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How to export Apple Mail to an .mbox file

4 min read · Updated 2026-05-30

Apple Mail on macOS can export any mailbox to .mbox without add-ons or downloads — the feature is built into the menu bar. The result is a standard archive sub-hunt.com reads directly, and the whole thing happens locally on your Mac.

Unlike Gmail, where the mail lives on Google's servers, Apple Mail keeps a local copy of your messages on your Mac. That means exporting is instant — Mail just writes the mailbox you choose to a .mbox archive on disk. If your account is IMAP (iCloud, Gmail-via-Mail, a work account), make sure the folder has finished syncing so the export is complete.

Export a mailbox from Apple Mail

  1. Open Mail on your Mac. Launch the Mail app and let it finish checking for new messages so the export includes everything.
  2. Select the mailbox you want to export. In the sidebar, click the mailbox or folder you want — your Inbox, an archive folder, or a “Receipts” folder if you keep one. You can only export one mailbox at a time.
  3. Open Mailbox → Export Mailbox… From the menu bar at the top of the screen, choose Mailbox, then Export Mailbox. If the option is greyed out, click a mailbox in the sidebar first.
  4. Pick a destination folder. Choose somewhere easy to find, like your Desktop, and confirm. Mail writes a folder ending in .mbox — for example “Inbox.mbox.”
  5. Find the archive inside the .mbox folder. The exported “.mbox” is actually a folder. Inside it is a file named mbox (no extension) — that's the archive sub-hunt reads. You can drop either the folder or the inner mbox file onto the scanner.

Good to know

  • To audit everything, export your Inbox and your Archive (and any account-specific “All Mail” folder) separately, then scan each one.
  • Exporting never deletes mail. It writes a copy and leaves your mailbox exactly as it was.
  • On an IMAP account, only messages that have synced to your Mac are exported. If a folder shows “Downloading,” wait for it to finish.
  • The .mbox “folder” is a macOS package. If you ever need the raw file, right-click it and choose Show Package Contents.

Frequently asked questions

  • Why is my exported .mbox a folder, not a file?
    Apple Mail wraps the archive in a folder named “…mbox” that also holds index files. The actual mailbox is the file called “mbox” inside it. sub-hunt accepts either — drop the folder or the inner file.
  • Can I export more than one mailbox at once?
    Mail exports one mailbox per command. Select each mailbox and run Export Mailbox again, or scan them one after another in sub-hunt.
  • Does this work on iPhone or iPad?
    No — the Export Mailbox command is macOS-only. To export an iCloud or other account's mail, use Mail on a Mac, or add the account to a desktop client like Thunderbird.
  • Is my email uploaded when I scan it?
    Never. sub-hunt reads the .mbox inside your browser and uploads nothing. Email content stays on your Mac.

Ready to scan your inbox?

Once you have your .mbox file, drop it into sub-hunt.com. Everything is parsed in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Open the scanner

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