Mail constantly re-downloads thousands of IMAP messages

On my laptop, I have nine IMAP accounts set up. Many of them are very old and have tens of thousands of messages stored in many folders.
Mail.app is caching them locally, but frequently it seems to feel the need to re-download many thousands of them. The Mail Activity panel always shows things like "Incoming messages: 4507 of 10833, 53 KB/s".
If I look at the activity window, it is synchronizing IMAP folders ... and the folders it is synchronizing haven't changed in over two years: I have stopped storing new messages in them. So it should already be synced, and Mail.app shouldn't have to download new messages anymore. But it re-downloads them often. Not every time I open mail, but at least a few times per week.
I don't think the problem is with the folders on the server, because (1) I don't see this doesn't happen on my Mac Pro desktop, and they use the same mail accounts, (2) They are gmail accounts, which I'd assume Google configures intelligently. Though, the desktop is on all the time and Mail is always open, so maybe it does re-download them frequently but I don't notice.
It's very annoying because it pegs my processor at 100% for about 20 minutes every time it happens, which is often. Slows down the machine and heats it up enough to burn my lap in just a few minutes!
Any thoughts on how to get Mail.app to be sane about syncing local copies of remote IMAP messages? This is ridiculous.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4045156
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4863
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3276
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH8200
Maybe some of these might help, hope. I had as imilar issue, I deleted my mail and recreated it.

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Yosemite Mail - cannot see or erase deleted IMAP messages in unified inbox view

Recently upgraded to Yosemite from last release of 10.7 and Mail isn't handling an IMAP account quite like I'm used to.
In 10.7 I *used to*: Hit the delete key on an IMAP message or several messages while in unified inbox, those message(s) would turn grey, then I'd hit Shift-Cmd-Delete to erase/expunge permanently.
*Now* in Yosemite: In unified inbox, I hit the delete key and the message instantly disappears from view (no grey status at all) on the Mac. On my iPhone I can see they're still there. I try Shift-Cmd-Delete to erase/expunge permanently and nothing happens. I look in that account's specific inbox, and *there* they show up, greyed out. And *there* I can Shift-Cmd-Delete to erase/expunge. Also, notably when you're in unified inbox, the View menu option to show/hide deleted messages is greyed out and unavailable to be selected.
This just seems strange. It has turned (what I assume would be) a routine task for IMAP users from a couple keystrokes, to keystroke>navigate>click>keystroke. Is this a bug, known issue, intentional design? Know of any workarounds? Thank you!

ps:
dug deeper and have had a look in the /users/.../Library/Mail/V2 Folder (thanks osx for hiding "Library" again ) and found the two Folders of these two accounts in Question.
It seems true - all Messages have been wiped of my drive. The only messages in there are the ones, retrieved this morning.
There is no apparent reason to me, why a System update would want to touch downloaded messages at all. I consider this quite a bug.

Apple mail showing wrong body in gmail (imap) messages

I asked about this the other day and thought I had solved my own problem by rebuilding Mail. But it is persisting and becoming more than annoying. Does anyone know why this is happening suddenly and how to fix it? I have recently repaired permissions for a back up using SuperDuper!
I received my gmail via IMAP in Apple Mail. It has worked perfectly for years, but in the last week to 10 days, I find that in some mail, the Subject/From do not match the Reply To/Body. Just now I received a confirmation of an appointment and I can't see the date/time because the body is that of another email (which contains the correct body (they are not switched) - see below). Another time, there was a purchase confirmation that was replaced. Information that I need to be able to read and store!

It's not just you. I'm having the same problem -- Gmail, IMAP, subject lines matched with wrong email body.
And I've noticed that in my case, it seems that (at least?) two emails have exchanged the subjects/message index lines and their bodies.
Rebuilding or deleting accounts or deleting the envelope index doesn't help -- it always comes back in a day or two, often with the same emails.

