Export e-mail as mbox not working

[macdsean]

I have been unable to export e-mail messages as mbox files. When I select multiple or individual messages and go to export in the file menu, a file is created in the destination folder but the file has a name and no extension. I am unable to import the file into any mail programs. I have tried multiple times with the same results each time. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

[macdsean]

Update:

I was able to get it to work through a work around solution. I added .mbox extension to the files that EagleFiler was creating when I tried to export. Double clicking the .mbox file would not import the messages into mail as it usually does. So then I put the renamed file in a folder and told mail to import mbox files from that folder. That worked!

My question now is why is EagleFiler leaving the mbox extension off the files it creates when I try and export e-mail messages. Thanks for you help.

[Michael Tsai]

I am unable to import the file into any mail programs.

Which ones did you try? I found that it worked using the Import commands of Apple Mail and PowerMail, and via drag and drop with Mailsmith. Entourage did not recognize the mailbox file unless I changed its type code to 'MBOX'.

My question now is why is EagleFiler leaving the mbox extension off the files it creates when I try and export e-mail messages.

EagleFiler doesn’t add the “.mbox” extension because I don’t think this is really a standard extension for mbox files. It’s really only a coincidence that this had the desired effect for you. Apple Mail uses “.mbox” for its own mailbox files, which it stores in an entirely different format. This is why double-clicking a “.mbox” file on your Mac opened the file in Apple Mail, and it’s lucky that Apple Mail recognized that the file was not in its own format and decided to import it.

[macdsean]

Thanks! You are correct, it does work to import using OS X Mail. I guess I was thrown off by the fact that it had no extension and initially I thought Mail didn't let you import from the file because you must select a folder to import from (I just had the exported file sitting on my desktop). Thanks for the explanation about mbox files and the rapid response. Problem solved.