Hiding Mail 5 Activity window

The Mail 5.0 Activity window is acting very strange. With the Activity window visible, when the main Mail 5.0 application is hidden the Activity window remains visible. How can I hide the Activity window without closing it?
Another quirk: When the Mail app is hidden and the Activity window is clicked on, the Finder becomes the active application. This is more annoying than having the Activity window always visible and I would settle for having the Activity window always visible but invoking the Mail parent application upon click.

I've got the same bug, but maybe it's not a bug. Could be the new Mail activity window is more akin to a Help window, which are non-floating windows.
Try this. Open a program with a help menu, Safari for example. Then open the Help Center by invoking the Help menu.
Switch to a different program (Mail will work) and "Hide Others". You'll see the Help Center window from Safari is visible in Mail.
As for the second 'quirk', I'd suggest the window isn't seen by any application; therefore, it just floats visible to only the eye, unresponsive to a click in any program but Mail. Also, Expose removes all the windows to the side, but leaves this orphaned Mail activity window.
I asked on a different forum and no one else reported this anomaly.
So, figured out a cure?

Similar Messages

Mail activity window "writing changes to disk" slows iMac

So like many others, Mail is working very slowly with gmail. I even took my iMac to the genius bar, and I was told to just let the Mail program run. That once all the messages were copied to the iMac in All Mail then it would be done. Problem is it does this process every day. While this activity is ongoing it dramatically slows the computer. Here is what the Mail activity window looks like. It greets me each morning when I open it up.
Why does the mail program have to go through that process each day? Basically, I have to drink a cup of coffee and wait until it's done.
I'm surprised Apple would release an update with so many problems in native programs. (My Safari always crashes when I quit but I'll leave that for another day).

I've been having the same issue on my MBP since upgrading to Mavericks. Multiple times per day Mail seems to re-sync everything across my 8 Google Apps accounts (happening right now).
Nothing has resolved the issue, but here's what I've tried:
Verify All Mail settings in Google
Let it perform a full sync
Rebuild inboxes
Repair inboxes
Remove and re-add everything (they're all IMAP, so not a big deal)
Remove all Google accounts from the machine through System Preferences
Delete the entire ~/Library/Mail/ folder
Re-add accounts through System Preferences
Open Mail
Let it sync everything
Try with 1 account active versus all 8
And a few other things, I think, that I can't recall. I upgraded to 10.9 the day it was released and it's happened every day since no matter what I do.
Mavericks is great but Mail has some serious issues. I understand that Google has implemented some non-standard IMAP tricks that need to be accounted for, but I don't have any problems on my iPhone (iOS 7) with these exact same accounts -- so someone has it right in some way somewhere.
Attaching a screenshot of what it's doing right now along with the about window.

Mavericks Mail - Mail Activity Window is Eratic

Does anybody get the same problems I am having regarding the mail activity window?
If I send a single e-mail, hit send, It says it's sending two e-mails or it could be anything up to five e-mails... It keeps making me think I have some kind of virus that sending multiple e-mails out, which it doesn't appear to be when monitoring my network.
It also says it's receiving Mail when it isn't, and other very erratic messages that don't seem to make any sense at all. It's the first time I have noticed this with Mail, which has worked perfectly on previous operating systems.
Any ideas?
Thank you for any answers

This is perfectly normal. It's a bug in Mail. The number appears to be a count that increments as long as Mail is running, and doesn't properly reset to zero. When you are sending the 20th message since opening Mail, it will claim to be sending 20 messages, but it's actually only sending one. Same thing applies to receiving.

Mail Activity Window - Nothing showing most the time??

I am fairly new to Mail. I've used Entourage for years and switched over when i got my new imac. Sort of liking it. There are many more functions in Entourage that Mail doesn't have. For one...I could hit Command > Period to stop sending an email while it was in the process of sending. How do I do that now in Mail? I see there is a Mail Activity window but most of the time it doesn't show any status down there..? Why? Sometimes it does but not very often. There's no rhyme or reason...Just when it wants to it seems. When it DOES show the status of a sending email i see that there is an "X" to cancel. But that is only when it shows. Command > Period doesn't work here.
Thanks in advance.