How do i stop Mail from downloading all my old messages without deleting them

Hello there,
    i've just bought a new 13 inch macbook pro, and i'm very happy with it. Being sort of new to apple i still have some problems though.
the main one concerns mail:   How do I prevent my laptop from downloading thousands of old messages i had stored on my gmail account?
let me be clearer: i set mail up and it instantly started downloading tons of old messages that i don't want stored on my mac, since it only has 128gb storage, but i'd still like to be able to look for them in case I needed to. so i don't want to permanently erase them, get rid of them here to save some space.
is that possible? and if yes how?
I also have an other problem with Mail and it's the fact that gmail doesn't let me send pages files...it says it could be a dangerous file so it stops me.
any solutions?
thanks to all of you

Csound1 wrote:
disguise wrote:
Sounds to me like your using iCloud to sync mail - but you don't want mail sync'd.
System Preferences -> iCloud
uncheck Mail
The OP is using Gmail, not iCloud.
How do I prevent my laptop from downloading thousands of old messages i had stored on my gmail account?
Unchecking Mail will do nothing at all.
And as Gmail is an Imap account it will download all mail in the account to the client.
If this is unwanted behaviour use a different email system (a POP system) or remove the mail from the Gmail server.
Gmail can be configured as POP or IMAP

Mail constantly is synchronising with server and updating cache directory!

Mail constantly is synchronising with server (sent messages) and updating cache directory making everything slow.
I have a .mac account. I understand the concept of IMAP and that it information is stored on the server therefore it needs to update but surely not constantly and besides the blue bar sticks halfway through without completing. Please help.

I have had the same issue. Rebuilding fixes it temporarily, but it comes back....Also have an issue where Mail will not download attachments automatically. They show up in grey until they are clicked...have Mail set to download all messages and their attachments, but it doesn't want to. Very frustrating. I have begun the switch to Entourage, which is unfortunate, as I like Mail more.

IMAP GMAIL DOWNLOADING THOUSAND OF MAILS CONSTANTLY

On my laptop, I have one gmail IMAP account set up. It is quite old and has tens of thousands of messages stored in many folders.
Mail.app is caching them locally, but frequently it seems to feel the need to re-download many thousands of them. The Mail Activity panel always shows things like "Incoming messages: 4507 of 10833, 53 KB/s".
If I look at the activity window, it is synchronizing IMAP folders ... and the folders it is synchronizing haven't changed in over two years: I have stopped storing new messages in them. So it should already be synced, and Mail.app shouldn't have to download new messages anymore. But it re-downloads them often.
I don't think the problem is with the folders on the server, It is a gmail account, which I'd assume Google configures intelligently. Though, the desktop is on all the time and Mail is always open, so maybe it does re-download them frequently but I don't notice.
It's very annoying because it pegs my processor at 100% for about 20 minutes every time it happens, which is often. Slows down the machine and heats it up enough to burn my lap in just a few minutes!
Any thoughts on how to get Mail.app to be sane about syncing local copies of remote IMAP messages? This is ridiculous.

MixMac05 wrote:
where in the General Preferences would I find the 'Scan e-mail content for malware and phishing?
Third checkbox in General Preferences.
And here's how you go about handling any .emlx infected files in the future:
When possibly infected e-mail files are found:
Highlight the entry in the ClamXav window's top pane that needs to be dealt with.
Right-click/Control-click on the entry.
Select "Reveal In Finder" from the pop-up menu.
When the window opens, double-click on the file to open the message in your e-mail client application.
Read the message and if you agree that it is junk/spam/phishing then use the e-mail client's delete button to delete it (reading it is especially important when the word "Heuristics" appears in the infection name).
If you disagree and choose to retain the message, return to ClamXav and choose "Exclude From Future Scans" from the pop-up menu.
If this is a g-mail account and those messages continue to show up after you have deleted them in the above manner, you may need to log in to webmail using your browser, go to the "All Mail" folder, find the message(s) and use the delete button there to permanently delete them from the server. Then check the "Trash" folder and delete them there.
To fix the corrupted mailbox index(es), highlight each one that was corrupted and choose Rebuild from the appropriate menu.

I keep getting a message "The MobileMe IMAP server ... rejected the password for ...." I can use that password when I go to iCloud, but my e-mails won't download to my computer. What's the mix-up?

I keep getting a message "The MobileMe IMAP server ... rejected the password for ...." I can use that password when I go to iCloud (and to this discussion), but my e-mails won't download to my computer. What's the mix-up?

If the setting is greyed out perhaps you have restrictions enabled that would prevent someone from changing accounts. Settings>General>Restrictions>Allow Changes>Accounts.

