Mail.app caveat

Hi,
Just discovered a nasty "feature" in mail.app. If you have a POP (or IMAP I suppose) defined and configured and which contains a bunch of mails (thousands, sigh) and you happen to define the same account again in the account preferences and you remove the new account you will lose all your mails. Both sent mails and inbox will get deleted. The message lists are still there but the actual message bodies will be removed (The message from Bla bla<[email protected]> concerning “<Unknown subject>” has not been downloaded from the server. You need to take this account online in order to download it.).
I suppose this happens because mail.app saves the messages in Library/Mail/POP-account@[email protected] data directory. So, if you define a new mailbox with the old mailbox's credentials and remove the new mailbox, bad things happen.
Discovered this while creating a step-by-step instructions how to configure mail.app for gmail. Prolly not the most common usecase but having some kind of unique identifier in the account's mail data directory would be good. This is just bad design and will cause unnecessary grief if some poor bugger creates the account twice for some reason or does what I did.

FYI - this is the Mail, Contacts and Calendar discussions for the iPhone.
You should have been provided an error or warning message when attempting to create an additional account wirh the same user name and incoming mail server as an existing account.
When creating an email account with the Mail.app, an account named folder is created within the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail named by the user name and incoming mail server for the account.
For a POP account with Tiger Mail, the following mbox folders are created automatically within the account named folder when the function is used by the account; INBOX.mbox, Drafts.mbox, Sent Messages.mbox, Deleted Messages.mbox and Junk.mbox when Junk Mail is set to automatic.
The mbox folders within the account named folder represent the account named mailboxes under Inbox, Drafts, Sent, Trash and Junk (when Junk Mail is set to automatic) in the mailboxes drawer.
This is why you cannot (or should not ignoring the warning message provided when doing so) create an additional account with the same user name and incoming mail server as an existing account.
When deleting an account with Mail, the associated account named folder within the Mail folder is also deleted at that time along with the account mailboxes within. A warning message is provided when doing so indicating this will happen.

Similar Messages

  • How to get better rules (filters) in Mail.app

    I love Mail.app, but it's rules criteria implementation doesn't quite do what I want.
    I want to be able to match emails on a more complex basis than just "Any" or "All".
    For example, I wish to capture all emails that match "X-Mailer: Trac" AND whose body matches EITHER "Changes (by chris):" OR "Comments (by chris):" OR "Changes (by cburgess)" OR "Changes (by cburgess)".
    This combines an AND and ANY rule, and I can't see how to do it using Mail's Rule GUI. I also had a look at ~/Library/Mail/MessageRules.plist but it's not obvious whether I'm permitted to add nested Criteria dicts.
    Anyone know of a mail rules plugin which offers this? I'm using Leopard.
    Anyone have pointers to an example AppleScript or external script (Bash, PHP, Python, Perl, ...) which does something like this for IMAP mailboxes?
    Thanks in advance!

    There is an article on Mac OS X Hints on how to make complex booleans for Smart mailboxes - you might be able to apply it to ~/Library/Mail/MessageRules.plist.
    Edit: usual caveats apply - I haven't tried it so have no idea if it will work; back up the plist before starting; quit Mail before starting.
    AK
    Message was edited by: Austin Kinsella1

  • Cannot send email from the Mail App?

    I've had an izymail subscription for 1 year and just renewed it last week. I could never send an email from my Mail App without a window popping up stating "izymail cannot connect to the server" and the sending bar (along the bottom of the screen) just freezes and will not send.
    I've a Hotmail account linked up to izymail. Anyone know how to fix this problem?

    I fixed my problem - I deleted my email account on my iPhone, then tried to setup a new account. I had a few problems setting it up. It wouldn't recognize the incoming or outgoing servers and I lost my email altogether for a few hours. Then I changed every setting possible and finally figured out that I had 2-3 "Other SMTP Servers" as well as my "Primary Server". Once I deleted the Other SMTP Servers, my email worked and i'm able to send emails now!
    I also think changing the "Server Port" number helped solve my problem also, and making sure "Use SSL" was turned off.

