Mail not playing alert sound

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Hi all,

I'm using Leopard 10.5.1 and I have Mail setup for POP access through Gmail. For some reason it no longer plays the incoming mail sound to alert me to new messages. The only indication that I get is the Mail icon in the doc will show the new message waiting indicator. I've checked my settings and it indeed is set to play the sound and it even plays when I test it manually but for some reason it won't do it automatically. Any ideas?

Also, I've posted this a few days ago but is there a way to make the Mail icon bounce when new mail arrives "AND" automatically cancel the bouncing when you view the new message? This is a very basic feature but I can't figure it out.

Finally, I want mail to automatically start when I boot up the machine. I figured out how to do that but is there a way to make it start up minimized?

I really am trying to like Mail but I'm thinking of switching back to Entourage.....
 
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For a bouncing dock icon, check here

And for getting mail to hide on startup, check here
 
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For a bouncing dock icon, check here

And for getting mail to hide on startup, check here

Thank you very much for the info. One problem solved! After a few hours trying to figure out how to use Automator I was able to create a file that loads mail and then immediately minimizes it.

The issue with no audible notification persists. It seems to work correctly for me if the mail window is open but if Mail is minimized then I get no sound.

As for the Icon, I was already aware of how to make the icon jump. What I really want to know is.... Is it possible to make it stop jumping just by selecting your message from the message list to read it. As it is now I have to click on the Mail icon on the Dock to stop the bounce.
 
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Thank you very much for the info. One problem solved! After a few hours trying to figure out how to use Automator I was able to create a file that loads mail and then immediately minimizes it.

The issue with no audible notification persists. It seems to work correctly for me if the mail window is open but if Mail is minimized then I get no sound.

As for the Icon, I was already aware of how to make the icon jump. What I really want to know is.... Is it possible to make it stop jumping just by selecting your message from the message list to read it. As it is now I have to click on the Mail icon on the Dock to stop the bounce.

I found the problem. It turns out that Growl was causing the loss of audio alerts in Mail. I uninstalled Growl and now the sound file plays fine.
 

dtravis7


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I found the problem. It turns out that Growl was causing the loss of audio alerts in Mail. I uninstalled Growl and now the sound file plays fine.

Interesting. I was about to reply and then saw this last post. I have had that issue here with Gmail. The Main account I check always sounds the sound but the gmail that goes to a separate folder no longer plays the Mail Received sound. Going to try disabling Growl and see what happens.


Thanks for the info.
 
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Interesting. I was about to reply and then saw this last post. I have had that issue here with Gmail. The Main account I check always sounds the sound but the gmail that goes to a separate folder no longer plays the Mail Received sound. Going to try disabling Growl and see what happens.


Thanks for the info.

BTW, I use Gmail exclusivly and Growl was the problem for me. Hopefully the fine folks that wrote Growl will release a new version soon that will address some of the Leopard issues. Grow Mail is not compatible with Leopard but I was using a script that seemed to enable the Mail notifications. I know they are working on it though.....
 
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I have totally uninstalled growl, AND growl mail, and have not been able to get the new mail sound to play :( I've spent HOURS trying to figure out how to do this and get it back, but it's just not working.

Any other suggestions?
 
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For a bouncing dock icon, check here

And for getting mail to hide on startup, check here

I used the link and followed the instructions for a bouncing icon and it worked! Really easy :D I've been looking for some way of doing this for ages so thank you so much for posting this, you are ace! Though my mail used to make a sound but has stopped and I've had the apple shop scratch their heads at it and it still isn't purring at me.
Lazyeye xxx
 

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Do you have all the updates installed? The Mail Sound issue was fixed in one of the last major updates to OSX.
 
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no alert sound on mail

I am running snow leopard and have this problem also...no alert sound for new mail...other mail sounds work. have called apple and they cannot figure it out. any ideas on solving this would be most appreciated.
 
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Anything new on this issue? My iMac running 10.6.2 doesn't play the incoming mail sound. I tried disabling Idle and I don't have Growl. I have all updates installed.
 
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Running OS X.5.8 and also had to get rid of Growl in order mail alert sounded. Go into Mail>Preferences>General> and make sure the play alert radio box is selected.
 
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Yup, the radio box is checked alright. I'm going to delete the Mail plist file and see if that helps. Are there any other preference files associated with the sounds?
 
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OK - I got it working. I'm not sure what fixed it, but this is what I did. I gave up the idea of deleting the plist file, those Mail preferences include the Account/Server settings, and are just too much trouble to mess with. I ran all of the Onyx Automated maintenance routines. Still no sound. I set up a Mail Rule requiring an incoming mail sound. Still no sound. I went back and disabled Idle again. Now I got two sounds in succession. I went back and deleted my new Rule. Now I just have the one sound I want. It's working! :) Note: I had tried disabling Idle to begin with. It didn't work then. But now, after everything else I did, disabling Idle worked. Go figure!
 
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Thanks George, after noticing that my alert sound was missing in action i went in and disabled Idle saved the changes and quit Mail the re opened it. Sent myself an email from gmail and alert was back.
 

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I haven't had a chance to do a serious Google search yet but I'm pretty sure that the disappearing Mail sound has been a problem for a while. I don't think the presence/absence of Growl makes much of a difference. I don't have Growl installed and I periodically loose the notification sound.
 
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I'm having the same issue, but I fixed it somewhat. First, you guys are saying to disable "Idle." What is Idle and how do you disable it?

Now, about what happened to me. My HD crashed, so I had to buy a new HD and re-install Snow Leopard, which I did. I put back all of my data and programs, and when I set up my three gmail accounts in Mail, I got not audio notification.

I then installed Growl hoping I could at least get visual notifications, but apparently Growl doesn't work with Snow Leopard. Then I read this thread. So I disabled Growl and I got sound notification. I then completely uninstalled Growl. Tested it again and found I'm getting sound alerts for two out of the three accounts (didn't test the other two when Growl was installed but disabled).

So I'm still trying to get the sound alert back for the one remaining account. They all have the same settings, btw, and on the HD that crashed, I had 10 accounts configured in there and got notified for each one.

I've run Software Update until everything is up-to-date, but that didn't help fix it.

Any suggestions?

Running 10.6.8
 

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