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How Do I Preserve Mail Before Giving Away MBP?

I am giving away an older MBP (2011 15″) and want to preserve the mail I have accumulated. I would most likely just store this on an external HDD. Is there a straightforward way to accomplish this? Of course I want to delete the older mail as well, and any suggestions for this are also appreciated.
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Mike

Comments: 2 Responses to “How Do I Preserve Mail Before Giving Away MBP?”

    8 years ago

    This depends on a lot of things. If you are using an IMAP-like system (like Gmail) then if you used it the way it should be (archiving all messages, never deleting) then you don't need to do anything. You just sign into your new MBP and you'll see all of your email. It is a cloud-based system so your email really exists on the server, not the local hard drive.
    However, if you are using an old POP-based email system, or have been using IMAP/Gmail in such a way where you take the extra effort to intentionally copy email locally and delete it on the server, then the email only exists on your local drive. You'll need to use the Mailbox. Export Mailbox menu command in Mail to save your local archive as an xbox file to have it later on. If you have been saving your email locally to several mailboxes/folders, then you'll need to do that many times.
    And there are other possibilities as you have a lot of choices as to how you have been handling your email. I'd consult with an expert if you are unsure how/where your saved email has been stored.

    Mike
    8 years ago

    Thanks. Makes sense. The Gmail accounts I have are retained as you described. I have an older, but still active hotmail account. I will save that as well as various mail boxes I've set up "On My Mac". A tedious task to sort through them, but worth it to be able to save some of the more important stuff.

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