How do I unlock my Juno mailbox?

March 4, 2008 12:08 PM

My Juno program was corrupted and the mail problems were that I couldn't access my sent file and when I sent out an e-mail it would go into the "out" box and eventually would be sent again (sometimes multiple times).

I'm been wrestling around with an e-mail problem for days. My Juno
program was corrupted and the mail problems were that I couldn't access
my sent file and when I sent out an e-mail it would go into the "out"
box and eventually would be sent again (sometimes multiple times). I
have reinstalled Juno but still no sent file. This pops up
occasionally on the screen:

The mailbox "-/Library/Mail/[e-mail]/Sent
Messsages.mbox is currently locked by "My-Name-computer.local".
If you open a mailbox that is already in use you may damage it.

I cannot figure out what to do and can't seem to find anyone who CAN
tell me what to do. It is probably something very simple, and I'm
hoping that is the key to the problem.

posted by monospace to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

The mailbox file you're talking about is used by the program Mail, not by a program called Juno. I think that explaining the problem fully might be more than you can manage--and that's not a criticism, this is confusing stuff. If I were in your shoes, I'd consider making an appointment at Tekserve or one of the Apple stores in NYC. These problems are much easier to diagnose when someone is physically with your Mac.
posted by bcwinters at 12:44 PM on March 4, 2008

The "lock" it's referring to means that some other program has the same mail file open. Does it give you the option to go ahead and open it anyway? If so, try this:
- Reboot your computer. Shut it right down and start it up again, just to be sure.
- Open your mail program. If it still complains, tell it to open the locked file anyway.

If this doesn't fix the problem, and you don't mind giving up your Sent file, you can also move that file.
- Make sure your e-mail program is closed and that you've quit the program entirely. You can reboot again to make sure.
- Find that file. The - is actually a ~ and means your "Home" directory, which should be called "Home" or "Your Name", and the other terms are subfolders.
- Move it to your desktop.
- Open the program again, and it should make a new, empty Sent file.
posted by pocams at 12:44 PM on March 4, 2008