MAIL: Trying to settle long-lasting problem. Mail always immediately downloads the messages I delete from any IMAP mailbox. I'm running out of HD space!

BACKGROUND
I only have 60GB of space on my MacBook Air. Currently, three long-standing IMAP accounts are taking up over 7GB of it!
I have seen several related discussions about this kind of problem, but they all seem to have been solved or glossed over with setting up the IMAP interaction so that messages are deleted from the server in addition to the device or with a "Mailbox > Use This Mailbox For" fix that doesn't work for me. I like being able to save all of my email history on servers (I'm often surprised by how many years back I have to search to find a piece of information I need), but I can no longer stand losing so much of my very limited local space to really old mail.
PROBLEM
I'll refer to just one of the relevant accounts as "Gmail," since that's in parentheses when seen in these screenshots. These are its current Mailbox Behaviors settings:
Under my Gmail Inbox in Mail, I have deleted every message from before 2013. The mail from 2013 is all that I want stored on my MacBook Air.
Ultimately, I think this has something to do with the Archive (seen in the sidebar above, as well). Even when I've deleted everything from before 2013 in my Inbox, AND emptied the entire contents of Trash manually, the Archive still contains all of the mail from the server (yes, this account was started in 2011, but I have others that go back much further).
The cherry on top is that when I delete the same messages from the Archive as I've deleted from the Inbox, Mail immediately begins re-downloading all of those messages. Last time I tried this my laptop had to download 23000 messages, but here's a screenshot of proof with a smaller sample:
In case my Gmail server settings are useful to consider, here they are:
Final Notes
• There's a lot that I don't know about exactly how IMAP communication occurs between a device and a server. For my sake and the sake of anyone else who needs this kind of help, please clarify terms like "flags" and "archive" (since Gmail and Mail both use the term and I don't know think they mean exactly the same thing) if/when you use them.
• If anyone does think that there's some sort of "Mailbox > Use This Mailbox For" solution to this, you should know that no matter what I have selected in Mail's sidebar (at no matter what level of indentation), the options available under that menu item are always grayed-out.
• I want to keep using Mail. There's a lot that I like about it and I don't want to switch to Thunderbird or something else (remember, I need to save as much local space as I can).
• I just upgraded to 10.9.0 Mavericks, but this problem has existed for me and behaved essentially just like this as long as I can remember. In fact, I think I recall the problem still existing before there was an Archive in the sidebar at all.

UPDATE
I still have the problem, but when I checked on this post to see if anyone had commented and I simply hadn't received an e-mail, I noticed that all but the last of the images I included have stopped displaying (I had friends check, too). Most of them were just visual examples of what I was explaining in hopes of giving context and all available info that I may not have personally viewed as relevant, but the first one, about my account's Mailbox Behaviors settings sure is important. These are the settings I have:
• Store draft messages on the server — Check
• Store sent messages on the server — Check
• Delete sent messages — One month old
• Store junk messages on the server — Check
• Delete junk messages — One week old
• Move deleted messages to the Trash mailbox — Grayed-out and Check
• Store deleted messages on the server — Grayed-out and Check
• Permanently erase deleted messages when — Quitting Mail
I hope this helps. Please comment if I'm leaving out any other important information.

Mail App not reliably downloading IMAP messages with GoDaddy

I've had an intermittent problem with the Mail app, where it doesn't download messages that are on the server. This occurs on a 2013 MBP and a 2009 iMac with identical symptoms on both. Both are running Yosemite 10.10.1.
I'm set up as IMAP with a GoDaddy account. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - at least until I go offline and then go online again - which was a 2nd Level Apple tech's "solution".
As a workaround, I've installed Thunderbird, which works flawlessly (also IMAP). I'd switch to that for good, but my main customer database program (Daylite) will only log and record messages from the Mail app.
I've sent test messages from a different account - a Gmail account. I can see them in GoDaddy's WebMail. Thunderbird shows that the message arrived within seconds. My iPhone 5 and iPad Air receive mail properly.
Everything works perfectly - except the Mail app.
Apple points their finger at GoDaddy. GoDaddy says that they don't support Mac - but points their finger back at Apple.
I just want my app to work. Any ideas?
- Thanks in advance.
Charlie MacPherson

same is true with popmail, not just imap.
moreover, i think hitting "remove now" just puts content in your server's trash folder, meaning it's still taking up disk quota and you'll never know till you stop getting mail...

