The error message “no valid mbox files were found” indicates that your Mac Mail or any MBOX-supporting tools don’t locate or access a valid mbox file.
MBOX is a common text file that can accommodate multiple emails. It supports 20+ email clients of Windows, Mac, and Linux, such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Apple Mail, and Entourage.
Causes of “No Valid MBOX Files Were Found” Error
- Many times, Mac users experience an error message like “Apple Mail no valid MBOX file were found”. The message appears whenever users try to import MBOX files. Our research shows the situations when users face the error-
- The error message can appear if users try to access an inappropriate directory.
- The error may appear if users try to import MBOX files from one version of Mac OS to another version. It occurs because of the compatibility issue.
- Whenever users try to import data of MBOX, the issues can be faced.
- During the effort to import MBOX data to an external device like hard disk, the issue may appear.
Quick Tips to Solve the “No Valid MBOX Files Were Found” Error
Situation – When you try to archive the old mailbox into MBOX and try to import the file to an external device, the issue can occur. At that time, If you click on the import tab and try to import a single file into mail, the issue can arise. A dialogue box can appear saying “no valid MBOX files found.”
Solution– The solution is simple but thinkable. You first copy the MBOX file. For backup, follow the given steps-~/Library/Mail/
And
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
Note: To import, it essential to access the old data located in-
~/Library/Mail/
Follow the given steps to import data to different version of Mail.app-
- Export the Mail Rules-
When it is not accessible, you require copying MessageRules.plist from your old Mail folder to the new one. Check the path-
~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/
Remove the MessageRules.plist from the location.
- In the next phase, your need to confirm the rules in the Preferences of the present Mail application
Also Read :- Convert Outlook PST to MBOX for mac & windows
Import MBOX data to Mac Mail
- Choose the MBOX file, then hit the Import Mailboxes tab
- After that, select Apple Mail and the Continue tab
Remember if you try to choose files in MBOX format to transfer individually to mailboxes, the error can appear. Therefore, practice to import mailboxes instead of exporting MBOX files individually.
- Now, hit the Choose tab to select the Mail folder from where you want to extract data. Here, you can get the preview of the data. The preview pane allows you to filter specific data by checking and unchecking.
- Now, hit the continue tab to start the import process.
- Close and open the Mac Mail again
- After that, check the Import Mailbox and move the data to a suitable location
- Now, you can assess the search tool performance. If it is not solved, recreate the SpotLight index using shell command- sudo mdutil-E/
Conversion of MBOX to PST Using a Third-Party Tool
Without discussing much about manual solutions to recover the error, we suggest you to export MBOX to PST. MS Outlook is the email client of Microsoft. The company provides in-built solutions to repair PST files in the case of errors. There are many active communities for Outlook to help you out. Moreover, you can get PST repairing tools.
Softaken MBOX to PST Converter
Talking about a remarkable solution to transfer MBOX data to PST, you can use the Softaken MBOX to PST Converter. It is an advanced program to transfer multiple MBOX files to PST. The program can export filtered MBOX files to PST. It allows you to transfer orphaned MBOX files.
If you have an MBOX file of Thunderbird, Entourage, Apple Mail, or any email client, you can choose the app for conversion.
Steps to Run the Program
- Download and run the program
- Select the Folder Mode or File Mode, click on the Browse button
- Get the preview of the selected MBOX files
- Choose the “Create Single PST for All MBOX Files or Create Separate PST for Each Account”
- Choose the naming convention for mails
- Click on the Browse button to select the output location and press the Export Now button
Conclusion
Conversion of MBOX to PST is a wise idea. A third-party utility can make conversion of MBOX to PST easy and quick.