  • Mail.app keeps saving downloads to Mail Downloads rather than ~/Downloads

    I've modified Mail.app preferences to save downloads in the main downloads folder, ~/Downloads. But every time I double click an attachment, it still downloads to the wrong folder, Mail Downloads, in a terribly nested directory, ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads.
    I've tried restarting Mail.app, I've tried restarting Mac OS X, to no avail. This is starting to smell like a constant's set somewhere, instead of referring to the current application preference.

    When you get an email with attachments, mail automatically unpacks attachments into those funky nested folders.  If you open the attachment directly that's what it opens, because it assumes that you just want to look at the attachment, not save it.  on the other hand, if you right-click and explicitly choose download it will download a copy into the downloads folder where you expect it.

  • Mail app wont open

    im trying to open my mail app and it keeps telling me
    You have Mail version 4.5 (1084/1085). It can’t be used on Mac OS X Version 10.6.8 (Build 10K549). For more information, click the Help button.
    even after i tried all the solutions i still cant get anything

    i have the same problem... and no clue
    You have Mail version 4.5 (1084/1085). It can’t be used on Mac OS X Version 10.6.8 (Build 10K549).
    i need help !!

  • Mail app wont open/ crashes

    I turn on my mac this morning and the Mail App wont open, it keeps on crashing.
    I tried holding shift key while opening it and the program does open, but when i select a message it crashes again.
    never had this problem before.
    There is not current updates available for my mac, so I dont know what it is happening.
    I have a 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5 - 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 Machintosh HD , I am running Maverics 10.9.1

    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.
    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.

  • Mail app wont open since 10.5.6 update

    I updated yesterday from 10.4 to 10.5.6 to get ilife. Since then, mail mail app wont open. I click, one bounce and nothing! When I go to restart my G5 it shows mail as being open. I can open a new viewer from the upper tool bar, this will shoe me my folders, but wont open, and nothing appears in my inbox. I can see all my messages and send and receive via web on mobile me. Ive tried syncing... seems the issue is mail not opening to begin with. I getting a wee bit desperate!

    see if these links help
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2537
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2486

  • Mail app wont open. Have tried restarting, and it still kicks me out. Can anyone help?

    My mail app doesn't seem to open. It starts but then it kicks me out.  I have tried restarting the device and the app but it makes no difference.  Its telling me i have 2 messages but i cant get in to read them.  Has anyone had this trouble before?

    Close the Mail app in the Task Bar and re-launch.
    Double-click the Home button to reveal Task Bar. Hold Mail app down for a second or two; tap the minus sign to close app.
    If it still doesn't work, try a reset.
    Hold the Sleep and Home button down (together) for about 10 seconds until you see the Apple logo.

  • Mail app deleted and reinstall wont open, says not compatible with OSX

    i accindetally deleted my mail app and emptied the trash, when I tried to reinstall from the startup disk, it installs but wont open, saying that the version of mail is not compatible with the version of OSX (10.5.8)

    The Combo updater of Leopard 10.5.8 can be found here:
    http://support.apple.com/downloads/Mac_OS_X_10_5_8_Combo_Update
    There is no downloadable version of Mail.app - it comes with the operating system i.e. on your install disks.

  • Will any mail apps open to the inbox by default?

    I have been using computers for decades...and have had my iPhone for a few years now. It was only a few days ago that I got my first iPad and was surprised by the "feature" that all of the mail apps seem offer...
    I am talking about opening the app to the last email you were looking at. I tried a few different apps and they all seem to offer the same thing.
    Why does it seem to be an iPad thing to make you go to your inbox instead of having it be the first thing you see?
    Can anyone direct me to an app for the iPad that when I open it, I will see my inbox?
    Maybe it's just me but I don't want the contents of an email being displayed on my screen until I choose...who knows who will be looking over my shoulder when the app is opened.
    Thanks in advance for any help you can send my way.
    Scott

    This answer does not help me at all.
    It does not address my initial question...not even a little bit.
    Me mentioning someone looking over my shoulder was just an example.
    The point is, I want an app that opens by default directly to the inbox.
    If you have anything useful to contribute, please do.
    Scott

  • How can I change the display of Inbox in my iPad's mail app- so that it takes up the full screen?

