Mail Udate? Import Messages?  Mail is all messed up!

Today I logged into my Mac and tried to read my mail like I always do at 8am, and I was prompted by a screen saying similar to "Welcome to Mac Mail in Tiger, Mail needs to import your messages before you may use mail. Click Okay to continue"
Not like I had an option, I clicked Okay, assuming Mail must have done an auto update during the night or something. I get another screen talking about the great new features of Mail. I checked my Software Update history in System Prefs and saw no new mail updates.
Once it was done importing all my messages mail opened and downloaed my usual batch of 100 or so spam messages, which interestingly enough were dumped in my normal in box - I've got rules that usually sort these messgaes out. Further interesting was my Junk bag was missing. Like Mail no longer did Junk filtering?
Also, I looked in my message Rules and saw the long list of rules I've put togehter to filter the junk mail was blank. No rules.
I checked the forum here and didn't see anyone else talking about Mail updates, so figured something freaky must have happened to my computer.
Also interesting, the program "Backup" which I installed off the Apple site last week was waiting to run - seemed in process of kicking off a backup when I tried to open mail.
I then noticed inside my Mail folder "MessageRules.plist.backup" with a create date of yesterday, and another file "MessageRules.plist" with a create date of today. Like the program "Backup" did this.
So I swapped the "backup" files back manually, also the file "Envelope Index" had a duplicate the same way "Envelope Index-1". So I swapped those back.
I shut down and re-started Mail and sure enough, my Junk mail folder is back, my rules are back, everything looks fine.... EXCEPT....
Every single message (of thousands) in my in box has an itallic line saying "The message from {Sender} concerning {Subject line} has not been downloaded from the server. You need to take this account online in order to download it."
What's up with that??
I manually open my mail folders where all the messages are stored with the .emix extension and double click a few - they open right up, so the message are still there but for some reason the email index thinks they're missing?
Can anyone shed some light on this? Any help? What a mess.
Thanks!

Sounds like something went afoul with Envelope Index file which is the file that keeps an index of all messages in all mailboxes.
All Mail.app rules including the Junk Mail rules are stored in the MessageRules.plist file and sounds like something went afoul with this file also and I'm not sure why since I've never experienced the same with either.
So I swapped the "backup" files back manually, also the
file "Envelope Index" had a duplicate the same way "Envelope Index-1".
So I swapped those back.
Since it seems something went wrong with the Envelope Index file and a new file was created, I suggest the following which should take care of this problem also.
"The message from {Sender} concerning {Subject line} has not
been downloaded from the server. You need to take this account
online in order to download it."
Quit the Mail.app first and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail. Copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
Using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index. Delete the Envelope Index and if still available, the Envelope Index-1 file and empty the Trash,
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import all mailboxes again. Select OK and allow the import process to complete. This isn't really importing anything but replacing the deleted Envelope Index file and reindexing all messages in all mailboxes.
Test if this resolves the problem.

Similar Messages

  • .mac mail screen all messed up preference button does not work

    in My .mac mail account on the web. The screen is sooooo spread out and big nothing will work. no buttons at all
    can't change anything help....

    If possible, could one or both of you take a
    screenshot* and upload it somewhere so we could see
    it?
    In the meantime, I would suggest going to the Safari
    menu and selecting Empty Cache... If that doesn't
    work, then Reset Safari, which is also under the
    Safari menu.
    Other than that, the <A
    href=""http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=
    107657">steps in this article may help out.
    * To take a screenshot, press Command-Shift-3 at the
    same time. The screenshot will be saved as Picture
    (#).png on your Desktop, where # represents some
    number.
    Thank you sooo much. Resetting Safari worked for me. I will read the article you recommended too.

  • Mail and address book crashes with SL, not able to import messages

    Hi,
    I've got about 10 years of email messages current inaccessible since I upgraded to SL.....
    Currently, Mail and Address book both crash upon opening.
    I don't need address book because luckily I have jettisoned that program, but I do need to somehow extract my sent messages from mail.
    I've already taken these steps to try to get it working again and re-import my messages
    -> deleted com.apple.mail, com.apple.addressbook preference files
    --> moved mail folder to the desktop
    --> deleted mail and address book folders within "application support" folders
    I'll be happy if I can find a way to simply open mail and re-import the messages, but so far, I'm locked out. The furthest I can get is the "import" command from within mail, and then I get the spinning beachball.
    Something seems to be deeply messed up within my addressbook/mail world, and it doesn't even want to start importing messages without crashing.
    any ideas?
    thanks
    I can't

    We have not tried a user account, we can if you think it is worth the time?
    50/50 chance of a clue.
    If I install mail and/or AB, do I need to move the data files for those first so that they are not wiped out? What about upgrades for those once we install or is the install disk and the current version the same.
    Normally it's not a problem, but Archive/Compress/backup just the same.
    Wait on the upgrades until we straighten this out.
    Or do we do a new install on a partition on another disk? Then migrate files over if the works (mail, AB, itunes, photos...)? Might need to guide me a bit on this?
    Excellent Idea if you hace another botable Disk, Install to that one, on first boot it'll ask if you want to Migrate, Migrate everything!
    If you want to go that way and need assistance, just ask.

