Mail & phantom draft messages

When I leave Mail running, I get false indications that there are messages in my draft folder. When I click on drafts, the number disappears. Any ideas whee the problem lies?

This is similar to a problem that I've been having in Mail for quite a while. When I first start up Mail, my drafts folder will show a number of drafts that I keep in the folder for editing, but that number is wrong. As soon as I click on the Drafts folder, the number corrects itself. It sounds like Mail is doing the same thing to you, except your correct number is 0.

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Destination directory for draft messages in Apple Mail (Mountain Lion)

Hi,
Please could someone possibly tell me location of the Apple Mail draft messages directory.
I'm trying to restore these from Mountain Lion, but am unable to find the folder, where the messages are located.

Hello there, Ludwip.
The following Knowledge Base article provides instructions on how to restore Mailboxes in Mail:
Mail (Mountain Lion): Restore mailboxes and their content
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11713
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

Mail not saving messages in Sent if previously in Drafts

This question was already posed several months ago but not really answered so I am trying it again.
I sometimes save a draft message in the draft folder only to send it later. Often it is the case that this previously saved draft does not appear in the Sent folder after being sent. I use IMAP settings and have four accounts running simultaneously. Other than in this case, mail is saved consistently in the sent folder.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Gerry

Thanks for discovering this issue being connected to drafts. I have trouble with this for a couple of months as well.
Since you assume it to be connected to "drafts", I suggest to deselect "Store draft messages on the server" for your IMAP-Account. I just did this for myself, to see if it helps, and can't give you results yet. Maybe you just wanna try simultaneously. I guess, the reason for our problem could me some messy communication between Mail and the server, where one party get's confused.
Greetings
Paul

Phantom Draft Mail

Mail shows a message in the draft but there isn’t one. How do I remove this?

I had this happen to me once and all it was was an email with no recipient and no subject line created totally accidentally. In your drafts folder Select All to make sure that there aren't any "invisible" emails in there like I had. If there are, they'll highlight and you'll be able to see them to delete them.
Good luck!

Draft Message multiple attachments not displayed or sending

When creating a draft message with mutiple attachments, they are displayed in the preview window but opening the message only displays a single attachment. Sending the message will only send the single attachment. Closing the message window and previewing from the draft folder will display all attachments again although they will disappear when re-opening the message.
The same problem occurs on two separate machines of work colleagues. All attachments are Word documents.
Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6) Mac Mail version 2.0.7

Nick, I'm using an old version of Word so I'm not sure if this applies, but my Word attachments never open in preview. Are you sure one of them is not a PDF?

Can't get Mail- Gmail- Drafts(And Sent Items) to mirror online or my iphone

I have read the posts here and elsewhere on how to get this to work, but for some reason my 'Drafts'(and 'Sent' items) folder in Mail.app is still not the same as online or on my iphone. What exactly do i need to do to make Mail.app folders for Drafts/Sent items stay in synch with my iPhone and web based Gmail?
Here are my settings in Mail.app
-Gmail is Setup as IMAP
-in Mail->Prefs->Accounts->Mailbox Behaviours All boxes are checked for Server except 'Junk'
When looking at a normal 'Inbox' panel, if I mouse over the 'Gmail' account in 'Drafts' it says "Contents Stored on Server. Name on Server: Drafts"
However when viewing Mail.app->Drafts->Gmail, no draft messages are shown. If I do the same on my iPhone or the web based gmail I do see the up-to-date drafts. Also if i select the 'Drafts->Gmail folder), I do not get any options in (Mail->Mailbox->Use This Mailbox for).
That said, if I find the IMAP Structure in Mail(scrolling down accounts) I do see a folder structure called 'Gmail->[Google Mail]' that does contain the Drafts and Sent folders that are in synch.
Tia,
N
Message was edited by: Nikhil Raj

bump.

Edit as new not working with draft messages?

Occasionally I want to send two similar messages at the same time. I write one message and save it as a draft - usually at this stage without any addresses specified.
I visit the Drafts folder and use Edit as New to open the draft message as what I expect to be a new message, and then make the changes necessary (including a modified subject) to create the second similar message. I then save the second message as a draft.
When I return to the Drafts folder, the second message has overwritten the first. Edit as New does not appear to work correctly in the Drafts folder ......
I can create two similar drafts by starting a completely new message (with Write), and then manually copying the subject & contents of the original draft. However this is a cumbersome process .....
Please can Mozilla be modified so that Edit as New allows multiple draft messages to be created correctly?