    How can I change the display of Inbox in my iPad's mail app- so that it takes up the whole screen, as opposed to just about one third; the other two thirds display the full text of the selected email?

    You can't change the display in the Mail app, if you are holding the iPad in landscape orientation then the left-hand third will be for navigation, and the right-hand two-thirds will be an email. If you hold the iPad in portrait orientation then the navigation section becomes a drop-down section.

  • How do I add my Hotmail account to my Mail app on my MacBook Pro so that it synchronize automatically ?

    Hi guys, I'm new to Mac. I know that you can add email accounts likeHotmail into your Mail app so that you can view, edit, modify, create and delete your emails and folders, etc. The questions I have are (1) can I see all the emails I have not just in the inbox but all the other folders as well just like if I was logging on to Hotmail via Internet Explorer ? (2) what happens if I read some emails, delete or move some emails, create new emails and send or save in draft, create or delete folders, etc in the Mail app on my MacBook Pro, will this synchronize and reflect the same on my Hotmail account if I was to logging via Internet Explorer ? How about the other way ? If so, how do I set it up on my MacBook Pro to do this automatically ?
    I know that this doesn't work with Hotmail accounts on my iPhone 4 via the Mail app. Everytime I read an email or delete an email on my Mail app, it does not synchronize or reflect the same on my live Hotmail account when I logging via Internet Explorer.
    Any help, guidance or advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

    Edit: never mind, I was using the wrong password

  • Multiple instances of Mail.app must be possible

    I've seen many questions regarding the possibility of running multiple instances of Mail.app as separate processes. There seems to be much good reason to be able to do so, i.e. separating work and private mail, and very little bad reason to do so (maybe some problems when doing upgrades or backups, but I'm not yet sure of this). It also seems that it should not be so hard to do.
    So far, using some web acquired wisdom, I've done the following:
    1. Duplicate mail.app:
    sudo ditto Mail.app WorkMail.app
    2. Rename the executable:
    mv /Applications/WorkMail.app/Contents/MacOS/Mail /Applications/WorkMail.app/Contents/MacOS/WorkMail
    3. Use Property List Editor to set the following values in/Applications/WorkMail.app/Contents/Info.plist (Apple-S to Save changes!):
    Root/CFBundleExecutable=WorkMail
    Root/CFBundleIdentifier=com.apple.workmail
    Root/CFBundleName=WorkMail
    Root/NSServices/0/NSPortName=WorkMail
    Root/NSServices/1/NSPortName=WorkMail
    Root/NSServices/2/NSPortName=WorkMail
    Root/UTExportedTypeDeclarations/0/UTTypeIdentifier=com.apple.workmail.emlx
    Root/UTExportedTypeDeclarations/1/UTTypeIdentifier=com.apple.workmail.emlx.part
    4. Create the following directories:
    mkdir ~/Library/WorkMail Downloads
    mkdir ~/Library/WorkMail
    4. Launch the 'new' application 'WorkMail'.
    5. Create mail accounts using the application's 'wizard'.
    Here is where the first problem is encountered. The new account directories and files are still created at ~/Library/Mail. Navigating to Mail->Preferences->Accounts->[account_name]->Advanced seems to offer the option to change the mail store account directory, but nothing can actually be changed here. So...
    6. Quit WorkMail.
    7. Move newly created account(s) directories (where [newaccountdirectory] is a directory named with the format: [mail_type]-[user]@[domain].[tld]@[pop].[domain].[tld]]) to the correct location:
    sudo mv ~/Library/Mail/[newaccountdirectory] ~/Library/WorkMail/
    8. Use Property List Editor to set the following values in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.workmail.plist (Apple-S to Save changes!):
    /Root/ActiveViewers/0/AttachedMailboxListExpandedItems/[0to_#_ofaccounts]/=~/Library/WorkMail/Mailboxes/...
    /Root/CurrentTransferMailboxPath=~/Library/WorkMail/Mailboxes/...
    /Root/MailAccounts/[0to_#_of_accounts]/AccountPath=~/Library/WorkMail/[new_accountdirectory]
    /Root/MailDownloadsPath=~/Library/WorkMail Downloads
    9. Relaunch WorkMail.
    Everything at this point seems to work okay, **BUT** when I launch Mail while WorkMail is launched, I find that I cannot navigate into any mail folders within Mail. I receive an error message indicating that a necessary directory is locked. It seems that the locking mechanism used by the application may be hard-coded to lock ~/Library/Mail, and both instances of the application continue to take this action when launched, making it impossible for both to work harmoniously at the same time. I will conduct more testing and experimentation, but I am not yet capable of editing the application itself. If anyone can take us this last step, I'm sure there are many who would also like to be able to take advantage of the potential functionality.
    Thanks for any input!
    Steven Stromer

