diff --git a/scripts/extract.sh b/scripts/extract.sh
index 07cd824..e42c447 100755
--- a/scripts/extract.sh
+++ b/scripts/extract.sh
@@ -86,6 +86,20 @@ if [[ "$DANGEROUS_COUNT" -gt 0 ]]; then
     done < "$EXCLUDES_FILE"
 fi
 
+# Also skip the cpanel user's mail spool entirely. WHP doesn't import
+# email (mail-import is a panel-side roadmap item, not a sandbox-mode
+# step) so extracting + scanning the mailbox tree wastes time and disk:
+# on real customer accounts the mail dir often dwarfs everything else
+# (10+ GB of historical mbox/maildir). The exclude pattern uses tar's
+# fnmatch globs and covers both maildir + spool layouts at any depth
+# under homedir/. Logged as an info line so it shows up in the panel
+# import log alongside the symlink strips.
+{
+    echo "cpmove-*/homedir/mail"
+    echo "cpmove-*/homedir/mail/*"
+} >> "$EXCLUDES_FILE"
+log "skipping mail tree (cpmove-*/homedir/mail) — WHP does not import cPanel mail"
+
 # --- extract --------------------------------------------------------------
 
 # Detect compression. cpmove can be .tar.gz / .tar.bz2 / .tar.