problems with Apple Mail not receiving some emails

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I have a MacBook Pro operating on OS 10.9.5 with Apple Mail 7.3. I realised recently that I wasn't receiving email in 2 of the 3 email accounts I have. When I checked using a web email there were messages for two accounts which hadn't arrived to my computer. I have looked at apple support but that doesn't suggest anything relevant. I have rebuild mailboxes and thrown out preferences from the library but nothing seems to help. Outgoing mail from any account isn't a problem. Any suggestions to resolve the problem would be very much appreciated.

I use the Mac daily but am absolutely not a technician so I can only use simple solutions.

Many thanks for any help,

Helen
 
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Have you tried sending yourself a "test email" to each account and see if they arrive?
If they do, then things should be working properly.

You may have just missed something previously.
 
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Hello,

Thanks for the suggestion.

Yes I've tried sending emails to/from all three accounts but the mails only arrive in one. That is what is so strange, nothing seems to have changed in my settings but now I receive emails in one account but not in the other two.

As I said, I'm not a techie, so I'm reluctant to do anything too drastic - such as delete my mail folder and I am looking for a safer solution.

Helen
 
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Well, I'd try checking the website for the account(s) support for suggested email client settings and see if anything has changed and/or give them and/or your ISP support staff a call for help and a fix.

It seems quite odd to me that the trouble you're having seems to be with receiving which is odd as it's normally the sending that gets shutdown. Unless of course they never did actually get sent, and so never to be received either, but you should have got some notification.
 
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chas_m

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If you will expand your inbox to show each account separately, you should see a little exclamation mark to indicate that there is a problem collecting mail from the two accounts you are having issues with. Pressing on that exclamation mark will sometimes provide a clear explanation of what's going on. In the meantime, if you've recently upgraded to Yosemite, try this:

In Mail's preferences, in the settings for the two "problem" accounts, UNCHECK the box that says "automatically detect and maintain account settings" under "Advanced." That may solve the issue.
 
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Well, I'd try checking the website for the account(s) support for suggested email client settings and see if anything has changed and/or give them and/or your ISP support staff a call for help and a fix.

It seems quite odd to me that the trouble you're having seems to be with receiving which is odd as it's normally the sending that gets shutdown. Unless of course they never did actually get sent, and so never to be received either, but you should have got some notification.
Hello,

Yes it is all very strange I know the emails I sent out did arrive and Mail connection Doctor shows everything is ok but I'm still not receiving. I'll do as you suggest and contact the ISP - I assumed it was a Mac problem but perhaps it is with the ISP.

Many thanks,

Helen
 
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If you will expand your inbox to show each account separately, you should see a little exclamation mark to indicate that there is a problem collecting mail from the two accounts you are having issues with. Pressing on that exclamation mark will sometimes provide a clear explanation of what's going on. In the meantime, if you've recently upgraded to Yosemite, try this:

In Mail's preferences, in the settings for the two "problem" accounts, UNCHECK the box that says "automatically detect and maintain account settings" under "Advanced." That may solve the issue.
Hello chas_m,

That's what is so strange, there are no indicators of problems, as I wrote to pm-r it all seems to work fine. I'll take the matter up with the ISP.

I haven't changed the OS so it's not anything to do with Yosemite.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Helen
 
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And I guess you've gone through Apple's kb article?
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204075

It may not fix your email problem but why not try some maintenance and clean up some surplus stuff, and you never know:

Shutdown - boot up using Safe Boot Mode - login - run Disk Utility and Repair Permissions and Verify Disk. If all OK reboot normally and try your Mail again.

I think you said you tried rebuilding your mailboxes already, but maybe try again.

Or maybe your ISP can help with a proper suggestion. And is this a problem with a gmail account many Yosemite users have been experiencing?
 
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Brilliant!!!

Starting up in safe mode and using Disk utility did the trick. I've now received all the missing emails.

Thanks very much for your help, it is greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Helen
 
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Brilliant!!!

Starting up in safe mode and using Disk utility did the trick. I've now received all the missing emails.

Thanks very much for your help, it is greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Helen


Good to hear and I'm glad it worked, thanks.

It's not a bad idea to do that procedure at least every month or so, and especially doing so form OS X 10.6.x and later, it automatically cleans up a lot of surplus stuff and cache files etc.
I don't know if it will continue to do so when OS X EC gets released as DU's "repairs" have been removed apparently.

Anyway, getting OT here, and I'm glad your Mail is now working… :D
 

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I'd have to disagree with running permission repair as a matter of routine monthly maintenance. Macworld once referred to this as one of its top 5 maintenance myths. The author's position essentially seems to be that permission repair is only useful if the problem resides in the permissions for the subset of system files that permission repairs affect.

It's certainly worth thinking about when someone is experiencing problems but even then it's pretty far down my list of troubleshooting things to do.
 

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In addition to what Slydude stated (I agree with him), the repair permissions routine does not repair permissions on files such as locked system files. Those are the ones that usually cause trouble and generally require a reinstallation of OS X to fix.
 
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Dear pm-r, slydude & chscag,

I'm not sure what or why my emails stopped arriving but the safe boot and running Disk Utility suggested by pm-r fixed the problem. The pros and cons of whether to use DU regularly I'll have to leave to you techies to debate as I'm a mac user not a mac techie.

Thanks you you all for your help,

Helen
 
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I'm not going to get into a debate on DU and permissions either, but I will admit that my suggestion of monthly is probably too excessive, depending on how one uses their Mac and the OS X version, but at least we know it can still fix things as you discovered, as can just a Safe Boot and normal restart at times occasionally. They seem to work. :Smirk:
 

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I'm going to bet a cup of Starbucks that it was the reboot to Safe Mode and back to normal mode that cured Helen's problem. Anyway, if you win the bet you'll have to come to Fort Worth to collect. :p
 
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LOL!! That would have to be a cold day in Hades that's never going to happen that I would have anything to do with Starbucks!!
 

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What's wrong with Starbucks? Free WiFi, expensive Latte, expensive coffee, noisy music, noisy coffee grinding; it's just the kind of place you want to go to relax. :)
 

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I'm going to bet a cup of Starbucks that it was the reboot to Safe Mode and back to normal mode that cured Helen's problem. Anyway, if you win the bet you'll have to come to Fort Worth to collect. :p

You probably won't have to pay off on that bet. The triple digit temps this time of years seem to deter our Canadian friends from traveling this far south. I wonder why. :D
 
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What's wrong with Starbucks? Free WiFi, expensive Latte, expensive coffee, noisy music, noisy coffee grinding; it's just the kind of place you want to go to relax. :)

You got that right!! Although, I'll give our very Canadian Tim Hortons a try, known for its coffee and doughnuts.

You probably won't have to pay off on that bet. The triple digit temps this time of years seem to deter our Canadian friends from traveling this far south. I wonder why. :D

And you got that right!!

We've been having our own heat wave for the last 1 1/2 months, virtually no rain, and our hot temps are in the mid to high 20sC (68F) and into the low 30sC next to the water, and that's TOO hot for us. So don't laugh, and besides our Loonie dollar isn't doing too well lately as the world doesn't seem to like our oil, or is that a world price thing??
 

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About two years ago we had a stretch of about 30 straight days with the temps over 100F/37C.During that time I was sending messages to one of the other Canadian members. It was 8:30 - 9:00 p.m. and the temps were still in the 90s. He thought that was the daytime temp.

I think he nearly choked when he figured out that was the temp that late at night.
 

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