Usually, it's comforting enough for me to know that Mac OS X Mail knows where all my emails are.

But sometimes (when I want to copy my mailboxes to a different computer or want to back them up, for example) it's good to have an idea where those messages are on the hard disk.

Find and Open the Folder Where Mac OS X Mail Stores Mail

To open the folder where Mac OS X Mail keeps your messages:

• Open a Finder window.

• Select Go | Go to Folder… from the menu.
• Type "~/Library/Mail/V2".
  • You can have Finder auto-complete the folder names by pressing Tab.

Mac OS X Mail stores the mailboxes in sub-folders to the Mail directory, one sub-folder per account. POP accounts start with POP-, IMAP accounts with IMAP-.

Find and Open the Folder Where Mac OS X Mail 1-4 Store Mail

To locate the folder where Mac OS X Mail 1-4 stores mail:

• Open a new Finder window.
• Go to your home directory.
  • You can use the Home toolbar button or
  • select Go | Home from the menu to go home.
• Open the Library/Mail directory.

(Updated August 2012)