    Hopefully, there is someone with a programming background who
    can take me and other who have posted similar questions through
    the final mile on this...
    Well, I do have a programming background, and I must say that it amazes me that someone might want to do what you did to “solve” a problem that IMO doesn’t exist.
    What exactly is it that you expect to accomplish by running multiple instances of Mail, and for which neither (1) organizing your mail using multiple mail accounts, custom mailboxes, rules, and/or smart mailboxes, nor (2) setting up separate user accounts, are acceptable solutions? I just don’t get it.
    I've seen many questions regarding the possibility of running multiple
    instances of Mail.app as separate processes.
    I haven’t. Could you please provide a link for such a question, preferably one asked by someone who knew how Mail and Mac OS X work, i.e. a link for a case where there really was such a need?
    There seems to be much good reason to be able to do so
    I know of no such reasons, neither good nor bad.
    i.e. separating work and private mail
    I don’t see how that’s a reason to want to run multiple instances of Mail. Could you please elaborate?
    Maybe if you tell us what exactly is the problem that you’re trying to solve, instead of focusing on a convoluted “solution” that doesn’t work, we could propose a solution that does...
    and very little bad reason to do so
    Well, if the fact that it’s so convoluted and doesn’t even work aren’t bad enough reasons, I don’t know what it is...
    It also seems that it should not be so hard to do.
    I wonder what makes you think so. It does certainly seem hard to me, so hard that I don’t even think it can be done without breaking something, if at all...

  • Windows Phone and Windows 8 Mail App not sending email from Reply/Forward

    I have recently upgraded from Windows 8 to 8.1. After a successful upgrade I configured the Windows 8 Mail app to also sync with Exchange (2010 in house server). On my Windows Phone (Nokia Lumia 800) I have the same account configured.
    This resulted in the problem that the Mail App and the phone do not want to send any emails that have been created by reply or forward.
    The phone gives the following error:
    "We weren't able to send this message, so we've put it in your Drafts folder. Before you try sending it again, you can check to see if the address is correct and that no attachments are too large."
    The Mail App give the following error:
    "There's a problem with sending messages from [email protected] at the moment. Check with your provider for more info."
    If I create a new email there is no problem.
    I have searched all over the internet for a solution to this problem, but could not find somebody with exactly the same problem.

    I have exactly the same problem, but unfortunately no solution either... I'll be watching this thread, or post a solution if I find one...

  • Can not open Mail App in IOS 8.1.1

    Since I installed IOS 8.1.1 versión today I have not been able to open Mail App. When I try to open it the screen turns white for a few seconds and then it crashes. I would like to know if there is any solution to this, as checking my mail is escential for my job.
    Thanks in advance,
    Alejandro.

    Hello Alejandro,
    For issues with Mail crashing, I would start with closing out of Mail completely by double tapping the Home button and then swiping up on the app. Try opening Mail again to see if it opens up properly. If it continues, try removing the email account and then open Mail to see if it works properly. Then add the account back in. Take a look at the articles below for steps on how to do both options. 
    Force an app to close in iOS
    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT5137
    Get help with Mail on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
    http://support.apple.com/en-us/TS3899
    Regards,
    -Norm G. 

Maybe you are looking for