  • Mail won't import messages to inbox after envelope file moved to desktop

    I had some kind of problem with a HD backup that cause my mac pro quad to lapse into beach ball mode. I had to restart and found my mail app had problems. All messages in other mailboxes are ok, sent items are ok, but inbox has lost messages. The messages are viewable from pop mailbox folder (in library). I moved envelope file to desktop and tried importing messages, but received a sql error notification and only very old message appeared. I backed up my mail folder before this procedure, and I have a copy of the same account on my laptop. So I have the messages, but can't seem to get them back into the mail program on the mac pro (running latest version of 10.4 osx).thx ra

    after running the command the mac supplied me with this wonderful response. Hope it means something to you..thx ra
    Failed to decode utf-8 data, treating as binary
    2008-08-07 08:43:49.455 mdimport[10141] error deserializing message property list: XML parser error:
    Encountered unknown tag /key on line 1
    Old-style plist parser error:
    Malformed data byte group at line 1; invalid hex
    2008-08-07 08:43:49.462 mdimport[10141] error deserializing message property list: XML parser error:
    Unexpected character A at line 1
    Old-style plist parser error:
    Unexpected ';' or '=' after key at line 1
    2008-08-07 08:44:07.159 mdimport[10141] * Failed to decode data, treating as binary
    2008-08-07 08:44:44.389 mdimport[10141] error deserializing message property list: XML parser error:
    Encountered unexpected EOF
    Old-style plist parser error:
    Malformed data byte group at line 1; invalid hex

  • Issues importing messages from live mail

    I am having problems importing messages from my WIndows Live Mail to my Thunderbird. The instructions say go to "Tools ImportExport | Import all messages from a directory | Also from its subdirectories." However in my Thunderbird l have tools, import and then it takes me to a wizard which says "This wizard will help import messages....." and when l select 'mail' as the type l wish to import it asks for a type of mail l want to import. Windows Live Mail is not in the list. Do you have any instructions or advice?

    Those instructions assume that you have installed [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/ ImportExportTools].
    http://chrisramsden.vfast.co.uk/3_How_to_install_Add-ons_in_Thunderbird.html
    Or, if you can export the WLM mail to eml files, they can be dragged from their Explorer location and dropped in a TB folder.

  • Mail 4.6 Preparing to import messages

    I  performed an update some weeks back which seemingly included an upgrade from mail 4.5 to 4.6.... Since then each time I try and launch mail i get the "welcome to mail" where i have to click to import messages to benefit from all these new features.....  Needless to say mail never opens as the preparing to import messages window just sits there. And the messages never import which is now really annoying!
    I've rung apple who are becoming more like Microsoft in wanting to charge for everything....  It was fine before you released you're Bl00dy patches and updates!!!!!  yes but it will cost you £35.....
    I only have one mail icon in the Apps folder and I've tried installing from the mac OSx disk but that takes mail back to version 4 which doesn't run  OS X10.6.8.
    I've also tried restoring from time machine to version 4.5 but i get the same error that this version will not work on Mac OSX 10.6.8..
    Any help would be appreciated if anyone else has experianced this..
    Shame on you Apple for not properly testing patches before they are released..

    I found this on the forum which did the trick..
    (1) remove the Mail caches from your user Library folder ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.mail
    (2) reapply the latest combo updater 10.6.4, you can download it from Apple downloads page
    (3) from your user Library folder drag the file Envelope Index to the desktop, that would be ~/Library/Mail/Envelope Index
    (4) if that didn't fix the issue, drag the preference file of mail from ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist to the desktop and sees if that help

  • After installing Mavericks my email isn't allowing me to draft a new message. I can see my messages, but cannot create a new message or reply to any messages. When I try nothing happens, then Mail freezes all together.