I have found an acceptable solution to this until the real thing comes along...
Under Window in the task bar, select Activity. This moves a small box onto the desktop. Make it as small as you can and drag it to somewhere on your desktop where it's out of the way.
Press Get Mail as you used to and all the activity is shown in the - ahem - activity panel.

Mail activity window seems to be stuck

Using the latest version of Mail, latest OS version, etc. Two "activities" seem to be stuck in my Activity window...
1. [Apple Mail To Do] Reconciling To Do's
Comparing notes with server...
2. Synchronising with server
STOPPING: Getting unread counts
These are both to do with my MobileMe account and are DEFINITELY not doing anything, even slowly. They are stuck.
Funny thing is, everything else is working, and I can even synchronise the affected account/___sbsstatic___/migration-images/migration-img-not-avail.png It's just that these two stay there in the window and don't move.
Oh yes, and they prevent me from quitting Mail, because the Mac thinks Mail is still doing something. Even after a "force quit" these two are still there.
Any ideas?
(And I managed not to mention Apple's spelling mistake in the word "Do's"
Pete Bell, UK

I seemed to solve this problem by going to the MobileMe preferences pane and Signing Out of MobileMe.
I was then able to launch and quit Mail without the hanging you decribe (although my messages where about comparing with the server and updating the cache).
I then signed into MobileMe again and again was able to launch and quit without any hanging.

Mail Activity Window shows activity on defunct accounts

I just opened the Activity window on the Mail.app, and discovered that in addition to my existing accounts, it was trying to log into 3 defunct accounts! They're not listed as accounts under preferences anymore (one is over 10 years old), but somehow the program is looking for them. If I can't see them under the Accounts pref, how do I get rid of them?
Only other thought is that I do have old mail saved in Mail folders from the old accounts, for reference.
Thanks!

As far as the certificate mismatch, I have encountered this often on my support clients' Cox accounts. If you examine the certificate you get back from Cox, instead of a name like pop.west.cox.net, it will have a name like spop.west.cox.net, which is the secure side of that host. To get rid of the mismatch error, instead of turning off SSL (which will also do it, but which makes Cox's support people antsy), just change the POP host name in Apple Mail from pop... to spop... (or whatever it is the certificate says, I'm doing this from memory). It's the same host, and matching the name in the certificate makes the error go away.
As far as the header-only mail fetching, I can't help you with that, because I don't have a Cox account myself to experiment with. Sorry. But maybe see if fixing the server name match solves the problem anywayy.

Mail Activity windows shows strange/inaccurate information

Occasionally when I am sending or receiving mail, the MAIL ACTIVITY pane in the Mail app will show the status bar and then some information that seems to be inaccurate, e.g. "Sending 3 of 3" when I'm only sending one message, or "Incoming 5 of 5" when I only have one or two new emails. As far as I can tell, it's harmless, but I'm just curious as to what it means.

Matt Clough wrote:
Occasionally when I am sending or receiving mail, the MAIL ACTIVITY pane in the Mail app will show the status bar and then some information that seems to be inaccurate, e.g. "Sending 3 of 3" when I'm only sending one message, or "Incoming 5 of 5" when I only have one or two new emails. As far as I can tell, it's harmless, but I'm just curious as to what it means.
Matt, I haven't noticed message inaccuracies like when sending but when I've seen it for Incoming, it usually turns out that the extra messages have gone to a Spam or Junk folder.
However, I have seen some bizarre messages in my activity window:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2014667&tstart=45
So it wouldn't surprise me if other inconsistencies arose.
Chip

Number of mail messages does not match the number in mail activity

This is not a big deal but I have noticed that when mail arrives the Mail Activity window tells me how many incoming messages are being downloaded. This number often bears no relationship to the number that arrive. For example it might read 4 messages are downloading when in reality only 1 arrives. If I look at my webmail all messages are listed. Does anyone know what causes these inconsistencies?

