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Import Apple Mail mailboxes into MailCode

5 October 2026 · searched as import apple mail mbox

Apple Mail exports a mailbox as an .mbox folder. MailCode reads those exports, files each mailbox into its local archive as a folder named after it, and makes every message searchable with the rest of your mail — readable without Apple Mail, and without the Mac it came from.

How to do it

In Apple Mail, select the mailboxes to bring across and choose Mailbox ▸ Export Mailbox…. Pick an empty folder: Apple Mail writes one .mbox into it for each mailbox.
In MailCode, choose File ▸ Index EML Files… and click Browse…. Pick the folder you exported into — the one that holds the .mbox files, not one of them, so each mailbox keeps its name.
Under index into archive folder, choose ＋ new folder… and name it, or pick an archive folder you already have. Leave Keep the folder structure on disk ticked.
Click Index →. Under Local Archive in the explorer, each mailbox is a folder of its own inside the one you named — Clients, Projects — with its messages and attachments.

MailCode: Two Apple Mail mailboxes, indexed into the local archive as folders of their own. — Two Apple Mail mailboxes, indexed into the local archive as folders of their own.

Mail already in the archive is skipped, so a later export can be indexed into the same folder without doubling anything. MailCode can also read Apple Mail’s own library, ~/Library/Mail, but macOS guards that folder — if MailCode finds no mail there, export instead. A message Apple Mail had only partly downloaded comes across with its text but without its attachments. Thunderbird’s mailbox files are read the same way. In MailCode 1.14.0 this needs a mail account added first; the next update imports without one.

MailCode is a mail client for Mac and Windows that keeps your mail in a searchable archive on your own disk. Free for 14 days.

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