AirDrop the Mail app - recipe for disaster?

[rickhess]

Recently, out of the blue, the Mail apps Preferences quit working (High Sierra) on my iMac. Every week I like to change the display fonts, level colors, etc. Suddenly, with nothing else changed, going to Preferences in Mail (either via menu bar or Command+, ) yields a little white screen, "Accounts", but the screen itself is blank. I don't want to do a clean install just for this.

BUT, I have a new MBPro with a perfectly operating Mail app. What happens if I Air Drop that Mail app over to the iMac? If it will even do that, will it be dangerous? The two Mail apps are linked, (even though I don't want them to be and have turned off iCloud Mail on both machines, but that's not a big problem).
I do have a complete Time Capsule backup for the iMac.
Thanks much!

 

[chscag]

I don't recommend using Air Drop for that and am not sure that it will even work. If you have a TC backup for your iMac, just enter the Mail app on the iMac and then invoke Time Machine and restore the Mail App from when you know it was working OK. It does sound like the Mail app on your iMac is broken.

 

[rickhess]

Great idea, but...

Thanks chscag- tried that and received the message:
"'Mail can't be modified or deleted because it's required by macOS." Then I tried Air Dropping it - same message.
Do you think a regular vs. clean install might solve the issue?

I don't recommend using Air Drop for that and am not sure that it will even work. If you have a TC backup for your iMac, just enter the Mail app on the iMac and then invoke Time Machine and restore the Mail App from when you know it was working OK. It does sound like the Mail app on your iMac is broken.

 

[chscag]

Try an update install over the top of your current copy of macOS. If that doesn't work, you can then try a clean install and restore with Time Machine.

 

[IWT]

Mail can't be modified or deleted because it's required by macOS.

It is possibly too late now, but that statement above suggests that Time Machine (TM) may not have been used correctly to restore the Mail app.

Normally, with Mail closed, one opens Finder > Applications.

With that window showing, you click on the TM icon on the top menu bar and from the drop down, choose Enter Time Machine.

Then, from the right side of the TM Window, you choose a date in the past when the Mail app was definitely working - click on this - and you are taken back to that date - the same Applications window should be showing.

(If not, navigate to Applications).

Then click on Mail app - then click on Restore

There should not be a message such as that received by the OP.

I just wonder if the OP followed this method of using TM - or incorrectly tried to access TM via Finder??

Ian

 

[chscag]

Hi Ian:

I was assuming that he followed what I told him to do in my post #2 above. He may have skipped the part about opening the Mail app:

If you have a TC backup for your iMac, just enter the Mail app on the iMac and then invoke Time Machine and restore the Mail App from when you know it was working OK.

 

[rickhess]

Gentlemen,
I just followed the instructions exactly - Mail closed, opened Finder /Apps - didn't open Mail (I may have opened it before going to the TM my first attempt last evening). Restored from a Mail-working time - same message-
"Mail can't be modified or deleted because it's required by macOS."

Last night I reinstalled HS - no help. I'm going to have to wipe everything, and just to be able to change fonts, etc., it's not worth the effort - maybe this summer.

Grateful for the help, though - thanks!

 

[pm-r]

Last night I reinstalled HS - no help. I'm going to have to wipe everything, and just to be able to change fonts, etc., it's not worth the effort - maybe this summer.

Just a crazy thought here and I have no idea if the Mac OS X can still suffer the problem, but years ago in maybe PPC times or earlier, having a "font conflict" could bring a Mac to it's knees if it would even work at all and was one of the hardest things to get fixed, but often a clean install was needed.

I mention this after seeing the comments about mucking about with changing fonts. Not a recommended practice I don't believe.




- Patrick
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[rickhess]

Hi Patrick,
Thanks for weighing in. Just went through my Font Book and resolved (Automatically) the few conflicts. Didn't help, but I wonder about your comment of "mucking about with changing fonts." Mail's Prefs is designed for easily changing fonts and message level colors. I've been doing that weekly (changing the look of Mail) for a number of years, even before Sierra, all fine.

Appreciate your input. If I've misunderstood your mucking comment, sorry!

Rick

 

[pm-r]

@rickhess

but I wonder about your comment of "mucking about with changing fonts." Mail's Prefs is designed for easily changing fonts and message level colors

Hi Rick, and I wasn't sure what you might be doing and meant with your fonts and "mucking about", but if the option for changing the fonts from within an application exists, especially one from Apple, I would be very surprised if one could muck things up on one's Mac. ;D

And yes, checking your fonts as you did is a very good thing to do.




- Patrick
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[rickhess]

Your first comment did bring back memories, Patrick - I'd kind of forgotten about those old PPC days! Good times, if sometimes frustrating! System extensions on system extensions - amazing the machines could run at all!

 

[pm-r]

System extensions on system extensions - amazing the machines could run at all!

And I'd say that also goes for even recent Macs as well. There's a lot of stuff it loads just to run.

And back in the day, I'm not sure that "Conflict Catcher" that could actually cause it's own conflicts, could even help when fonts were involved.

And to be blunt, Apple hasn't exactly fixed or made using/manipulating fonts much easier if at all. But at least has improved some possible font conflicts from happening

And I won't get into some of the font problems some have still had with various publishers and all the various Helvetica versions problems in the publishing world.

Heck, even on my own iMac I have 65 actual "Fonts" folders scattered all around because of different installed applications etc.




- Patrick
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[rickhess]

And a new development in the Mail sick-Prefs saga!
This morning I was intending to change the Mail font on the new MBPro (since I no longer can on the 27" iMac, despite the excellent thoughts and advice from all of you on this thread). Guess what? The same blank screen now appears on the MBPro when activating Mail's Prefs! The iMac has spread its heinous infection to the MBPro. That despite the fact that I've done everything I could to separate the Mail apps on both machines. Which highlights another issue - though I've gone to iCloud in System Prefs and unselected Mail on both machines, so that neither has its Mail on iCloud (I do want all Mail to come to both machines, but would like to handle them separately), the MBPro still completely mirrors the iMac; delete a mail message from one and poof - it's gone from the other. So Mail is still on iCloud, despite my best efforts.
So, not only are the Mail Prefs corrupted on the iMac, those prefs must include Mail's iCloud behavior as well and the poor, defenseless MBPro now has the same issue.
Sigh. Absolutely NO desire to start from ground zero on the iMac - I'll likely just live with this. A true first-world problem, I know. Still...

 

[MacInWin]

delete a mail message from one and poof - it's gone from the other. So Mail is still on iCloud, despite my best efforts.

That is not a Mac function, but is how IMAP mail protocol works on all systems. And mail providers are moving to IMAP to replace POP pretty aggressively. What happens is that you delete the email on one system, it gets deleted on the server, then the server deletes it from everywhere else. Nothing to do with iCloud at all.

 

[MacInWin]

And the preferences issue sounds like something you added to the system has blocked/messed with the Mail preferences. Do you have any third party stuff installed?

 

[pm-r]

@Jake

And the preferences issue sounds like something you added to the system has blocked/messed with the Mail preferences. Do you have any third party stuff installed?

And Jake, I'll buy you a beer or two if a reply comes back saying "no third party stuff installed". Or a little voice added saying: "… that I know of".

:Blushing:




- Patrick
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