    I can see my messages, but cannot create a new message or reply to any messages.
    When I try nothing happens, then Mail freezes all together and usually crashes.
    I was able to get into my Mail settings and everything looks ok as far as I can tell.
    Has anyone else seen this? My software is completely up to date now (unfortunately).
    Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

    Do a backup.
    Quit Mail.
    Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J.  When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Go to Library/Containers/com.apple.mail.  Move the folder com.apple.mail to your desktop. You must move the entire folder, not just the contents.
    Restart, re-launch Mail and test. If the problem is solved, recreate any required Mail settings and import any emails you want to save from the folder on the desktop. You can then put the folder in the Trash. If the problem remains, return the folder to where you got it replacing the one that is there. 
    Information learned from Linc Davis. Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/23609117#23609117

  • How do I import message rules, etc. to Mail?

    I'm moving from an MBP with Snow Leopard to a new one running Yosemite. I use Apple Mail for my email client.  I have all my email accounts set up on the new computer, and it's downloading messages..  and all the old Mailboxes survived the migration-- but there's nothing in them.
    How do I
    1- import the  Message rules to Yosemite's Mail, I have the MessageRules.plist but can't find a Library to put them in! is there another way?
    2- Is there a way to import the messages filtered into the mailboxes on the old MBP? The computer has downloaded all the non-filtered ones, but the new ones leave the inbox and so they're not on the new computer.
    3- is there a way to set up these mailboxes and rules/ filters on my mobile devices? I have an old iPhone4 running iOS7 and a iPad2 with iOS8.
    I use Gmail for most of my mail, but don't much like the UI, I prefer Mails. I monitor 4 Gmail accounts plus the iCloud and 1 with my own domain.
    many thanks for any help
    marie

    James from Macclesfield wrote:
    Without this capability, which I can't find, it seems that mail collected by the iPhone isn't visible on the mackbook.
    If you setup your iCloud mail on all of your devices/computers, it will behave just like any IMAP account will. As for mail rules, not possible on any iPhone. Read here:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2589

  • Mail Import Message -Mail Hangs

    When I open Mail it opens a "Mail Message Import" box and if I click on the continue button it goes to a "Preparing to Import Messages" screen with the blue barbers pole but no further action. If I click cancel on this or the previous screen the mail program closes.
    Mail was operating normally before. I have installed the latest 10.6 update to no avail.
    Any help appreciated

    Now you have to do the following :
    (1) Create a new fresh user account
    (2) go to your existing user folder ~/Library/ and copy the Mail & Mail Downloads folders as they are to an external hard drive or flash memory
    (3) Login with the new created user account with your external media still plugged in and copy the Mail and Mail Downloads folders to the new user's Library folder
    (4) Open Mail application and sees if it will be able to import and open normally
    (5) If the same issue occurred in the new created user account, then we will be sure that there is a certain message and/or attachment and/or account causing the issue, and I would suspect your POP account because it doesn't even start and stop later, it's unable to start the import at all.
    (6) At this stage, you should go back to your original existing user account, delete the created user account as it's job would be done. And start the elimination method, first move the Mail Downloads folder out of your Library folder and sees if this helps, if not, put it back and move the POP account folder outside your Mail folder that should be named like [email protected] and start Mail again and see if it will work
    (7) If it did work at that stage, then this POP account is corrupted, and you could start a deeper elimination technique by putting it back but not as it is, you should put the POP Account standard mailboxes like Inbox.mbox, Sent Messages.mbox...etc one by one, further you should dive deep inside each POP mbox folder and go to the Messages folders that store your messages individually in the emlx format and copy them as groups, not as a whole and not per one off course.
    Hope this will help to resolve your issue.

  • Mail is continuously trying to import messages and refuses to close...

    I have Mail set up with an IMAP account and for about a week now it has failed to import any of my messages. To make matters worse, it is in a constant state of processing and it refuses to close.
    It appears that Mail is stubbornly trying, and constantly failing, to import a message from the server. How do I put an end to this vicious cycle without deleting the account from Mail? (I don't want to risk losing all of my organized folders or any other data for that matter).
    Here's what Console is showing:
    9/5/12 8:48:29.582 AM Mail: [+[Library _writeEmlxFile:forMessage:withBodyData:plistData:error:]] wrote wrong number of message bytes to file /Users/Lorrie/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Recovered Messages (Venturi).mbox/878CC50F-06A2-44B2-9595-CA7799CCC201/Data/4/1/Messages/14532.eml x! (-1 instead of 2935150239) [Error 22 - Invalid argument]
    9/5/12 8:48:29.584 AM Mail: error importing message <_NSDataMessageStoreMessage: 0x7f8c5d4b8890>, aborting

