Mail Problems

I'm running Mail Version 11.5 (3445.9.1) on my MacBook Pro.

Today, I got error messages when I tried to delete a message. Something like "Can't Move Last Three Items" or just an unspecified "Error." I could not get out of it, so I had to force quit Mail.

Another thing is that when I quit Mail, the window will close, but the app. stays open.

Another is that I will get an Incoming e-mail alert on a message that I have already received.

Yesterday, I went into my Earthlink account and deleted messages in order to free up space. When I went into Mail, the messages had also been deleted from Mail. This did not used to happen with my previous, older MacBook Pro.

So, things are gettin' a little funky. Any thoughts?

Thanks, gentlemen.

Hi Markk

Couple of ideas.

Try rebuilding the mailbox which doesn’t allow deleting. In Mail, go to top menu bar, click on Mailbox and choose Rebuild.

Second thought. There is a big difference between closing and quitting an app. Your best bet, when in Mail, is using the keyboard and Command plus Q. Or top menu bar, click on Mail and bottom item, Quit Mail.

Rebooting your Mac is another well proven means of sorting out misbehaving apps.

If all that fails, download the free app OnyX from the developer’s website and be sure to get the one specific to your operating system. After download, open, the choose Maintenance and run it. Your Mac will restart automatically.

Few thoughts to be going on with.

Ian

@IWT/Ian: Many thanks. I'll try rebooting my Mac first. I have not done that in a while.

Question: For the purposes of rebooting, is there a difference between a Restart and a Shut Down/Start Up?

Well, Mail is now up to 12.2, so I'm going to assume you are not on Mojave.

Your post is a bit confusing to me. You said you force quit Mail and then said it would not quit. So what did happen, exactly?

As for quitting Mail, are you clicking on the red dot to close? That does not close Mail, it just closes the window. To close mail, click on "Mail" on the top bar, then "Quit Mail" to quit it completely.

The notifications of incoming mail on my system are pretty timely, but there can be a second or so delay between the mail actually dropping into the Inbox and the notification popping up. Is that what you are seeing, or is the delay longer?

The deleted messages deleting immediately from the MBP are signs that the Mail setup is for IMAP, which is the more modern protocol for email, and worked as it is designed. In IMAP, any change is promulgated across all devices also using IMAP. You deleted, that synced. Your older Mac was probably using POP3, which is being phased out. If you want to keep emails on the MBP permanently, you will need to save them out of the Inbox to a separate folder so that when a change is made on the server, it doesn't impact those other folders. For example, I have a folder for mail I want to keep long term. I move the messages I want to keep from Inbox to that folder so that when I delete them from Inbox to get rid of clutter, they don't disappear completely.

Question: For the purposes of rebooting, is there a difference between a Restart and a Shut Down/Start Up?

Click to expand...

No. A reboot is a restart, any way you like. No need to shut down first.

Ian

@Jake: Thanks for your reply.

MacInWin said:

Your post is a bit confusing to me. You said you force quit Mail and then said it would not quit. So what did happen, exactly?

Click to expand...

During normal function in Mail, I hit Command-Q to quit. The window closes, but the app stays open. When I was getting the error messages, I could not get out of them. They just kept popping up. So, in this case, I had to Force Quit.

MacInWin said:

As for quitting Mail, are you clicking on the red dot to close? That does not close Mail, it just closes the window. To close mail, click on "Mail" on the top bar, then "Quit Mail" to quit it completely.

Click to expand...

I always quit Mail using Command-Q.

MacInWin said:

The notifications of incoming mail on my system are pretty timely, but there can be a second or so delay between the mail actually dropping into the Inbox and the notification popping up. Is that what you are seeing, or is the delay longer?

Click to expand...

What I am talking about is not a slight delay. It happens quite a bit after the message has already been received.

MacInWin said:

The deleted messages deleting immediately from the MBP are signs that the Mail setup is for IMAP, which is the more modern protocol for email, and worked as it is designed. In IMAP, any change is promulgated across all devices also using IMAP. You deleted, that synced. Your older Mac was probably using POP3, which is being phased out. If you want to keep emails on the MBP permanently, you will need to save them out of the Inbox to a separate folder so that when a change is made on the server, it doesn't impact those other folders. For example, I have a folder for mail I want to keep long term. I move the messages I want to keep from Inbox to that folder so that when I delete them from Inbox to get rid of clutter, they don't disappear completely.

Click to expand...

I did not know this. I am pretty sure that I was using POP3 on my other machine, as you stated.

Thanks again.

The only time I have seen Mail fail to quit was when it was in the middle of receiving a message, particularly one with a large attachment. But as soon as it is done receiving, it quit.

I don't have any suggestions for you to try except what Ian already suggestion about a reboot and running OnyX.

^^Will do. Thanks.