\pard\tx960\tx1920\tx2880\tx3840\tx4800\tx5760\tx6720\tx7680\tx8640\tx9600\f3\b0\i0\ul0\fs24 mail lost mailbox table of contents\
\
Q: Mail says it can't find the table_of_contents file. What can I do?\
\
Q: How can I force Mail to regenerate my table_of_contents file?\
\
A: There are two ways to force table_of_contents generation. The first is to just remove the table_of_contents file from the .mbox directory (for example, Active.mbox). (To get inside the .mbox directory using the Browser, select ~/Mailboxes/Active.mbox, or whichever mailbox you're fixing, then use the Open Directory command in Workspace's Window menu.) If you're fixing your Active mailbox rather than some other mailbox, quit and restart Mail. Otherwise, you can just open the mailbox in Mail without quitting first.\
\
If this doesn't fix it, there may be null characters in the file called "mbox". Quit Mail. Then in a Shell window, cd to the directory (e.g., Active.mbox) that contains the mbox file, and type:\
\
\f1 cat -v mbox | grep '*.^@'\
\f3 \
If this returns anything (i.e., it prints out anything other than the usual Shell prompt), you've got nulls in the file. Type:\
\
\f1 tr < mbox > tmp\
mv tmp > mbox\
\f3 \
This should remove any nulls. Mail should regenerate the table_of_contents file when you re-launch it.\
