Mail not viewing messege below suddenly

[davowolf]

Usually I can mouse drag up and down to see the messege body without having to double click to see it.

It's as if the body has disappeared down a black hole at the bottom of the screen. Mouse won't bring it back up.

Can't see anything in preferences....

Stuck here...

Any solutions ?

 

[pm-r]

You have probably dragged the preview sizing area bar down to the bottom of the Mail view window.

In the screenshot I have provided, put your mouse pointer where the red arrow is showing and it should change into sort of a cross, at that point click and drag the bar UP to increase the preview window size. ie:




I hope that solves your problem.

EDIT:
Sorry, But it seems mac-forums has screwed up again and the attachment is not showing properly.
But got it fixed, sort of!!!

Or check out this page fot other view options:
Using Apple Mail's Two Mail Display Layouts - Sound Support




- Patrick
======

 

[davowolf]

Thank pm. I get the little grey dot and inverted T symbol but trying to drag it up (I have had success in doing this before I recall), it just isn't working. Trying to drag the bottom line up to reveal the message body just isn't happening.

Stuck.... for now....

 

[davowolf]

... time passes... and experimenting with the various 'View' options, the little grey dot has disappeared completely !

 

[IWT]

@davowolf,

Forgive me, but sometimes I can't get a proper handle on what the problem is.

It doesn't help that I don't run macOS Catalina, but assuming that the Mail app has not changed:

Are you using Classic Layout or the "Standard Layout"? I ask because I can't reproduce what you and my friend, Patrick, are trying to do.

If it's Classic Layout, then I think I get the problem and IF that were the case, what I'd try is to uncheck that in Preferences, Quit/reopen Mail, then Recheck Classic Layout.

I suppose, arguably, if you were in Standard Layout, you could go Classic, Quit/reopen Mail and go back to Standard.

What I'm hoping is that changing the Layout and going back to it might establish the defaults for the one that is not working??

Ian

 

[pm-r]

Are you using Classic Layout or the "Standard Layout"? I ask because I can't reproduce what you and my friend, Patrick, are trying to do.

FWIW: I am using Classic Layout and have no problem dragging the Mail preview window size bar up or down, but maybe that's because I am using OS X Mavericks 10.9.5.


EDIT:

Also, This article seems to state that one must be in Classic View for the view change to be made.

They also mention problems with the preference file but I have no idea what the date of the webpage is:
AppleMail preview pane missing - Community Contributions - Hermes

I
EDIT 2:
This could explain some of our confusion IAN:

With macOS Catalina, Apple made a change to the layout in the Mail app. The classic layout has been updated and you no longer have that option within your Mail Preferences. However, you can change where you see the previews and whether or not you want to use a column layout.

How to change the layout of your inbox in Mail on Mac

See the various illustrations at the above URL. Apples up to date Help List doesn't even explain these properly, If At All!!!

[Bold mine in the quoted text above
]
So, Apple mucking about again and screwing up something that used to work for so long. Not for me thanks!!!





- Patrick
======

 

[IWT]

Thank you, as always, Patrick for that explanation.

Ian

 

[davowolf]

Thank you both Ian and Patrick.

So it seems my problem stems from my recent conversion to Catalina and preference for Classic view in Mail which I've always had and would prefer to keep. And strange how this restirction has happened since the first time dragging the horizontal line underneath the email list to the bottom. Once there it seems to want to stay there !

But trying a few of the tricks suggested in ...

How to change the layout of your inbox in Mail on Mac

.... I still can't drag that little grey spot up the screen again to reveal the message body.

This, despite the claim within this .....

"If you grab that grey dot and pull it towards the top of Mail’s window then this will show the area which displays the email message body."

This just does not happen. So I still haven't found a way to get back to the Classic column layout.

Distraught.

 

[ferrarr]

Keep dragging the bar up. I use mail in it's own Space and have to drag it up about 1/4 the window size. Even if you drag it all the way up, it will only allow it to go up so far, so maybe you need to make the window bigger?

 

[davowolf]

Thanks f but no. Dragging it right up the screen just gives a greyed out message....

'No Message Selected'

I wish I could screen shot it for you but I seem to have lost the knack of doing it. I suddenly can't just paste in a screenshot anymore..... thinks...... time passes...... I wonder if these two functions are related... ??

 

[davowolf]

And I'm not getting the message body to the side of the message Subject and Source, according to the following advice from the link ...

How to change the layout of your inbox in Mail on Mac

Change the preview location

With Mail open, click View > Show Side Preview from the menu bar. You’ll then see your familiar preview on the right side of mail instead of at the bottom.

 

[pm-r]

And I'm not getting the message body to the side of the message Subject and Source, according to the following advice from the link ...

I know it can be a pain, but maybe consider going back to a previous OS X Version where things work and behave as you want them to.






- Patrick
======

 

[davowolf]

It is a thought Patrick....

But I'm so reluctant to change OS just because the only way to see the email body is to double click on it in a different window.

I can no longer see the body either below or to the side of the subject.

 

[davowolf]

This is now resolved to enable column view. The solution was simple in the end; you had to select a different, second email to show it.

However, the side preview doesn't work at all - but never used that anyway.

Thanks all contributors for helping over this,

 

[ferrarr]

However, the side preview doesn't work at all - but never used that anyway.

If you choose View > Column Layout, does that show what you need? I disabled that, and now I only have the new emails (top) and the open email (bottom).

Here's what I have selected under the View options.


And here's what it looks like.

 

[davowolf]

Yes Bob thanks, but in this state we don't see any message body. I like to see just one body at a time and column layout does it good for me.

 

[FritzLang]

I was having the same problem with the preview window disappearing. None of the above suggestions worked. However, I find that if I position the inverted 'T' cursor on the dot, and slide upwards, keeping the mouse pressed down, after a few repetitions it works. You have to keep your finger down on the mouse and slide upwards. It's almost as if the correct 'pressure point' is so fine that you can miss it by a tenth of a millimetre and nothing happens! Hope this helps.

 

[MacInWin]

Welcome to the forum. You might note that this thread is from two years ago. Each post is dated so you know how old the thread is. No harm in posting, and your comment was useful, but just wanted you to know how to tell the age of the thread.

 

[susie51]

yes same problem here too, SOLUTION.... I had to click and hold on the grey dot and drag a long way up before my message preview popped back into view!

 

[pm-r]

yes same problem here too, SOLUTION.... I had to click and hold on the grey dot and drag a long way up before my message preview popped back into view!

I'm sure your suggestion and solution may be helpful to some members and welcome to mac-forums, but it usually helps to add the Mac OS version and possibly the model Mac the poster is using for the particular situation and problem.


Welcome aboard.

PS: I doubt if you are related, but a neighbor lady just down the road from us goes by Susie 49 on her Mac Book Pro.



- Patrick
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