I do not have any answer, but I have the same problem. AND the RSS feeds do not make up the difference; and yesterday I disabled junk mail filtering. And I've made certain that I have no unread mail left over. Yet Mail Activity reported downloading 16 messages, but I only received 8. This happens daily, but the proportion of unaccounted emails varies.

Email not downloading from server - mail activity says there is

Hi all - I have an email account with mail on the server, which i can see on by logging in through a web interface.
However, retrieving new mail yields no messages, and a mysterious progress bar in the Mail activity window that says it's downloading "280 of 280 messages" which looks like this:
http://localhostr.com/files/d2e3f0/odd.png
It comes up and then goes away within a second or to, but now messages come through.
Any ideas?
Thanks

Thanks for the suggestion of using system preferences - could you please give me a little more information on how to do that?
I went into System preferences - network - advanced then clicked on the DNS tab where i saw 2 window (DNA and SEARCH DOMAINS). If i try to past the smpt in there (in the form smtpout.xxxxxxx.net) it simply pastes this: .eceee.e
If I try the same thing into the other window (SEARCH DOMAINS) it pastes just fine.
• A development •
When I control-click and select "get account info" the panel that appears shows all 308 messages as being on my server, but they say SENDER UNKNOWN and NO SUBJECT.
Here is a screengrab:
http://localhostr.com/files/d4298e/Screenshot+2010-05-13+at08.30.122.png
Could this be a clue?

Mail activity seemingly stuck on incoming messages

On my Mac at work, My Mail Activity 'window' (the new one under the Mailbox list) continually shows "Incoming Messages", with a progress bar that never gets completed, even when I am not receiving any messages. The number of messages (e.g., '84 of 85', '88 of 89', etc. ) gradually climbs higher and higher. Clicking the "X" does nothing. This starts about five minutes after I load Mail, and doesn't go away, ever. At the same time, the 'old' Activity window (Command-0) shows no activity, except when I am obviously sending or receiving messages. This doesn't seem to affect performance, but it's really annoying. What the heck is this indicator window doing, and why won't it stop? I'm running IMAP, but I access the same mail account at home, with the same OS, and don't see any Mail Activity weirdness at all. Anyone have any ideas?

I am having a similar problem. Mail locked 4/30/2008, all emails vanished, the loading spinners just spin on emails, it says it is downloading, but a few emails in the bar stops moving left, it drops to 0 KB/s, the spinners keep spinning, and it won't download any mail on pop accounts. On accounts with no new mail, they spin and stay spinning, and then it won't allow new accounts that have been taken online to download. There is no apparent way to get them to stop spinning, including clicking the (x) box to the left of the blue download bar. I also then can't quit mail, so must force quit it. I can send test messages between accounts, and sometime they show up on the pop accounts, but the spinners keep spinning, even when it says there is nothing to download. Other functions work during this time, except quitting.
However, for reasons I can't explain, it still does fine with my .mac account, which is my only imap.
I reloaded mail from time machine from a previous day when it worked: didn't help. I did the same with the .plist mail library thing: didn't help. I reloaded all my messages, and at least they are staying put for the moment, but 1.5 days of emails seems to have vanished. Help! I need to have mail working.
I spent 45 minutes with my local internet provider's tech support: they are baffled.
Thanks, Daniel

What is the point of the Mail Activity pane (vs. Window Activity)?

I was happy to see this new little pane in the lower left corner, but I have yet to actually see it display anything. The old, separate Activity Window still shows everything in great detail, but I'd prefer the more compact version... if that's what it's for.

Yes it looks like like yet another half hearted band-aid solution. The difference appears to be that the small activity window built into the interface only shows mail being retrieved or sent. Whereas the normal activity window, which you need to manually display with a key command, shows status of all the activity - ie contacting the server etc.
I wonder if any clever folks out there know of a way to tweak the code in mail so that the small activity window can display the full status information?
Those who used Mail previous to Tiger will recall that the Mail program used to always display the status when you checking/sending mail. Why on earth did Apple remove it?? Now you sit and wait and wonder without any user feedback beyond an obscure spinning wheel.

