Index Apple Mail

I’ve found instructions for how to import Apple Mail, but can I index it instead? If so, how?

Your mail is probably in a very complex folder structure found below ~/Library/Mail/V3 (or, in some cases, V2). You’ll need to burrow down into the folder tree to locate the messages.

Indexing would risk loss of data, in my opinion. You might inadvertently delete or move files or folders. Plus, the folder structure for your mail data is not structured for end-user access, and your databases would, as a result, be filled with very obscurely named folder and file names. And, finally, your messages are in files with names like “1000051.emlx”. Not a very friendly arrangement.

What’s the point? What’s wrong with importing mail?

Thanks for the tip about the complex file structure for mail.

What’s wrong with just importing the mail … hmm. I assumed it was an issue of size. There’s gigabytes and gigabytes of it. Is that an issue I should concern myself with?

It’s an issue if you don’t delete the originals from Mail after you import the mail.

Got it - thanks.

Indexing your mail account is not advised and will perform poorly. You do NOT want to do this. Trust me. :smiley:

Also, don’t try to import gigabytes of emails all at once. Email importing is a resource heavy process, Do it mailbox by mailbox. You could even split them if need be.

thanks.