Apple mail preferences missing tabs

my preferences no longer have any of the tabs/buttons across the top of the window...
General' 'Accounts' 'Junk mail' 'Fonts/Colors' 'viewing' 'Composing' 'Signatures' 'Rules' are all missing.
where did they go?
Please help.

OMG I feel so stupid. haha
Thank you so much. But what happened? I never used that button.
Thanks so much for the quick response. That was driving me crazy.

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Apple Mail search misses many items

Regarding searching within Apple Mail
I will search on emails from, say, "Fred Smith" and get a bunch of results that won't include an email that I know that I just got from Fred Smith. Nowhere to be seen. Then I'll scroll down through my messages and find the message... exactly from Fred Smith. But not showing up in Apple Mail search.
Or, and I see this one a lot lately: I'll search "Entire Message" for "Fred Smith" and get a bunch of results that don't include the email that I know is there. Then I'll switch to "From" suddenly the missing message appears.
For me, for years now, Apple Mail is HORRIBLY unreliable in its searching. I still use it, because I like other parts of it, but I don't ever expect the search to actually turn up items that are there...
Anyone know why / what's going on, or how I might fix this, or whether there's a new version of Mail coming with 10.5 that might fix this?

That a message was sent by Fred Smith doesn’t necessarily mean that “Fred Smith” appears anywhere in the message, not even if Mail shows his name in the From column or message header when displaying that message. If you do View > Message > Raw Source on one of the messages that aren’t included in the search results, do you actually see “Fred Smith” anywhere?
and I see this one a lot lately: I'll search "Entire Message" for "Fred Smith"
and get a bunch of results that don't include the email that I know is there.
Then I'll switch to "From" suddenly the missing message appears.
Mail uses Spotlight for Entire Message searches only, and its own index for the rest. What you’re describing here would indicate there is something wrong with Spotlight’s indexing of your mail rather than with Mail itself...
Verify/repair the startup disk (not just permissions), as described here:
The Repair functions of Disk Utility: what's it all about?
After having fixed all the filesystem issues, if any, open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal, type the following command and press <Return> (you can copy the command here and paste it in Terminal):
sudo mdutil -E -i on /
The -E option tells Spotlight to delete any already existing index data (so that it’s rebuilt from scratch all over again). The -i on option ensures that indexing is enabled. Finally, the ‘/’ at the end means “apply this command to the startup disk”.
After entering the previous command in Terminal, you’ll be prompted for your administrator password. Type it blindly (you won’t see any feedback of the keystrokes while you type it) and press <Return>.
Alternatively, you may prefer to reindex the startup disk using the following procedure, but I’ve seen cases where using Teminal worked whereas doing what the article suggests didn’t:
Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes
While you’re on it, make sure Mail Messages is checked in the Search Results pane of System Preferences > Spotlight and that no folders containing mail data appear in the Privacy pane.
For best results, quit Mail and don’t play too much with your disk while Spotlight reindexes it, i.e. avoid files being created/modified/deleted, mail being downloaded, etc.

Apple Mail preferences

This is not a serious problem, but a curious one. After various recent problems, mostly fixed with disk repair, my Apple Mail program still doesn't highlight related messages as it used to, even though this is still checked in the preferences window.

Hi, I think that attribute is held in the main...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
But that also holds all of your account info, there's a chance it's held in the caches also, so you might try this first...
Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), it will try to repair your Disk Directory while the spinning radian is happening, so let it go, run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, then move these folder & file to the Desktop.
Move this Folder to the Desktop...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Caches/Mail/
Move this file to the Desktop...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail/Envelope Index
Reboot.

Apple Mail Preferences Only Opens Rules

Can someone help me please. When I go down to preference in apple mail, the only thing that opens now is the "rule" box. I can't get the full preferences that have accounts, general fonts, etc.
Thank You

Hello, and welcome to the Discussions.
You apparently have hidden the Toolbar for the Preferences window. Click on the small white, pill-shaped button at the top right of the Preferences window, and the Toolbar should return to view. Alternatively you can click on View in the Menu bar, when the Preferences window is open, and choose Show Toolbar.
Ernie

Which Apple mail preference will result in quicker receipt of email -

"automatically" or "every minute"?
Thanks

Well, I'm not sure.
Here's what I have, maybe it will make sense to you:
Comcast is my internet provider, which I understand is "pop". My daughter linked my Comcast email acct. to Gmail somehow so I would have Imap, so my devices (laptop & Iphone) would snyc. . So I guess I'm "Imap", right?
What I'm trying to do is to just make sure I receive my email asap. I don't know what the Apple mail setting "automatacially" means so I dont know if I should set my preference to that or "every minute".
I hope this expanantion helps.
Thanks for takng the time to respond.
Regards,
Jim

Apple Mail account missing in Mac and iphone

Last Sunday, one of my mail accounts disappeared in apple mac.
This morning, the same mail account disappeared in iphone.
I did not delete any account.
What's more strange is that the account seems to exist since I cannot add a new account using the same setting/information. It says the same account already exists
I have exactly the same mail settings on mac, iphone and iPad. Hopefully my ipad won't get screwed up.