Apple Mail new messages opening behind active window

I have been noticing that new mail messages often open behind active windows, especially Microsoft office (Word). When I create a new message, the new message will often open and sit behind the current open document. I have noticed this mostly when using a second display. It also does not seem to be isolated to just Mail, but that's where I see it the most. Has anyone else seen this?

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, or by a peripheral device.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output andWi-Fi on certain iMacs. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin. Test while in safe mode. Same problem? After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

What is the point of the Mail Activity box?

At the bottom left of the Apple Mail app. window, there is a Mail Activity box. This used to be very useful back in the days of, I think, Tiger, or maybe Leopard, but since upgrading to Lion, nothing has ever appeared in that box. If I want to see Activity I have to open a new window.
Why does this box still exist? Is there any way to get Activity to appear in that box as it used to, and, I suppose, as it is supposed to?

I think it serves two purposes... first it blocks visability from your archive mail box and two some networks dont use the internet so if you are getting mail and you have to go through a bunch of nonsense it shows up. LIke if you work for a company or goverment agency, their networks may not be connected to the out side world like using dialup, dsl, or high speed internet like you and me do.
Message was edited by: Carlo TD

OS x 10.7.2 hangs, resumes when clicking away from active window

I have a 2010 iMac i3 running 10.7.2 - configured as shown in the About pic.
Lately, it has become very slow and unstable - by that I mean that Safari is very slow, mail hangs and I get a beach ball multiple times.. I did a Disk verify and repaired some issues. I have also verified and repaired permissions. The problem mostly occurs in Safari and Mail - I either get a beach ball when surfing or entering information, but have noticed that it corrects if/when I click away from the active window and return. Mail does a similar thing - a new message will 'hang' in that it is translucent and I cannot enter anything, but if I click away from the active window, it will correct and I can continue. I appears to be intermittant and I cannot get it to happen on command. I checked the Activity Monitor and do not see any processes that are eating processor and I have plenty of free memory - currently up over 6 days and 0 page outs. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I do have a PC laptop running Win & and a 2011 MBA both on the same network (wireless) and neither have any lag/slow issues.
Thanks!

You mentioned you have "plenty of free memory" but did not state how much is Free when you are getting beach balls. Leave Activity Monitor open and click the System Memory tab. OS X likes to have approximately 500MB or more of FREE RAM, if you get a beach ball and the FREE RAM is in the 500MB or less range then you would benefit by upgrading the RAM.
I would also STRONGLY recommend reading the XLab's Spinning Beach Ball of Death article, it's a valuable resource for troubleshooting this issue.

