Hi, I'm having great difficulty retrieving backup files from Time Machine onto my MacBook Pro (running Sierra 10.12.6, laptop is mid-2015).
A few hours ago I noticed that some of my emails were not appearing in Mac Mail's search results, even though they were clearly visible in the mail folder. Having read that this is fixable by rebuilding the mailboxes, I clicked 'Rebuild' in the Mailbox menu. Nothing happened. There was no onscreen indication of activity: no progress bar, no wheel of death. After getting distracted for a while, I tried to shut down my laptop, and mail wouldn't shut. I then used Force Quit to close mail. Big mistake.
I restart the computer and my inbox is empty. It seems that the 'Rebuild' instruction was in fact still working, albeit with no info alert to tell me so, and when I force quitted I must have screwed up the process.
No problem, I think, I can reimport the lost files from Time Machine. I enter Time Machine, choose a recent backup of the mailbox, from before the accident, and click restore. A reassuring box appears, saying "Restoring Mailbox" - but after about three minutes it disappears, and there's still nothing in the mail folder. The files are not redeposited. I leave it for over an hour, thinking perhaps it's doing something but not telling me again. But there's still nothing.
Can anyone help me to solve this? I'm terrified to lose these emails!
A few hours ago I noticed that some of my emails were not appearing in Mac Mail's search results, even though they were clearly visible in the mail folder. Having read that this is fixable by rebuilding the mailboxes, I clicked 'Rebuild' in the Mailbox menu. Nothing happened. There was no onscreen indication of activity: no progress bar, no wheel of death. After getting distracted for a while, I tried to shut down my laptop, and mail wouldn't shut. I then used Force Quit to close mail. Big mistake.
I restart the computer and my inbox is empty. It seems that the 'Rebuild' instruction was in fact still working, albeit with no info alert to tell me so, and when I force quitted I must have screwed up the process.
No problem, I think, I can reimport the lost files from Time Machine. I enter Time Machine, choose a recent backup of the mailbox, from before the accident, and click restore. A reassuring box appears, saying "Restoring Mailbox" - but after about three minutes it disappears, and there's still nothing in the mail folder. The files are not redeposited. I leave it for over an hour, thinking perhaps it's doing something but not telling me again. But there's still nothing.
Can anyone help me to solve this? I'm terrified to lose these emails!