I just had an account vanish on my apple mail. I was able to re-enter it though.

Yosemite Apple Mail - Troubleshooting - Connection Doctor

hi to all out there,
Apple Mail under Yosemite OS X 10.10 (14A389) can be a pain ...
#1 Connection Doctor :
there is this fine 'OS X Mail: Troubleshooting sending and receiving email messages' here
http://support.apple.com/en-us/ts3276
look at it, the image, the second in particular, next following ''Tip: If you see a spinning gear in Mail or the Mail Connection Doctor, choose Window > Activity to learn what Mail is doing.'
Take a look at the 'Account Name' column.
it looks quite similar on my macs apart from the fact that i detailed, for quite some time and quite some Apple Mail versions in the past, the accounts with -- to me --meaning-ful names, such as 'gbacc1(at)gmail.com', etc.
in apple mail prefs, and sys prefs, i thus could always spot what accounts and providers i employed when using the same entry for 'Description' and 'Email Address' in Apple Mail preferences account tab. (it too had advantages in the past when i did dirty finger jobs by tweaking the mail library, see below)
the apple mail preferences window may read :
#1 Account Type : Google IMAP; Description: gbacc1(at)gmail.com; Email Address: gbacc1(at)gmail.com; Full Name : ....
#1 Account Type : Google IMAP; Description: gb2acc(at)gmail.com; Email Address: gb2acc(at)gmail.com; Full Name : ....
#1 Account Type : Google IMAP; Description: acc3gb(at)gmail.com; Email Address: acc3gb(at)gmail.com; Full Name : ....
the apple mail 'Connection Doctor' window reads
'Status' column /green, or /red dot
and the 'Account Name' column 'Gmail' with the Account Type Column entry = 'Gmail SMTP' and the 'Details' = 'Connections and Loging to server succeeded.'
however, if something went wrong, the 'Details' entry may read 'Could not connect to ... checkbox in the Advanced tab of Account preferences.' (and the Status dot = /red)
as can be seen there is nothing to be seen, well, not any detail on which one of the gmail-accounts it is that causes problems
neither the 'Show Logs' nor the 'Show Details' yields any help/detail
in my case, there also is an odd issue with some accounts in 'Connection Doctor' being entitled correctly ('Account Name: gb2acc(at)gmail.com') whereas others, according to the simplified example list above, are merely assigned as 'Account Name: Gmail') ?¿!¡
it would help if one could identify, clearly, from the 'Connection Doctor' what account works and which one doesn't. that would be a working doctor, in my books. right now, it looks as if the doctor lacks some skills ...
#2 apart from experiencing these problems with AOL, and gmx, with that evil windows live crap accounts too, and gmail, the Apple Mail.app tends to ask over and over again and again for passwords (receiving, or sending mail). that is very annoying. in previous Apple Mail versions such issues were overcome with re-building mailboxes completely (eg. deleting the envelope-files) but these days it is really a big pain getting work done with Apple Mail --- i really hate (after having, eventually, received more or less all emails) that Apple Mail might ask me again for my passes when trying to send replies ?¿!¡
that 'Connection Doctor', and the 'Activity Window' do leave me with sort of a placebo-like win-crap info which delivers no info.
mebbe i grew very old and me memory (for that sake, me intellect, to be precise) fades but did we have such in os 6, os 7, or even Tiger and Leo ?
methinks it got worse with SL and beyond ... but then again it may be just me -(
btw. concerning posting & editing pop-up/pop-in : 'You have included content in your post that is not permitted.' is not of great help whence no details on 3vil l3tter-combos are given, methinks ...

another issue not noticed before : tho i have all notifications set OFF, and all automatic 'check for new messages', Apple Mail can't be stopped in (a) sending notifications for some but not all accounts (out of a sudden it started) and when fired up it checks for some (aol accounts) automatically.
no way to turn it off.

