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How Do I Access Apple Mail Folders From Other Devices?

My main computer is an iMac running Big Sur. I use Apple Mail to access my email (gmail) and have saved emails in folders. I also use a MacBook Air, iPad and iPhone all with Apple Mail apps. I would like to be able to see all my mail folders on those devices as well as on my iMac. Is there a way to do this?
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Richard

Comments: 5 Responses to “How Do I Access Apple Mail Folders From Other Devices?”

    2 years ago

    You should see them there without a problem by default. But note that there are two ways these "folders" (AKA mailboxes) can exist. One is that they are in your iCloud account. The other is that they are "On My Mac." You should see that in the Mail sidebar. Are they "iCloud" or "On My Mac?"

    If they are "On My Mac" then they are local storage mailboxes. When you move an email to them, the message is deleted from the server and moved into those mailboxes that only exist on your Mac. You can't access those unless you are looking at the Mail app on your Mac.

    If that is the case, then simply create new mailboxes, but under your iCloud account in the left sidebar. Choose Mailbox, New Mailbox... Then giver it a name and be sure to select iCloud as the location, not On My Mac. You can use the same names as you are using for the On My Mac mailboxes if you like.

    Now start using those instead of the On My Mac ones. You should see the iCloud ones on your other devices. If you like, you can drag and drop messages from the On My Mac mailboxes to the new iCloud mailboxes. But if you have a lot of messages, I would do it in small groups and wait a long time between drags as it has to gather and upload the messages. That can be slow. So wait for the messages to appear in the new mailbox before doing the new batch.

    Richard Levy
    2 years ago

    Thank you for a simple and straightforward solution!

    Roland G
    2 years ago

    Two issues:1) When drag/drop folders from ISP mail to Cloud mail, I saw a +sign. Seems mails are copied ref. original ones! Because I see three synch options, when right clicking. Can find no option to avoid this, alike 'option'. Tried to fine tune the structure of the iCloud folders, but it did not work, probably for above reason.2) I did not like how the content was displayed. Have a folder ‘hierarchy', and ALL folders are shown. You cannot collapse/expand the structure, not so user-friendly.

    Rick Mitchell
    2 years ago

    I am a new Patreon and am still having a problem copying an email folder ( with 149 subfolders ) from my non functioning Air to my new MacBook running Monterey. I have tried "Export" but I can't get the subfolders and their contents to transfer. All I get is 2 folders of code?? What am I doing wrong. I appreciate your help. I am 74 so I appreciate your patience! Rick

    2 years ago

    Rick: Wow, 149 folders? Are these folders on the email server, or something you created locally ("On My Mac")? If they are on the server, then you should be able to see them on your new Mac in Mail too. If not, then what are you doing, exactly, to export them?

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