Mail constantly crashes when trying to download messages

Whenever I try to download messages from my Gmail box to Mail, the application crashes as soon as it starts to download (2 out of 400). It is happening since I update Leopard to version 10.5.8 ( from 10.5.7)
I'm using Mail version 3.6 (936).
I've tried to rebuild, and nothing
Created a new account, and nothing
notified apple about 20 times, and nothing.
Deleted file com.apple.mail.plist from preferences and set-up a new account, and nothing
Any help? I don't want to use entourage, please
Greeting

Thank You very much Ernie.
The problem was completly unexpected.
1st:"Why does the version of OSX shown below your posts sometimes read 10.5.8, but on others 10.5.7?" No idea. By default it selects 10.5.7. However I installed all the updates and when I go to "About this mac" it appears 10.5.8. The first time I changed it but the second I forgot. sorry.
3rd "In the Finder, open Home/Library/Mail and find the MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded3 file -- use Get Info on it to find the date it was last modified?" Can't find the file mentioned. There exists only one folder named "AccountTypes"
2nd. "Using web access to your Gmail account, please confirm the setting are to enable POP?" Is was enabled from 5 September 2009. The date of last download. Don't know why it was modified but I decided to download again all the messages from the very beginning after emptying the inbox. I was creating duplicated messages. Now just have to wait for 5GB. Note that I don't change my gmail account settings since 2007. Strange...
Anyway, thank you very much Ernie.
My best regards
João Silveira

IMAP messages not downloading to local folder?

Hi. I've just switched from an iBook G4 to my new monster, MacBook Pro. However, I've run into a problem:
I'm using an IMAP account in Mail, hence there was no problem getting all my emails to my new computer, as they were all located on the server. However, on my iBook, I stored some of the emails locally as they were too big to store on the server over time. To get them downloaded to a local storage, I simply dragged the messages from my IMAP-folder to my local folders in Mail. I thought this deleted the messages from the IMAP-account and stored the complete message (including attachements) locally. However, now it seems like I was wrong. I've tried to import all the locally stored messages into my new Mac Book Pro, but Mail refuses to import them, even though they're in mbox-format. Then I tried to upload them to the mailserver from the iBook, and then download them to the MacBook Pro. This sort of worked, but then the messages appeared as they were all blank. To me, it seemed like only parts of the messages were downloaded when I first dragged them over to my local folders? So basically, I'm wondering if anyone can give me a hint on what causes this? Am I doing something wrong when I'm trying to download it to a local folder? I'm suspecting this might be the reason, as it seems like I'm using much more storage space on my mailserver than I can find any reason for. Any suggestions? Thanks a bunch!
MacBook Pro, Intel Core Duo 2.33 GHz, 17" Mac OS X (10.4.9) 2GB RAM

David,
Sorry for not being more specific in my last post. It had been a while since I tried to import, so I trusted my memory on what happened. Obviously a mistake
Anyway, I've now tried to import once again, and you're right, they are in fact .mbox-folders, not files. Also, I've always tried to select the mbox-folder itself, or files within the mbox-folder. What I did wrong, as you pointed out, was that I did not select the folder which contained the mbox-folders.
Now, after I imported using your instructions, everything worked like a charm. I got all my emails imported Thanks a million!
I have one last question, though: To store emails locally instead of on the server, I've always dragged them onto a local folder. Is this the correct way of doing it? Will the emails on the server (which I store locally) be deleted, or will I just get a copy of them stored locally?

Iphone 4s does not download emails using imap when connecting to smartermail mail server

iphone 4s does not download emails using imap when connecting to smartermail v2 mail server.
when I search - the search results show and i can view the emails, but inbox doesnt download emails - says load more messages x read..
the folders are displaying ok.
Smartermail 2 is about 10 years old ( im not upgrading as its working fine other than this issue ) imap is fine with other mail clients.
has anyone else experienced this?

