Backup Mail

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Is there any way to backup all my email from Mail into a zip file or something so I can back them up to DVD?
 
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Hi Doc,

Navigate to:

YourUserAccount -> Library -> Mail

You will find all your email messages stored there. The problem is that each email has a generic name eg: 5534.emix.

You can either back up the whole Mail folder or just the emails themselves. If you have more than one mailbox, then you could select the mailbox folders and Right/Control-Click them, then select the "Create Archive Of" option.

A .zip file will appear in the window when the process is complete and you can store it as you like.

If you wish to backup the entire Mail folder then the same procedure applies but you also need to copy the com.apple.mail.plist which can be found at:

YourUserAccount -> Library -> Preferences.

This way you also have a backup of any prefs you might have set up in Mail Preferences.

Finally navigate to:

YourUserAccount -> Library -> Application Support

... and back up your AddressBook info which is of importance as it is integrated with Mail.app too.

Here's a blurb from Mail.app help:

Backing up your email

You can back up your mailboxes to a CD or another disk. To do this, you can either copy the Mail folder in your Library folder or create an mbox file, a common format for storing mail messages.

To save the contents of all your mailboxes, hold down the Option key and drag the Mail folder (located in the Library folder of your home folder) to your desktop or to another disk. Copying the Mail folder only backs up mail from POP accounts, or mail from an IMAP account that you've copied to local mailboxes. When you are ready to restore the Mail folder, choose File > Import Mailboxes, select Mail for Mac OS X, and locate the Mail folder.
To create an mbox copy of a mailbox, drag the mailbox from the mailbox list to your desktop.
To create an mbox file with just some of your messages, select the messages, then choose File > Save As. In the Format pop-up menu, choose Raw Message Source, then enter a name and save the file.
You can copy mbox files to CDs or to other disks. When you want to restore your mail, choose File > Import Mailboxes, select Other, click Continue, and locate the files.
 

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