Thanks for your feedback. I've looked at the bug report you identified and added my vote to the system.
I have previously tried using Templates for this issue. However, my messages are usually sent to a mailing list. I have found in the past that the mailing list is expanded when the message is sent, and my templates contained the expanded list (which meant that any addresses subsequently added to the mailing list were ignored).
I don't think I've actually tried creating the template without any addresses, even though this is how I currently work with my drafts. I'll do some more experimenting - it might provide a neat solution to several related problems.
Thanks again for your help.

Mac Mail creates duplicate messages in GMAIL bin and various other locations...

This has been quite frustrating finding 20 copies or half written copies of my mail as mac mail saves it as a draft then moves it to the bin.
When i perform a search for something im greeted with 20 half written copies of an email?
Anyone know why this is happening?

I assume your Gmail account is set up as IMAP.
In Mail, go to Preferences, Accounts tab, select the Gmail account. In the right pane, select Mailbox Behaviors, and uncheck "Store draft messages on the server".
Draft(s) will the only be saved on your Mac and more "safely" deleted when the mail is sent. If stored on the server, a slow or shaky Internet connection can prevent from it happening.

Mail - imap drafts folder not updating on server

I have my mail setup to LEAVE any mail draft in the drafts folder on the server. I used 3 different mac book pros and my draft messages are only appearing on the system where I 'drafted' them. In the past this was working.
All other foldrers are behaving as I would expect. How can I rectify this? Thanks.

That is in fact what is going on - a version of the draft is stored locally on my laptop for example in DRAFTS and when I try to access the 'drafts' on another system, the draft is in some IMAP draft folder.
Not exactly intutive but as long as they are stored that's what is important to me.

"Loading..." and lost Draft messages

I was used to have a few hundreds messages in my Draft mailbox(es).
The problem concerns my two Gmail accounts.
In the Mail accounts setup, the "mailbox behaviors" where configurated as NOT "store draft messages on the server" = Draft message were store localy.
After upgrading to Lion, the list of my Draft messaging was appearing, looks like all were listed, but when clicking on one message to view/edit it a "Loading..." notification was displayed and staying forever. It was impossible to go further, impossible to view/edit my messages.
I then tried a Mailbox Rebuild, but all my "before Lion" draft messages desapeared from the list of my Draft mailbox.
I then lost all my Draft messages created before Lion install, and only the 3 newly created draft message are here and editable.
As I have a Time Machine backup I've been able to verify that on the backup disk all my Draft messages are there.
I reversed the problem by copying the Draft messages from my backup Mail library to the new Lion Mail library, then doing another Mailbox Rebuild, and I can now list again my Draft messages and view/edit them.
This means that during the Lion Mail update you can loose mails...
and I haven't been able to find those lost mails in any of the "Mail Lost+Found" folder created by Lion Mail update.

I was used to have a few hundreds messages in my Draft mailbox(es).
The problem concerns my two Gmail accounts.
In the Mail accounts setup, the "mailbox behaviors" where configurated as NOT "store draft messages on the server" = Draft message were store localy.
After upgrading to Lion, the list of my Draft messaging was appearing, looks like all were listed, but when clicking on one message to view/edit it a "Loading..." notification was displayed and staying forever. It was impossible to go further, impossible to view/edit my messages.
I then tried a Mailbox Rebuild, but all my "before Lion" draft messages desapeared from the list of my Draft mailbox.
I then lost all my Draft messages created before Lion install, and only the 3 newly created draft message are here and editable.
As I have a Time Machine backup I've been able to verify that on the backup disk all my Draft messages are there.
I reversed the problem by copying the Draft messages from my backup Mail library to the new Lion Mail library, then doing another Mailbox Rebuild, and I can now list again my Draft messages and view/edit them.
This means that during the Lion Mail update you can loose mails...
and I haven't been able to find those lost mails in any of the "Mail Lost+Found" folder created by Lion Mail update.

Mail not saving messages?

I'm trying to use my iPhone for reading a PDF so I sent it to my email account and got it on my iPhone. It downloads just fine and I get through some of it (it's 48 pages and counting, but only 104kb) but then I get a new mail message. I go out to read that one, do some more things in mail like look at another inbox or something like that, and then return to my PDF and it's gone. It's downloading the message from the server again. Does iPhone not save the messages it downloads? It happens to me on all of my messages too. This is a Gmail account I have synched up with my iPhone.
What's going on?

