Appleis Mail does its best to keep track of your messages, but sometimes it takes a little maintenance to keep things running smoothly. Rebuilding your mailboxes goes a long way in preventing crashes and lost messages. Hereis what you do:

• Launch Mail. Itis probably in your Dock, but you can also find it in Applications/Mail.
• Select the mailbox you want to rebuild.
• Choose Mailbox > Rebuild.

This works for your individual email account In Boxes as well as the Mailbox folders you create to organize your messages.

Of course, Mail isnit the only email application available. Hereis how to rebuild, or compact, your email database in some other popular applications.

• Entourage Press and hold the Option key while Entourage is launching.
• Eudora Option-click the message count box in the lower left corner of the mail window.
• Mailsmith Press and hold Command-Option while Mailsmith is launching, then select the mailboxes you want to rebuild from the Mailbox List pane.

If I missed your favorite email application, donit take it personally. If you like, share how to compact or rebuild the mail database in other applications in the comments below.

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