[iCarllovesapple]

Hi everyone, I am thinking of re-installing OSX to get rid of those un-necessarily downloaded apps, and little install files that I no longer need! The only thing holding me back is that I've got all of my mail in the mail.app and it is no longer stored on the yahoo, gmail etc servers. SO, I need to move that to an external drive then after I reinstall the OS I need to bring it back to my Mac! I would like to move rules etc.. So, there must be a file somewhere on my Mac - I Just have no idea where it is ! The same applies for my Safari Bookmarks! Thanks

[Beau]

Mail is stored in ~/Library/Mail
Bookmarks are ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist

[iCarllovesapple]

I'll try it now, thanks!

[ClockWork]

All your Mail is stored in:

Macintosh HD -> Users folder -> yourhomefolder -> Library folder -> Mail folder.

All your Safari Bookmarks are stored in:

Macintosh HD -> Users folder -> yourhomefolder -> Library folder -> Safari folder.

Though if one has an External Drive, it's simplest to just back up the entire Users folder, and then you have everything that is yours.

Also, if you have many addresses in the Address Book app, best to open Address Book, click on top menu item: File - scroll down to: Address Book Archive... and then Save it in your Documents folder.

Same goes for iCal.

[iCarllovesapple]

Hi Clockwork. So, If I dump my entire home folder, how do I tell my re-installed OS to use the data from the old home folder located on my External drive. Thanks

[ClockWork]

You reinstall OS X - set it up - download all needed updates etc - and then drag 'n drop the items you need from your Users folder on your External, straight to the same folders that exist on your new OS X - ie:

On the External Drive - open Users folder, open yourhomefolder, open Library folder and drag the Mail folder straight into the new ~/Library folder, replacing the one that was installed.

On the External Drive - open Users folder, open yourhomefolder, and drag the Documents folder straight into the new home folder, thus replacing the one that was installed.... and so forth.

[iCarllovesapple]

Thanks for that Clockwork - One more thing. Can I just completely drag and drop the entire 'old' home folder from my External drive onto the existing 'new' home file on my Mac. Then I should get the 'replace this with that' window, right? Thanks

[ClockWork]

There are problems with doing that. It will tell you that certain files cannot be copied across because of permission rights, and besides, you don't want all the former gunk and .plist files all over again, thus doing it piece by piece ensures you have everything you want and nothing you don't.

Plus keeping the the former Users folder on the External Drive for however long is a safety net, just in case you recall needing something you didn't copy over the first few times.

[iCarllovesapple]

Awesome, thanks Clockwork You've done it again!

[iCarllovesapple]

Clockwork, I'm in need of a hand again (Sorry).
I've done what you suggested. Moved the library folder of the email and the safari to my external then to my other Mac but when I launched Mail & Safari there were none of my emails or bookmarks. Plus I needed to set up all of my email accounts again. What should I do?