[Updated 11/3/17]
If you have run into the following message in Mail on your Mac, Macbook, or Macbook Air: “The message could not be moved to the mailbox ‘Trash'” (or some other mailbox) “The message *.emlx couldn’t be copied to ‘Messages’ because an item with the same name already exists,” here is what to do to fix it.
We most often see this when someone is trying to delete a message (move it to the Trash folder), but it can happen in other situations as well. A reason that you might run into the “The message could not be moved to the mailbox ‘Trash'” situation specifically seems to be when you try to delete a huge number of messages at once, which may for some reason corrupt the trash folder.
Anyways, the fix is very easy.
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First, highlight (click on) the mail folder that you are trying to move the message to (in our example that is the Trash folder):
Next, go to the Mailbox menu, and click “Rebuild”:
Next..why, there is no next! That’s all you need to do!
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.
My ‘rebuild’ is grayed out
My Rebuild is also greyed out and I keep get the pop up message while trying to type on mail?? Help
Yeah, even here in 2019 REBUILDING the TRASH Folder did it and yes it was because I deleted a x-large amount of emails at once. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
2023. Still works!
Thank you , Thank you , Thank you !
You’ve just saved my sanity. :)
Hey Alex! Glad we could save you the therapy expenses. ;~)
So many suggestions on this topic – most were complicated – none worked until your straightforward and simple fix. Many many thanks from me as well!!
P.S Weird that this is still an issue years later….:P
It’s november 2017, and this article from almost 3 years ago still work perfectly. Thank you very much.
Thank you for the instruction, it works perfectly.
THANKS SO MUCH. YOUR INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO FIX “THE MESSAGE COULD NOT BE MOVED TO THE MAILBOX” WORKED PERFECTLY.
Worked for me after I rebuilt he sent folder. Thank you, wish I would of found this 2 months ago!! LOL
THANK YOU! I used to be a somewhat obnoxious mac apologist, but things have really seemed to go gradually downhill in the last few years. I still by Macs, too deep into them – But I am so grateful from people like you!!! I have sought other help of line, but – WOW – this work – and it was easy and fast. Thanks David W.
You’re very welcome, thank YOU for letting us know that it was helpful, that’s why we do what we do!:-)
Brilliant! Thank you :-)
You are awesome! Greatly appreciated!!!!!!
So easy and worked exactly like you said. Thank you very much! My stress level has just decreased immensely.
wow, what a simple solution. thanks a ton.
Nice try, but it doesn’t work.
OMG. Thank you so much. I have been going CRAZY. fooling with clean my mac etc etc etc. and here you did it in a second! yea!
Thank you!!! That was easy.
I had to rebuild my In box, where the suspect messages resided. I first transferred all the “good” messages in the In Box to a temp mailbox, leaving the three bad ones, then rebuilt the in box, at which point the bad ones disappeared. Then I moved all the good ones back from the temp mailbox. Thanks.
Thank you so much. Fixed the problem quickly.
Amazing
Amazing, Thanks so much.
Thank you – I was getting very grumpy with my computer. You saved me grinding a significant amount of my teeth away!! Worked perfectly.
perfect, worked a treat
SUPER helpful! Thanks. Pictures and all! SUPER!
Working solution. Thank you !
thank you thank you – sorted – it was driving me crazy…..
thank you – very much appreciated :o)
Thank you for the simple solution!
Thank-you thank-you thank-you!!!! this was doing my head in and I thought Id Messed my Mac up forever – worked a treat and I can now go back to the big clean out.
:-)
This didn’t work for me! I’m getting spam pieces that seem to have an attachment. When I try to move them, I get: The message “STEVE, Notice to appear in Court #000871089” could not be moved to the mailbox “Junk — stevecagan” / The file “145392.emlx” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file.” Rebuilding the mailbox I want to send it to doesn’t help at all. Sometimes rebuilding the mailbox it’s in helps, but I’m reluctant to keep rebuilding my inbox…
When I try to deleted a mail i get the following msg :
The file “157321.emlx” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file.
Please can you help me.
Thanks!
You have just saved me so much time! Thanks
Yes! Worked for spam/virus e-mails with hidden attachments – i.e.:
“The message “X” could not be moved to the mailbox Trash – the file “Y” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file.”
Thank you very much for this. Worked perfectly!
The BEST!!! Thankyou.
It hasn’t worked for me. FortiClient identifies the virus WM/Argentitr
Thanks a million for this.
Thank you, thank you. SPECTACULAR. And easy.
Wow! fantastic. nothing in Trash now. Many thanks!
Thank you. This works and It saved me. The problem was really aggravating. Much appreciated.
Gregory James Blount
Aloha…thank you…problem solved…it was driving me bonkers and duck go go sent me here…
thank you for sharing, it worked perfectly.
I’m trying to back up my sent my moving it to a folder on my mac in apple mail. When I try to move the nearly 3,000 emails, I get the same error message as you mentioned… However rebuilding doesn’t work. Any other ideas?
Hi Kim! Try moving fewer messages at a time; in fact try moving just a few (like, 3) and if that works, then the problem is that your system can’t process 3k at once, so you’ll need to do it in batches.
Excellent answer, and, most importantly, it worked!
Trying your fix, but “rebuild” is grayed out! Any suggestions?
This seems to have worked. I’ll check for a day or so and make sure. Thanks.
Thanks, it works.
Thanks for the fix. It worked!!
Thanks, worked like a charm.
Thanks so much! This was a great fix!
Worked like a charm! Thanks
Worked like a charm! Thanks
So easy! Thanks. Now I don’t have to kill myself…
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! :)
Thank you!