Bob's attachment. His is exactly what I described in my setup in post #3. NB the disclosure triangles against all of Bob's Mailboxes.

What you can try is to go on to the website(s) of your email account(s) and see if you can retrieve your Trashed contents from there. Each account will have its own Trash.

Please continue to post back. We'll not give up on you.

Ian

 

[fielker]

I do vaguely remember deleting my Trash box!

I have checked my webmail and while there are two boxes for 'Deleted items', both empty, there is nothing marked Trash.

Where do deleted items go now? They are certainly not in the Trash on my dock.

David

 

[IWT]

Hi David

Thanks for coming back.

This is what I think happened. The "Trash" (now gone) was directly linked to your account because it's IMAP; so when you deleted that, it also deleted it from your web site.

You are quite correct - I should have pointed out that "Trash" is largely an Apple description (like Recycle Bin on Windows) and on the web, most accounts use the term "Deleted Items" or similar. If/when you deleted "Trash" on your Mac, it emptied the Deleted Items box.

The "Trash" that is "On My Mac" only operates on your Mac and has no effect on the web account.

To get your IMAP account "Trash" back again: in Mail, Click on Mailboxes from the top menu bar; from the drop down, choose New Mailbox.

This will open a small window with "Location" - click on the arrowheads to choose whether you want it "On My Mac" or from the lists of accounts currently available. You should see yours (mine shows btinternet, iCloud, etc). Choose your preferred account.

Underneath "Location" is "Name". type in "Trash". That should create a new "Trash" Folder linked to the account selected. It will be empty because you deleted the previous one.

Hope all this makes sense

Give it a try and keep coming back.

Ian

 

[fielker]

Ian

Tried that, but when I get to Location, the list of options gives the mailboxes I already have, and not my accounts.

As I said before, the Trash box under Waitrose at the bottom of my list has stored trashed items up to 11 Sep but not items deleted since.

David

 

[ferrarr]

Looking at your image, why do you not have any Mailboxes listed under Inbox? Drafts? Sent? What version of Mail are you using? Mine is "Version 11.5 (3445.9.1)". I just noticed the different color schemes, and beneath your member name, it says you're on 10.13.6.

 

[fielker]

Bob

My mail is also Version 11.5 (3445.9.1). 10.13.6 is MacOS High Sierra.

The Sent box is there. I don't know why Drafts disappeared before. It has now reappeared after I saved a message, and is now still there after the message was removed. However, there is now a triangle next to it which reveals On My Mac and Waitrose boxes; the draft message was in the Waitrose box. Odd!

David

- - - Updated - - -

PS

I quit Mail and then reopened it, and Drafts has disappeared again!

 

[ferrarr]

Are you using "Classic Layout", in Mail's Preferences > Viewing? I'm just trying to understand why, in my Mail, all my mail providers appear under all my mailbox types, ie: Drafts, Sent, Inbox etc, but for yours they do not appear there? It may not make a difference?

 

[pm-r]

Bob

My mail is also Version 11.5 (3445.9.1). 10.13.6 is MacOS High Sierra.

The Sent box is there. I don't know why Drafts disappeared before. It has now reappeared after I saved a message, and is now still there after the message was removed. However, there is now a triangle next to it which reveals On My Mac and Waitrose boxes; the draft message was in the Waitrose box. Odd!

David

- - - Updated - - -

PS

I quit Mail and then reopened it, and Drafts has disappeared again!

As I recalled with IMAP accounts, often some mailboxes would just disappear using Mail.app if they didn't have any messages in them and/or depending on the settings in "Mailbox Behaviours".

 

[pm-r]

To check others solutions try:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2756985?page=2
and for more, try checking some of the appropriate hits here:
https://www.google.com/search?clien...p+Trash+mailbox+not+showing&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8





- Patrick
======

 

[chscag]

As I recalled with IMAP accounts, often some mailboxes would just disappear using Mail.app if they didn't have any messages in them and/or depending on the settings in "Mailbox Behaviours".

I can't speak for other IMAP accounts.... Google IMAP accounts (gmail) and folder hierarchy on the server will be reflected in Mac Mail. This is great is you access your mail from more than one device such as an iPhone, iPad, or another Mac. But as soon as you make changes on one of those devices, say you delete mail, those changes will be reflected on all devices.

That is the primary reason mail boxes or mail mysteriously disappear. This is usually the result of a lack of understanding by some users of how IMAP works.

The above is why I still keep a POP account on gmail in addition to my IMAP account. Google gives individual accounts 15GB of free storage so why not use it?

 

[fielker]

Bob:

'Classic Layout' is not checked. What difference will this make? (I'm so wary now that I fear any change is going to result in my losing something!)

David

 

[pm-r]

The above is why I still keep a POP account on gmail in addition to my IMAP account. Google gives individual accounts 15GB of free storage so why not use it?

Wow!!! Most interesting and informative Charlie. I didn't realize that one could have and use both POP and IMAP with the same account. Neat.




- Patrick
======