Missing: Information in Apple Mail

Hello
In Mavericks Apple Mail, I missing the option formgetting information of the size of all my accounts. So I don't know if the quotas are reached.
Is their another "easy" way to check this? In 10.8 you can easy click Apple-I and you got all the info!
Regards

The problem of "invisible" attachments sounds all too familiar. I am using Apple's "Mail" program ver. 3.4.
Recently, attachments have not always been showing up when the email's file size and the Paperclip icon indicates an attachment should be present. I have found that when this happens, very often I can view the hidden attachment by either going to the File Menu and choosing "Quick Look Attachments", or by pressing the Command and Y keys simultaneously. On occasion, I have had this abnormality occur from the same sender's email account who has also sent other emails with attachments that have shown up.
If this is a known Bug, hopefully the upcoming OS X 10.5.5 update will provide a fix.

HT204093 I can't add an Exchange (outlook) mail to Apple Mail

Hi community, I've been able to add Gmail addresses via 'internet accounts' to be used with Apple Mail app, but my outlook addresses don't work. The setup process asks for the server address and nothing seems to work, I've tried: m.hotmail.com, s.outlook.com the smpt & imap server addresses, but nothing. Mail doesn't sync in the app. Please advice ! I'm using OSX 10.9.5 on my macbook & 10.10.2 on my imac.
I want to switch to Mail as Outlook 2011 is driving me crazy: the beach balloon keeps on appearing which freezes the application & i constantly have to re-enter my passwords for Outlook addresses. Gmail in general works fine.

01]
Exchange (Outlook) mail is for businees use or you do have a Office 365 subscription.
https://products.office.com/en-us/exchange/email
https://products.office.com/en-us/business/office
https://products.office.com/en-us/business/explore-office-365-for-business
Exchange (Outlook) mail for private use see:
https://products.office.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-online
02]
You don't need Exchange (Outlook) mail for private use, how to add your outlook addresses:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/oemail-osend/how-to-set-up- mac-mail-to-sync-your-outlookcom/afdfe981-20c7-4d4a-b6b1-9329b27f018a
03]
You can also add your ISP mailaccount to Mac Mail.
Mail >> Preferences >> Accounts tab.
Click the button to Add another email account >> Continue.
At the most ISP you can choose for IMAP setting (that is what I did).
Then you do have to configure manually.

Apple Mail with defunct smtp trying to display 800 alerts or so

Apple Mail, after upgrading to Maverick, now tries to display > 800 alerts for automatic mail forwards that it apparently now cannot send because of some issue I probably have to troubleshoot. It deadlocks to that behavior, too, so each time I force quit out and try to re-open is like rewind/ play.
The problem must be that Apple Mail seems to have an entirely un-interruptable sequence of actions that the user has entirely no control over whatsoever. It first will open the mail and mailboxes. And even though I can try to be fast and change settings to "try to send later" instead of "present list with SMTP options", the step of " trying to understand what user means by changing that setting" has not been programmed yet.
So with great irreverence, I can do whatever I want and Apple Mail will always end up trying to pull up >800 single little alert windows telling me the most obvious, which is, that it cannot send a message, .
It would have been enough to present exactly one error saying "cannot send >800 message". Or to start with a preferences dialog without going into uninterruptable auto gah gah.
Where would I find a text file with Apple Mail preferences that I can edit to change the behavior of the program? Deleting ~ / Library / Mail / ... / Drafts did not cause any effect as all drafts and subsequent errors remained there stubbornly but reliably.

Apple Mail crashes when I try to print after installing Mavericks...

Can't edit rules in Apple Mail.

Hello there:
For some strange reason if I try to add a new e-mail address editing a rule, well, everything seems to be ok, until I click "Apply" and nothing happens.
Any help will be welcome.
Best wishes, as always,
Federico (aka euskir)

Hello terriergal:
So far, in my case, no need to delete old rules, just to wait the new ones to be effective, and the two added were working ok.
Sometimes an interesting action before delete rules is to check if something change deleting Apple Mail preferences, or if you prefer just putting the preferences aside for a while.
Best wishes, as always,
Federico (aka euskir)

Could this be the problem with Apple Mail???

When I went into Apple Mail preferences and unchecked the SSL box in ADVANCED then all of my emails came through fine from the mail server and even my test messages to that email account. When SSL was checked the mail never came through. Perhaps that is the issue. Do I need to use SSL and what is it???? I just went back into ADVANCED (in Preferences) and checked SSL again and sent myself another test email and now they come through fine (they weren't before). Could this be an issue with that SSL checkbox and what exactly does the SSL do??

