To transfer your Apple Mail Email and Mail Settings from one Mac to another Mac follow these steps:
Step One Open a new Finder window by clicking the Finder icon in the dock.
Step Two Select Go to Folder from the Go menu at the top of the screen.
Step Three A popup will appear asking you the folder to go to. Enter ~/Library into the entry field and click Go.
Step Four Copy the Mail folder and place it into the exact same directory on your destination Mac. The easiest way to do this would be to use a USB Thumb Drive. Select the Mail folder then press Command+c on the keyboard. This will copy it to the clipboard. Then double click the icon for the USB Thumb Drive on your desktop and press Command+v on the keyboard. This will paste the entire mail folder to your USB key. NOTE***: Note you could also transfer the folder using your network, or you could burn it to CD etc etc.
Step Five Again select Go to Folder from the Go menu at the top of the screen.
Step Six A popup will appear asking you the folder to go to. Enter ~/Library/Preferences/ into the entry field and click Go.
Step Seven Copy com.apple.mail.plist and place it into the exact same directory on your destination Mac. The easiest way to do this would be to use a USB Thumb Drive. Select com.apple.mail.plist folder then press Command+c on the keyboard. This will copy it to the clipboard. Then double click the icon for the USB Thumb Drive on your desktop and press Command+v on the keyboard. This will paste the entire mail folder to your USB key. NOTE***: Note you could also transfer the folder using your network, or you could burn it to CD etc etc.
Step Eight Once you have placed the Mail folder and com.apple.mail.plist into their correct locations on your destination Mac, your Apple Mail will now open with the exact same settings, folders, and emails as your original Mac had.
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Does anybody know if this transfers IMAP settings (server names, etc.) from one Mac that is "correctly" set up and duplicates them on another, such that email send/receive and message save/message delete (IMAP) behaviors will be preserved across the two Macs?
FWIW, both are running Mountain Lion.