Just had the exact same issue on iOS 7, SmarterMail Enterprise 6.8
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5462200

IMAP message dates on Mail for iPhone

Hello,
I just moved my IMAP folders to a new server and Mail.app now shows all message received on the date I moved the folders rather than the actual dates they where originaly received.
Basically, I understand the "Received Date" is the time the file was written to the server's file system, so Mail's behavior is normal as all messages have just been copied to the server.
The question is: How can I change Mail to show the "DateSent" taken from each message's header? This works fine on Mac, but it doesn't seem possible on iPhone...
Or alternatively, do you know of a script that will change the date of each IMAP message on my server's file system to be the one of the header's date field?
thanks a lot
fabien

Further to my earlier post today. Deleting my BT a/c in mac mail yesterday and adding back as new A/C did not work and both my A/c and my wife's continued to time out. I finally went into the a/c settings once more, deleted my password and re-entered it and saved the change. Surprise surprise, this re-established imap contact and downloaded all my folder contents once more. Not only that, it restarted my wife's e-mail in her logiin without the need to delete and re-enter her separate E-mail password. My password is the master for using BT Broadband and somewhere this had got lost/ corrupted in requesting imap mail to our iMac. I hope this is a permanent solution and hope this helps others whose imap service fails.

Ouch!! Mail program re-downloading all messages stored on server

A couple of days ago, while going through the regular routine of checking email, my Mail program went into a wild beach ball spin and re-downloaded every single email message that was stored on the remote server again into my inbox. I use Mail to bring in messages from a few different accounts. The re-downloading of the messages occurred with sbc account email. Other accounts work as usual and did not behave this way.
Checked the settings on the sbc account both within the Mail app and at sbc and nothing indicated to make a choice to re-download messages from server when checking for mail. So, thinking this was just a fluke, and nothing to be overly concerned about, I just deleted the multiple messages out of the Mail app and went about business as usual. Yeh, you guessed it, only to find that the next time Mail went to retrieve from the sbc account the same thing happened all over again! YIKES!! (not fun deleting a couple thousand emails from your inbox) :s
Has anyone run into this happening with their Mail? Is it even possible *gasp* that I have actually encountered some type of spam virus??? I'm sorry I have to stop using Mail for the time being to retrieve and organize my email. Hope someone has some input that can help because using webmail, although it's safe, can be a real drag. BTW -- there has not been unusual activity in the webmail. No multiple messages. This is only happening when I'm retrieving mail using the Mail app locally.
Is it simply a matter of it being time to archive/delete... or anyone have similar circumstances that they can help shed some light here? Appreciate it y'all!! : )

I used to find this happening with older version of OSX after I did my usual 6 month clean, wipe, re-install and resume.
It's possible that the file which keeps a track of message downloaded from the server is corrupt. Goto ~/Library/Mail where "~" is your home folder and then delete these files
Envelope Index
LSMMap2
DefaultCounts
Next goto each account ".mbox"
This is in ~/Library/Mail then a folder which contains your email address example "Mac-steve.jobs"
inside there should be a folder list something similar to this:
Junk.imapmbox
Sent Messages.imapmbox
INBOX.imapmbox
Drafts.imapmbox
Deleted Messages.imapmbox
Inside each of them is a folder, called "Messages" and also some files, delete the files but not the "Messages" folder.
When you reopen Mail it will be as if you opened it for the first time. See if the emails come in, if they do then it's more likely to be a setting in Mail or even possibly something that's happening at the remote email server.
In Mail Right or Control Click in the left hand panel and select "Get Info" a box will come up with a drop down selection at the top showing active email accounts, select the one you are having problems with, either a list of folders will come up or a big long list of email messages, depending on how many you have will depend on how long it takes for the list to update. Once it has, select all the emails and Select "Remove From Server" this will delete them all from the server so at least when you re-open Mail they don't all come in again.
Hope something in here helps
Mark

Changed email from pop to imap in entourage 2008 and apple mail and have lost a lot of messages

Changed email from pop to imap in entourage 2008 and apple mail and have lost a lot of messages. I am a rookie and don't know what to do to correct the situation

I found this great set of mail AppleScripts:
http://homepage.mac.com/aamann/Mail_Scripts.html
It includes one script to delete duplicate messages. So if we can't find a way to do this right, then I'll just download all the duplicates then delete them. Of course I don't want to actually do that, lets call this the nuclear option.
So can anyone think of a way to make an IMAP account for my gmail without it downloading all the messages again that I have already downloaded?

Mail constantly re-downloads thousands of IMAP messages

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