Moving Mail Messages Eats More Space

henryaz · 02-20-2013, 12:19 AM

To clear off a bunch of data from my IMAP ISP server, I moved a whole bunch of emails from the IMAP Sent folder to a local folder on my Mac.

It appears that that move duplicated all of the data -- and I still have all of the attachment folders left on my local cache of the IMAP Sent folder.

Is that true? Can I delete these files?

Running OS 10.6.8.

Thanks!
Henry

NaOH · 02-20-2013, 02:10 AM

If you moved the files as you described—from an IMAP mailbox to a mailbox on stored locally on your Mac (under the On My Mac sidebar heading)—then you probably saw a green and white plus-sign icon (+) appear next to your cursor. This icon indicates a copy is being made. If you're not certain if that occurred, you could repeat a copy by creating a temporary On My Mac mailbox and moving just a message or two from your Sent mailbox. This time keep an eye out for the icon I described.

Regardless of the outcome, you would be wise to have some backup system already in place, whether that's with Time Machine (incremental backups), disk-cloning software like SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner, or an offsite system like CrashPlan. Assuming you have one of those that's known to be usable for restoration, then it should be okay to delete the messages in your Sent mailbox.

02-20-2013, 12:19 AM	#1
henryaz Prospect Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Moving Mail Messages Eats More Space To clear off a bunch of data from my IMAP ISP server, I moved a whole bunch of emails from the IMAP Sent folder to a local folder on my Mac. It appears that that move duplicated all of the data -- and I still have all of the attachment folders left on my local cache of the IMAP Sent folder. Is that true? Can I delete these files? Running OS 10.6.8. Thanks! Henry

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02-20-2013, 02:10 AM	#2
NaOH Hall of Famer Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 3,642	If you moved the files as you described—from an IMAP mailbox to a mailbox on stored locally on your Mac (under the On My Mac sidebar heading)—then you probably saw a green and white plus-sign icon (+) appear next to your cursor. This icon indicates a copy is being made. If you're not certain if that occurred, you could repeat a copy by creating a temporary On My Mac mailbox and moving just a message or two from your Sent mailbox. This time keep an eye out for the icon I described. Regardless of the outcome, you would be wise to have some backup system already in place, whether that's with Time Machine (incremental backups), disk-cloning software like SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner, or an offsite system like CrashPlan. Assuming you have one of those that's known to be usable for restoration, then it should be okay to delete the messages in your Sent mailbox.