He has well over 44,000 emails and is not constantly connected to the interwebs to download the emails. Is there a way to sort of force Mac to make local copies of all the mail from the server, headers and body, so that he does not have to re-download every piece of mail on his computer. He is using Mac 10.8.4, Mail 6.5. Don’t store your email drafts on the server! Changing this to save drafts on your Mac and then restarting Mail fixed the problem for me. Go to Mail App Preferences Accounts Mailbox Behaviours and change the Drafts Mailbox to On My Mac; Delete all of your email accounts from Apple Mail and then reinstall them manually one-by-one. If you use the Mail app on a Mac, it’s fairly likely that you regularly delete emails that you determine to be unnecessary, junk, or that simply aren’t needed. Typically this is a selective process where particular email messages are removed as needed, but in some situations you may want to go all out and delete every single email that is in a particular Mail account, or even remove all. In the Mail app on your Mac, move the pointer over the header of a message. Click the Attach button that appears, click the name of an attachment or choose Save All, then choose a location. You can also select a message, then choose File Save Attachments. Or drag an attachment from the message to the desktop to save it there. Chances are you don't need them, especially the old ones, and trashing them will free up some valuable space. How to find and delete old Mail Download files to free up space. Open Spotlight Search; Type in Mail Downloads and click on the folder when it shows up to open it. Here you'll see a list of files that Mac Mail has saved.
Mail User Guide
There are various ways to work with attachments in email messages you receive.
Mac Mail Will Not Send
View email attachments
Mac Mail Don't Download All Mail Settings
In the Mail app on your Mac, select a message that includes attachments.
Look for the Attachment icon next to the sender’s name in the message list.
In the message, do one of the following:
Open an attachment in an app: Double-click the attachment.
Preview an attachment without opening it: Select the attachment, then press the Space bar, or force click the attachment.
Some attachments—like images or one-page PDF documents—are displayed directly in the message. If you’d rather view the attachment as an icon, Control-click it, then choose View as Icon from the shortcut menu. To display the attachment again, Control-click it, then choose View in Place.
Save email attachments
In the Mail app on your Mac, move the pointer over the header of a message.
Click the Attach button that appears, click the name of an attachment or choose Save All, then choose a location.
You can also select a message, then choose File > Save Attachments. Or drag an attachment from the message to the desktop to save it there.
Mac Mail Don T Download All Mail Inbox
Email attachments are saved in the Downloads folder, available in the Dock. To specify a different location, choose Mail > Preferences, click General, then select a folder.
Delete email attachments
In the Mail app on your Mac, select a message that includes one or more attachments.
Choose Message > Remove Attachments.
The message remains in the mailbox and is annotated to indicate that all attachments were manually removed. For IMAP accounts, attachments are also deleted from the mail server and can’t be retrieved.
When you delete a message that includes an attachment, the attachment is deleted too. To change this setting, choose Mail > Preferences, click General, click the “Remove unedited downloads” pop-up menu, then choose an option. Mail doesn’t delete attachments that you have saved.
Mail automatically downloads attachments you receive based on the download option you set in Account Information preferences in Mail.
If you send or forward images or PDF documents you receive to other people, you can mark up the attachments with comments, drawings, or a signature before you send them.
See alsoAdd attachments to emails in Mail on MacDelete emails in Mail on Mac