Mail POP disaster: When it’s gone, it’s gone
My RSS reader NetNewsWire 
served up a tragic Apple Mail story today.
A poster on the macOSXHints forums had a very bad day :
So I was having trouble with one of my POP3 accounts in Mail.app. It was locking up when receiving the last message. It’s safe to say that this problem is already fixed.
In the process of fixing it I decided to remove the account and re-add it (a common solution in MS Outlook). When I deleted the account I did not realize that it also deletes the folder with all your messages in it with out noticing me! So I lost all of my email in that folder (stupid me didn’t have a backup of that box). Is there anyway to get it back? I tried using Data Rescue X but it pretty much just recovered files that were already there (unless I am using it wrong).
Please help! Thank you!
The sad thing is that there is no help. When you delete a POP account in Mail.app, it doesn’t just delete the settings. It deletes the lot. Gone.
Of course, it’s not helpful after the fact to point out that Mail warns you first:
Or that you should have a backup.
Or that MS Outlook is an unreliable guide for life as a whole.
Or that IMAP is an email protocol with many advantages.
Still, it’s not after the fact for most readers here (yet).
Tags: Apple Mail, backup, data loss, disaster, imap, mail.app, POPRelated posts
August 24th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
I did exactly the same thing — misguided by the same procedure being harmless in Thunderbird. Of course Mail warned me, but I clicked OK without reading.
I have IMAP since then ;)
August 25th, 2006 at 1:32 am
Exactly - and I mean exactly the same thing – as detailed here. I did also post to the Apple discussions in the hope that nobody else would foul up as spectacularly as I did, but I see it did no good :)
August 25th, 2006 at 2:07 am
Ouch, that brings back memories of pain–but also of deep inner peace. My out-of-control InBox was zapped and there was nothing I could do about it. I emailed all my clients, asked them if there was anything important that they were waiting on, and went on from there.
Still, it’s not a method I would recommend. Since then, I learned about GTD. :-)
August 25th, 2006 at 2:40 am
Personally, I move all mail that is important to me out of the folder that is associated with the email account and put it them in folders I have created outside of the account folders.
I can’t say for certain that the messages won’t get deleted, since I haven’t removed accounts yet, but my assumption is that they won’t.
August 25th, 2006 at 3:14 am
The screen shot looks like it was a Google Gmail account you were using POP3 with. IF you choose the option to save the mail on Google’s servers on the preference page, all your mail is still there. Log into the web nterface and see all your mail. I choose to let Google keep a copy of my mail in my inbox, which I have to clean out every so often, but I don’t loose mail.
August 25th, 2006 at 3:19 am
Dave, I lost everything, even messages that were in separate folders I created “On My Mac”, as I recall.
August 25th, 2006 at 5:01 am
I’ve done the same thing. I was trying to stop my then current employer from using one pop account accross a half dozen users and computers. It was a nightmare and then it got really bad because–sure enough–some emails were only on some computers and not the one that I had picked to hang onto that stupid, stupid account.
August 25th, 2006 at 3:19 pm
Try reinstating the account in Mail exactly as it was…. In some iteration of Mail…. I recall this seemed to magically bring everything back as though it had never been erased…
September 12th, 2006 at 12:34 am
I have recently lost my secondary Mail account, too - except the .Mac account in my Mail program. It happens frequently. It seems I get a message that I have a “new” version of Mail (which when I check later I don’t) which deletes everything except the .Mac account.
I have recorded the info for the other account so I can reenter it.
As to lost messages, if you look in the folders users/library/mail and you will find .mbox’s which you can reimport - that is if you file your messages into seperate boxes from the account as someone stated earlier.
My problem is why does Mail do this? Is there a fix? A way to stop the update that’s not an update? At least I don’t “freak out” now since I realize I can get my mail back but it’s irritating and takes time.
thanks.
October 5th, 2006 at 1:32 am
[...] Allan Sampson’s procedure (the second reply) seems simplest. Following the steps set out there will make sure that no emails are lost or accidently deleted by Mail.app’s unpleasant POP account ambush. [...]
October 23rd, 2006 at 9:34 pm
[...] For example, deleting the settings for a POP account in Mail can delete all the messages stored in that account’s local folders. When they are gone, they are really gone. With IMAP, I know that can never happen. I just download them again into Mail.app’s local cache. That’s saved my bacon a few times. [...]
March 28th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Am I correct in that Gmail only allows POP access to its mail? Is the more secure solution of IMAP even possible with Gmail to Mail.app?