move apple mail to new laptop

I am trying to take apple mail from my desktop to a laptop with an unused mail, as a back-up. can I just drag & drop the mail folder to an external HD & then to the laptop or is it more complicated. The OS systems are the same _ Monterey. Thanks


iMac 24″, macOS 12.7

Posted on Oct 22, 2025 11:30 AM

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Posted on Oct 22, 2025 11:36 AM

What kind of mail account is it? You shouldn't need to "move" it. Just sign into the account on the new machine and it should synchronize everything with the server. that's how Exchange and IMAP accounts work.


If you have POP3 account that's a different can of worms.

5 replies

Oct 22, 2025 1:35 PM in response to KiltedTim

I've got 9 different email addresses; hotmail,gmail,yahoo, don't even know how to add proton to the list. I've also opened the mail program but it just looks to fill in a new program. Rather than move each address, I thought I could simply drag & drop "mail" to the ext HD 7 then the new program on the laptop. Do you know how to. do that? Thanks, again.

move apple mail to new laptop

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