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slslauren Author

Level 1

6 points

Unable to import mail messages after updating to Catalina

I upgraded to Catalina from High Sierra. When I opened Mail, it told me it had to import the messages. After a large number of messages imported, it stopped importing and the number on the screen remained static. On the chance that it's a space issue, began archiving large and older files to an external drive. I pulled up system information and I see that there is a Mail file showing as being 269.87GB. I cannot find this file anywhere on my HD and it appears that it is causing the space issue. My HD is 512GB and I'm currently showing 90.37GB available.

Is there a way to remove that large Mail file and re-import Mail? Can I do a backup from my Time Machine to revert to before the upgrade. (When I entered Time Machine, it was only letting me see today - I tried to go back to Tuesday or Wednesday and it wouldn't let me.)

Help is greatly appreciated.

Posted on Apr 24, 2020 4:23 AM

Top-ranking reply

The_Knowledge_Seeker

Level 4

3,454 points

Posted on Apr 24, 2020 10:13 AM

Is there a way to remove that large Mail file and re-import Mail? Can I do a backup from my Time Machine to revert to before the upgrade.

You should be able to restore from your Time Machine backup.

Reboot holding down Alt/Option, then select the Time Machine drive to boot from. Now select the options to restore from Time Machine to your Mac, carefully selecting the backup you want - i.e. the one that was taken shortly before the upgrade.

This should take a few hours but should restore you to the pre-upgrade system.

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Unable to import mail messages after updating to Catalina

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