Something is stealing focus from my active window

Hi,
Something frequently steals focus from my Mail, Keynote and other active windows. I'm having trouble figuring out what it is as the focus doesn't 'go' anywhere. It's quite annoying as I frequently get the error-ding, and have to go to the mouse to return focus to the window I was working in.
Does anyone know how to resolve this issue? Below please find the system informaiton.
Hardware Information:
          MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
          MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2
          1 2 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4 cores
          16 GB RAM
Video Information:
          Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB
          AMD Radeon HD 6490M - VRAM: 256 MB
System Software:
          OS X 10.9.1 (13B42) - Uptime: 0 days 6:23:0
Disk Information:
          ST1000LM014-1EJ164 disk0 : (1 TB)
                    EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    Macbook SSD (disk0s2) /: 999.35 GB (578.21 GB free)
                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
          MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-8A8
USB Information:
          Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
          Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub
                    Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard
          Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
                    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
          Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
          Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
FireWire Information:
Thunderbolt Information:
          Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Kernel Extensions:
          com.symantec.kext.internetSecurity          (5.2f2 - SDK 10.6)
          com.symantec.kext.ndcengine          (1.0f2 - SDK 10.6)
          com.symantec.kext.ips          (3.5f2 - SDK 10.6)
Problem System Launch Daemons:
Problem System Launch Agents:
Launch Daemons:
          [System] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.frogdesign.ardon.daemon.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.frogdesign.disableautologin.daemon.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [invalid] com.frogdesign.renamecomputer.daemon.plist
          [invalid] com.frogdesign.renamehost.daemon.plist
          [invalid] com.frogdesign.renamelocalhost.daemon.plist
          [System] com.frogdesign.sshon.daemon.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.symantec.liveupdate.daemon.ondemand.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.symantec.liveupdate.daemon.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.symantec.sharedsettings.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.symantec.symdaemon.plist 3rd-Party support link
Launch Agents:
          [System] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.frogdesign.screenpwddelay-host.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.frogdesign.screenpwddelay.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.frogdesign.screenpwdon-host.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.frogdesign.screenpwdon.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.symantec.uiagent.application.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] jp.co.canon.CUPSiPF.BackGrounder.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] jp.co.canon.CUPSiPF.PreviewDaemon.plist 3rd-Party support link
User Launch Agents:
          [not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [not loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist 3rd-Party support link
          [not loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link
User Login Items:
          UNKNOWN
          iTunesHelper
          Dropbox
Internet Plug-ins:
          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
          AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 10.1.9 3rd-Party support link
          AdobePDFViewer: Version: 10.1.9 3rd-Party support link
          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
          SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          Silverlight: Version: 5.1.20913.0 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          MeetingJoinPlugin: Version: (null) - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.8.0 - SDK 10.9 Outdated! Update
Audio Plug-ins:
          BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
          AirPlay: Version: 1.9 - SDK 10.9
          AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0 - SDK 10.9
          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          Symantec QuickMenu 3rd-Party support link
Bad Fonts:
          None
Old Applications:
          Microsoft Language Register:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Additional Tools/Microsoft Language Register/Microsoft Language Register.app
          iPF Support:          Version: 2.36 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Printers/Canon/GARO/Utilities/iPF Support.app
          Solver:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Add-Ins/Solver.app
          SLLauncher:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Silverlight/OutOfBrowser/SLLauncher.app
          Microsoft Lync:          Version: 14.0.7 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
          /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011
                    Microsoft PowerPoint:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Excel:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Outlook:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Word:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Document Connection:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
          dynamiclinkmanager:          Version: 6.0.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/dynamiclink/CS6/dynamiclinkmanager.app
          /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office
                    Microsoft Graph:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Database Utility:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Office Reminders:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Upload Center:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    My Day:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    SyncServicesAgent:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Open XML for Excel:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Alerts Daemon:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Database Daemon:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Chart Converter:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Clip Gallery:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
          dynamiclinkmediaserver:          Version: 6.0.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/dynamiclinkmediaserver/1.0/dynamiclinkmediaserver.app
          SyLinkDrop:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Application Support/Symantec/SMC/tools/SyLinkDrop.app
          Microsoft AutoUpdate:          Version: 2.3.6 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft AutoUpdate.app
          /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MERP2.0
                    Microsoft Error Reporting:          Version: 2.2.9 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Ship Asserts:          Version: 1.1.4 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
Time Machine:
          Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU:
              24%          mds
               3%          WindowServer
               3%          EtreCheck
               2%          iTunes
               1%          coreaudiod
Top Processes by Memory:
          721 MB          SymDaemon
          541 MB          Finder
          524 MB          Keynote
          410 MB          Mail
          311 MB          mds_stores
Virtual Memory Information:
          3.60 GB          Free RAM
          6.10 GB          Active RAM
          4.55 GB          Inactive RAM
          1.75 GB          Wired RAM
          2.74 GB          Page-ins
          0 B          Page-outs

Hello,
I have the same problem (probably because we work for the same company )
The problem is with Symantec Endpoint Protection. I ran a script and found out that's causing the problem. I don't have a fix yet though unfortunately.
Kevin

Hiding Mail 5 Activity window

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