Thanks for discovering this issue being connected to drafts. I have trouble with this for a couple of months as well.
Since you assume it to be connected to "drafts", I suggest to deselect "Store draft messages on the server" for your IMAP-Account. I just did this for myself, to see if it helps, and can't give you results yet. Maybe you just wanna try simultaneously. I guess, the reason for our problem could me some messy communication between Mail and the server, where one party get's confused.
Greetings
Paul

Gmail saves Draft messages in Trash

It seems that I when I set up my gmail account in Mail gmail wants to move old copies of a draft message to the trash as opposed to deleting it permanently or just over writing it. Is there any solution to this?

It seems that if I set Mail to not save draft messages on the server my gmail draft box appears again in my mailbox sidebar, whereas it was not visible before. Selecting this mailbox (the draft box in gmail) to be used to store draft messages allows messages to be saved on the server without them being moved to the trash every time a copy of a draft is overwritten.
You just have to
1. Deselect "Store Draft Messages on The Server" in options
2. Select "Drafts" under "Use This Mailbox For:" in mailboxes, when the draft folder reappears under gmail.
It seems that other people had posted on this problem in the forum without actually receiving a solution...

Draft messages not in draft box...

Hi all,
Greetings from northwest Spain.
Some strange goings-on with mail recently... draft messages are showing up in the Draft box in terms of a bold number, but clicking on the box they aren't there. Are they saved? Aren't they? How can I restore seeing them in the actual Draft box?
Thanks in advance for all help.

You're welcome.
In that case, this should be an easy fix. If your OS detail provided is accurate - 10.3.9, using the Finder go to Home > Library > Mail > this POP account named folder (named by the user name and incoming mail server for the account).
Within a POP account named folder with Jaguar or Panther Mail should be mailboxes (mbox files) with an .mbox extension, a MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded file and no folders.
Confirm there is a Drafts.mbox file and not a Drafts named folder. If a folder, quit Mail first and change the name of this folder to Drafts.mbox or add the .mbox extension.
Launch Mail and this should resolve the problem.

Several messages were in the Drafts folder when my isp went off line suddenly and when it came back hours later the draft messages were gone. How do I find them

I had 8 or 10 messages in the drafts folder. I had Thunderbird open when my isp had equipment problems and suddenly went off line on February 19, 2015. When it came back online the next morning all those drafts were gone. Is there some way I can retrieve them? If so, please send directions on how to do it. Thank you for any help you can give me.
Alta Flynt
[email protected]

The top folder was Local Folders with Inbox, Sent Mail, Drafts, Trash and Archives under it. I had several messages in Archives and they went away when the Drafts messages went. Actually the only folder that wasn't emptied was the inbox. Those messages re-downloaded from the web mail.
What I understand from what you've written is that unless something was done when the mail account was set up, all my mail was on att/yahoo mail and they're the ones that lost my drafts.
If I'm wrong about it being an IMAP account and it was really POP, would that make a difference?
Alta

Mail.app draft not removed and displayed in thread

In Mail.app on 10.10.1, when I compose a draft it is displayed inline in the conversation thread as soon as it is auto-saved or I manually save the changes as I am typing. So it's actually rendering the text twice - once in the "Compose" window and once in the mail messages window. This seems really odd to me.
Furthermore, as soon as a draft is saved, it never leaves the Drafts folder, and must be manually deleted. It does not matter if I send the email or cancel the message - it's stuck. I do not have "Store Drafts on Server" checked for any of my IMAP accounts, and the Drafts for my iOS devices are all set to store drafts on the device.
The constant stream of stuck draft messages is infuriating enough, but to see them inline in conversations is downright weird.
The issue does not effect iOS devices, and works fine on Mountain Lion; it's just Yosemite's Mail.
I have repaired permissions, and set and unset the settings, checked and double checked setting - all to no avail. Any suggestions?

Linc, you are so helpful to this community it's just astonishing. Thanks for all you do.
The rebuild was a great idea, but did not solve the issue. I narrowed it down to the GPGMail bundle, which I thought I had disabled when I was testing, but I clearly erred. It seems like a known issue, and the excellent team working on that software is, I am sure, on top of it.
Again, thanks Linc!

Mail & phantom draft messages

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