SSL definition: (Secure Sockets Layer) Security protocol for internet communications. SSL provides a mechanism to verify the identity of an internet client and/or server, and to encrypt the messages sent between them. Thus it can be used to provide authentication and confidentiality for web services that run directly between a client and a server. It uses a public key infrastructure (PKI) system based on digital certificates.
It is a normal for service providers to require email communicate by this method. Don't be concerned.

Signature in Apple Mail

I've added a signature to Apple Mail preferences that has a .jpeg and the option to add it at the bottom of an outgoing mail. The signature works OK with a text email, but when the email itself contains graphics, or an attachment, the signature reverts to the beginning of the message. How do I standardize the signature to always appear at the bottom in emails?
Thanks.

I would have to test this, but I suspect that in the menu under Edit, you have selected to insert attachments at the end of messages. This is a good option, but may impact differently with a Signature. The option for the Signature is only in reference to whether above Quoted Text, or Not.
I doubt it has to do with whether using RTF vs Plain Text, but will test as time allows.
Ernie
Message was edited by: Ernie Stamper

Problem with unchecking secure sockets layer checkbox in outgoing SMTP server Apple Mail / Mountain Lion

After installing Mountain Lion my mail was converted and all my messages showed up, however, when I try to send I get an error. I have traced this error to the fact that Apple has automatically checked the box "Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)" in my Apple Mail preferences even though it wasn't checked before upgrading. Now whenever I try to uncheck it it keeps filling itself back in. I have tried to delete that outgoing server and readd it and it continues to check the box.

Hi
I have a similar problem here i have work accounts which do not need the SSL ticked but when I uncheck the box and in a few seconds the tick is back up again sometimes I have to click about 10 times or so for it to stay off. I tried to do your sollution it did not work on your suggested port but seemed to work on the 25 port . Also I found i only have the problem when I am at work were we are on a PC network and firewall. It seemed to work fine on a normal home line. Also it only happens on Mountain Lion I have a older macbook with snowleopard and there i have not problems sending messages
as right it was said Apple needs to look into that ASAP as it is very frustrating

Mail Preferences takes 10 - 120 seconds to open

OSX Apple Mail Preferences takes 10 - 120 seconds to open when Accounts is selected. If General or anything other than Accounts is selected it's as quick as can be.
5 imaps, 1 pop and 1 inactive pop
Repaired Permissions 5x
Verify Disk OK
Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 20 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512 MB
Software OS X 10.8.5 (12F45)
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:          iMac
Model Identifier:          iMac12,1
Processor Name:          Intel Core i5
Processor Speed:          2.5 GHz
Number of Processors:          1
Total Number of Cores:          4
L2 Cache (per Core):          256 KB
L3 Cache:          6 MB
Memory:          20 GB
Boot ROM Version:          IM121.0047.B1E
SMC Version (system):          1.71f22
Serial Number (system):          C0*******HJF
Hardware UUID:          274F724D-3A05-5775-AAD6-C8C7537328EB
<Edited By Host>

Back up all data.
Select all your mailboxes, and then select
Mailbox ▹ Export Mailbox...
from the Mail menu bar. Export the mailboxes to the Desktop folder.
Make a note of the settings for all your Mail accounts – everything you'd need to reconstruct the settings from scratch.
Quit Mail. Then select
 ▹ Force Quit...
from the menu bar. A small window will open with a list of running applications. Mail may appear in that list, even though you quit it. If so, select it and press return. Close the window.
In the Finder, hold down the option key and select
Go ▹ Library
from the menu bar. Move the following items from the folder that opens to the Trash (some may not exist):
Caches/com.apple.mail
Saved Application State/com.apple.mail.savedState
Leave the Finder window open for now.
Relaunch Mail and test. If the problem is solved, you’re done. Delete the exported mailboxes. Otherwise, quit Mail and move these items, if they exist, from the open Library folder to the Desktop:
Application Support/AddressBook/MailRecents-v4.abcdmr
Containers/com.apple.mail
Mail
Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist (OS X 10.7 only)
Preferences/com.apple.mail.searchhistory.plist (OS X 10.7 only)
Note: you are not moving the Mail application. You’re moving a folder named “Mail.”
Log out and log back in. Launch Mail. It will behave as if you were setting it up for the first time. Go through the setup process with one of your accounts, using the information you noted earlier. Test. Same problem?
If there’s no improvement, quit Mail again and put back the items you moved to the Desktop, replacing any newer ones that may have been created in their place. You don’t need to replace the items you moved to the Trash.
If the issue is resolved, recreate the rest of your Mail settings, then import the mailboxes you exported:
File ▹ Import Mailbox...
After importing, test. If Mail is still working, delete the items on the Desktop and close the Finder window.

Apple mail preferences missing tabs

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