    I have Mail set up with an IMAP account and for about a week now it has failed to import any of my messages. To make matters worse, it is in a constant state of processing and it refuses to close.
    It appears that Mail is stubbornly trying, and constantly failing, to import a message from the server. How do I put an end to this vicious cycle without deleting the account from Mail? (I don't want to risk losing all of my organized folders or any other data for that matter).
    Here's what Console is showing:
    9/5/12 8:48:29.582 AM Mail: [+[Library _writeEmlxFile:forMessage:withBodyData:plistData:error:]] wrote wrong number of message bytes to file /Users/Lorrie/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Recovered Messages (Venturi).mbox/878CC50F-06A2-44B2-9595-CA7799CCC201/Data/4/1/Messages/14532.eml x! (-1 instead of 2935150239) [Error 22 - Invalid argument]
    9/5/12 8:48:29.584 AM Mail: error importing message <_NSDataMessageStoreMessage: 0x7f8c5d4b8890>, aborting

  • Mail preparing to import messages since 2 days...

    Hi,
    I updated my Macbook pro with yosemite and all software update but when I launched Mail for the first time, I got this message : "Preparing to import messages". How long does I wait before to use Mail ? Is it normal ?
    Best Regards
    JoyeR

    It seems Tiger lost my Mail files. I restored from backup, then started Mail again. It imported in less than 1 minute, then started up normally.
    Beavis2084

  • MAIL.app hung on "Preparing to import messages" screen

    Hi, I've been using a MacBook Pro for the last 4 months (coming from the PC environment). When I start using my Mac, I didn't like the MAIL.app at the beginning, I never finish the account setting in it because I didn't have an .mac account. For That time, I have use Thunderbird with no problem. But now that I got myself a .mac trial account, I would like to use MAIL.app.
    Here come the problem : Every time I launch the MAIL.app, After the "Welcome to Tiger Mail" screen, MAIL start to Import messages. I get the "Preparing to import messages" screen with the blue&white stripe bar cycling... But It goes forever!
    If after 30mins I decide to cancel the process, I get an exception error : EXCBADACCES (0x0001).
    What Can I do?
    Thank You

    Hi phototech1974.
    Not sure what does having a .Mac account have to do with wanting to use Apple Mail as your mail client. Mail is a standard mail client that can be used to access any mail account that provides POP or IMAP access...
    Anyway, if you’ve never used Mail before, you may just get rid of the Mail data files present in your home folder as a result of you having tried to set it up in the past, and set up Mail again from scratch as follows:
    1. Quit Mail if it’s running.
    2. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/. Move the entire Mail folder out of there, to the Desktop.
    3. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/Preferences/. Locate com.apple.mail.plist and move it to the Desktop.
    If all is well and you don’t miss anything, the files on the Desktop can be deleted, although you may want to keep them for a while, just in case.
    Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user’s home folder. You can easily locate any of the folders referred to in this post by copying the folder path here, doing Go > Go to Folder in the Finder, and pasting the folder path there.

  • Mail account suddenly all messed up

    When I opened my mail account today I got a box with the message that says "To use the new features in Mail, your existing Mail messages need to be imported intio the new version the first time you use Mail...  Click continue to import your messages now.... so I did and after the program finishes "importing" messages into the "new" program all I get is a blank email screen with no content and the program freezes.  I wasn't aware I had a new program in the first place.  Can anyone help

    Hey rabbitlight,
    Thanks for the question. I understand you are having issues with Mail on your MacBook Pro. The following should help you troubleshoot this issue, along with information on how to delete and re-add your account:
    OS X Mail: Troubleshooting sending and receiving email messages
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3276
    Thanks,
    Matt M.

  • TS2998 After upgrading to Snow Leopard, Mail will not let me archive any mail. All archived messages re-appear in my inbox (I have tried archiving and placing in the trash bin).

    After upgrading to Snow Leopard, Mail will not let me archive any mail. All archived messages re-appear in my inbox (I have tried archiving and placing in the trash bin). How do i regain control of my inbox?

    The main differences that can cause a problem are scripting additions (64-bit vs 32-bit and security reasons) and the usage of dates (it is not as forgiving). AppleScript itself is basically the same, so if empty paragraphs are what caused your problems the update would have just been a coincidence.

  • I am unable to sync my iPhoto with my iPad and iPhone - error message (-50). All other syncs (mail iCal etc OK). Can anyone suggest a fix please ?

    I am unable to sync my iPhoto with my iPad and iPhone - error message (-50). All other syncs (mail iCal etc OK). Can anyone suggest a fix please ?

    As Outlook is not an Apple product, you will find more helpers familiar with Outlook here:
    Office for Mac forums

Maybe you are looking for