Mac Mail - Reading Pane blank

[MacInWin]

I mentioned this because Mail Settings doesn't exist - it's called Mail Preferences. A minor point but the OP might spend ages trying to find it

In Ventura it is called Mail/Settings. Apple changed it.

 

[svensvensson]

A good suggestion from our newest member. Welcome @svensvensson.

Just to correct a minor thing:

It's Open Mail app: then use Command plus comma to go into Mail Preferences: Click on Privacy (last one on right). It's there that you will see "Mail Privacy Protection". You can try unchecking that as @svensvensson suggested.

I mentioned this because Mail Settings doesn't exist - it's called Mail Preferences. A minor point but the OP might spend ages trying to find it

BTW, in any Macintosh app, Command plus comma will take you to the Preferences for that app.

(The longer way is to click on the App's icon in the top menu bar and choose Preferences from the drop down menu).

Ian

Thanks Ian, command comma is a good way to get to the right place. Confusingly, it is now called 'Settings...' in the Mail menu, rather than Preferences, since Ventura.

edit: sorry Jake, didn't see your reply before posting!

 

[pm-r]

In Ventura it is called Mail/Settings. Apple changed it.

Yep, it sure looks like Apple changed their Mail.app configurations from Mail > Preferences of pre-Ventura OSs to Mail > Settings:

Change settings in Mail on Mac

In Mail on your Mac, change settings for the email accounts you use in Mail, and for sending and receiving emails.

support.apple.com

So much for old traditions and consistency, I guess they felt a need to change things...



- Patrick
=======

 

[MacInWin]

It's a new "consistency," Patrick. It's Settings across ALL Apple apps. At least as far as I can tell. And it is part of the goal of consistency between macOS and iDeviceOS, so that the iPad and Mac work much more alike. I think the ultimate goal is to have seamless handoff between iPad, iPhone, Mac for apps.

 

[krs]

A good suggestion from our newest member. Welcome @svensvensson.

Just to correct a minor thing:

It's Open Mail app: then use Command plus comma to go into Mail Preferences: Click on Privacy (last one on right). It's there that you will see "Mail Privacy Protection". You can try unchecking that as @svensvensson suggested.

Email notification doesn't always seem to work so I never saw these additional posts.
However - on macOS 10.14 with Apple Mail 12.4 I don't see a privacy Protection setting - the last one on the right is "Rules" - so I doubt this has anything to do with the issue.

 

[svensvensson]

Email notification doesn't always seem to work so I never saw these additional posts.
However - on macOS 10.14 with Apple Mail 12.4 I don't see a privacy Protection setting - the last one on the right is "Rules" - so I doubt this has anything to do with the issue.

It's a new feature in Mail 16.0 with Ventura. I'm not sure where the content blocking / IP hiding is performed, but quite possibly it's done off-device in the cloud.

edit: just read back through thread and OP states they are running the latest version of Mail (16.0) on both Macs, so they will have this option.

 

[svensvensson]

Email notification doesn't always seem to work so I never saw these additional posts.
However - on macOS 10.14 with Apple Mail 12.4 I don't see a privacy Protection setting - the last one on the right is "Rules" - so I doubt this has anything to do with the issue.

Just had a look at older versions of Mail and there is an option to load remote content. I wonder if Apple have changed the way this works behind the scenes in the cloud, so you are seeing the strange behaviour in an older version of Mail. Would be worth having a look to see if 'load remote content' is checked and enable it if it is not...

How to Disable Loading of Remote Content & Images in Mail for Mac

Emails often contain remotely loaded content, and most email clients, the Mac Mail app included, will default to automatically loading those remote images and remote content into an email. This is …

osxdaily.com

 

[pm-r]

It's a new "consistency," Patrick. It's Settings across ALL Apple apps. At least as far as I can tell.

Yes, I can realize and appreciate that Jake, and it seems that the iOS's options names seem to dominate over those of the old traditional Mac OS, but I must admit in this case it makes more sense using an application's "settings" rather than "preferences". Preferences was not the best word they could have used in the beginning as a descriptor. Settings seems much more fitting and appropriate.




- Patrick
=======

 

[IWT]

It's a new feature in Mail 16.0 with Ventura

Actually, I have that same function in Monterey which is why I responded. Can't say when it arrived. I vaguely recall that it was there in Big Sur, but on that I may be wrong.

Ian

 

[svensvensson]

Actually, I have that same function in Monterey which is why I responded. Can't say when it arrived. I vaguely recall that it was there in Big Sur, but on that I may be wrong.

Ian

Ah yep, it was a new option in Monterey: Use Mail Privacy Protection on Mac

edit: pasted wrong link - now correct.

 

[svensvensson]

Actually, I have that same function in Monterey which is why I responded. Can't say when it arrived. I vaguely recall that it was there in Big Sur, but on that I may be wrong.

Ian

Ok, this is definitely an off-device cloud setting. I've just gone into iPhone Settings>Mail>Privacy Protection and I can enable / disable the various blocking options there AND it syncs to my Mac settings.

So, is it possible that you could have an iPhone, enable privacy blocking, but then an older Mac Mail app without the option to change it? I think so!

 

[krs]

Just had a look at older versions of Mail and there is an option to load remote content.

This shows under the Privacy tab in Mail (as shown in the link posted), but there is no Privacy tab in Apple Mail 12.4 on Mojave - that option was added later.
When I had the blank Apple Mail page, I found that opening the page a few times would eventually bring it up or, when selecting to Forward the message, the content then came up right away - therefore I don't think this has anything to do with "privacy".
I wish the problem came back to get a better handle what might be causing it, but I have not seen it for probably more than a month.

 

[svensvensson]

This shows under the Privacy tab in Mail (as shown in the link posted), but there is no Privacy tab in Apple Mail 12.4 on Mojave - that option was added later.
When I had the blank Apple Mail page, I found that opening the page a few times would eventually bring it up or, when selecting to Forward the message, the content then came up right away - therefore I don't think this has anything to do with "privacy".
I wish the problem came back to get a better handle what might be causing it, but I have not seen it for probably more than a month.

Have you got an iPhone? It's a cloud enabled service and can be changed from an iPhone in Settings>Mail>Privacy Protection

 

[svensvensson]

Ok, I'm fairly sure this is a bug in the Mac Mail app related to the privacy protection feature.

With the privacy protection disabled, I don't have the problem. With it enabled, I randomly get blank email content in the Mac mail app, but on my iPhone mail app, the same email will display content and pops up the 'your network settings prevent content from loading privately' warning, which you can then choose to load the content. The content on the Mac does eventually appear (like after a whole minute or instantly if I hit reply or forward) - but I don't always get the option to load the remote content.

Fix for me is to disable the privacy protection until they get it sorted.

 

[krs]

Have you got an iPhone? It's a cloud enabled service and can be changed from an iPhone in Settings>Mail>Privacy Protection

I need an iPhone to enable/disable an option on my Mac????
You must be kidding.......

 

[Rod]

Hiya Ian, just FYI in macOS Ventura Apple Mail (and everything else) changed to Settings as opposed to Preferences so now we need to know which OS people are using to decide which to refer to.
As ferrarr suggested post #8 I would check security settings/preferences. Below are mine but this may not suit all providers.



In addition, and this is from left field but if you suffer from frequent power cuts this could cause a problem. It might be worth running Disk Utility > First Aid on the Macintosh HD volume.

 

[krs]

Hiya Ian, just FYI in macOS Ventura Apple Mail (and everything else) changed to Settings as opposed to Preferences so now we need to know which OS people are using to decide which to refer to.
As ferrarr suggested post #8 I would check security settings/preferences. Below are mine but this may not suit all providers.

View attachment 37380

In addition, and this is from left field but if you suffer from frequent power cuts this could cause a problem. It might be worth running Disk Utility > First Aid on the Macintosh HD volume.

My point is that on the version of Apple Mail I use, the two right tabs in Rod's image, ie Extensions and Privacy don't even exist, but I still ended up with the odd random blank page.

 

[svensvensson]

My point is that on the version of Apple Mail I use, the two right tabs in Rod's image, ie Extensions and Privacy don't even exist, but I still ended up with the odd random blank page.

In older versions is Mail, it’s under Preferences>View>load remote content

or, if you have an iPhone, it’s settings>mail>privacy protection

as it’s a cloud service, changing it on one device affects your other devices using the same iCloud mail account

 

[svensvensson]

I need an iPhone to enable/disable an option on my Mac????
You must be kidding.......

Not kidding I’m afraid. It’s not an option on your Mac, it’s an option on the iCloud mail server. It can be changed from an iOS device, Mac running Monterey or newer, but not on iCloud.com!

 

[krs]

Not kidding I’m afraid. It’s not an option on your Mac, it’s an option on the iCloud mail server.

OK, that makes sense.
But I don't use iCloud mail servers.
My mail servers are at kos.net and gmx.com - nothing remotely associated with Apple.
Default browser is Firefox with occasional use of Chrome or Brave
Firefox has tracking protection which is set to "standard". that is the lowest level.