Mail won't complete fetching new mail

My main machine (G5 DP1.8) has suddenly stopped fetching mail properly. It fetches new mail (169 messages as I have been away for a bit), but 'hangs' indefinitely on one of the last few messages, refusing to complete the downloading.
Clicking the red Stop button in Activity monitor does nothing (hangs on "STOPPING:...". I'm using the word hang but Mail does not stop responding, it just refuses to complete the download.
I have to force quit Mail because it won't quite properly since its waiting for the mail to complete. After doing this I also have the problem of duplicate messages. It keeps trying to download the same 169 messages each time I check.
Please help!

This is a POP account, right?
Sometimes messages left on the server clog up the account there, or Mail chokes on a message it cannot download and that prevents it from downloading the rest as well. Solving this problem will probably require removing one or more messages from the server. What are your Preferences > Accounts > Advanced > Remove copy from server settings for this account?
You may tell Mail to remove from the server all the messages that have already been downloaded by means of Preferences > Accounts > Advanced > Remove now. Alternatively, you may use the Account Info window to remove specific messages from the server — choose Get Info (⌘I) from the Action menu (gear icon) located below the mailbox list in the main Mail window. And if the account allows web access, you may also remove messages from the server that way.
Try removing from the server messages that have already been downloaded and/or the first message not downloaded yet (i.e. the message that Mail appears to be choking on).
You may want to try to download those messages with another mail client such as Thunderbird first, to avoid losing them — and use Eudora Mailbox Cleaner to import them back into Mail afterwards if you wish.

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Mail won't bring in new .mac mail

The application Mail won't bring in new mail but it shows up on .mac webmail. Any suggestions?

Have you confirmed if the account is online?
At the menu bar, go to Mailbox > Online Status. Is "Take (the name of your .Mac account) Online available?
Do you perform manual checks for new mail on occasion? The reason I ask, is your .Mac account included to be automatically checked for new mail?
Since you are accessing your .Mac account as a .Mac account which is really an IMAP type account and behaves in the same way, have you tried using the Rebuild Mailbox function on the account's Inbox mailbox which forces the mailbox to be resynchronized with the server?

Mac Mail won't fetch new mail NOT GMAIL

I'm having a frustrating issue with mac mail? I've been using mac mail for year with my work account with NO issues.
For some reason all of the sudden when I hit the "Get Mail" button or when it automatically checks for mail it is not pulling in my new messages.
IF I use the "synchronize "account" or if I close and re-open mac mail, or if I take account offline then back online it WILL pull in my new messages.
I think this is the same issue they were having with gmail? This seems to have stated when the new mac mail update came through on Friday. It seems like it fixed gmail but messed up something else?
Is anybody else seeing this issue? Is there anything I can do to fix it or will there be yet another fix? I'm trying ot rebuild my e-mail account now.
Jason

i'm having this same issue. mail 'dings' indicating there is new mail, but it does not appear. i can find it at the .mac site however... it will arrive in my mail inbox some hours later...

Mail won't stop fetching, and doesn't find it all

I'm on Mail 2.1. When Mail goes to check my pop account, it will download the first mail or two and then it just keeps the little circle spinning. When I look at the activity viewer, it says "Fetching new mail" "Fetching 15 of 15 <subject of the email>" and the progress bar is the little barber pole guy - not moving. I've literally waited for this all day, just to see if I was being impatient when it would stall for a few minutes, and it still hasn't worked. I know there's mail out there since I can check it with the web interface.
I have checked the forums, and tried all of the following tricks I found (not all at once, but separately), and still no joy:
1. Getting rid of what I thought was the "offending" email with the web mail interface, and in fact, clearing out the entire box, and then sending myself a test message from another email account.
2. Disabling my Rules AND turned off the "Enable Junk Mail Filtering" checkbox in preferences.
3. Removing the "MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded" and "MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded2" files.
4. Removing the "Envelope Index" and "Envelope Index-journal" files.
5. Moving the entire ~/Library/Mail folder out onto my desktop and re-importing my mailboxes. (Which, by the way, is a real pain.)
Using the Get Info command, i can see all of the mail up there, however, that only works when I take my account (in Mail's preferences) off of the "Include when automatically checking for new Mail", and it isn't spinning and spinning. If it's spinning, then the Get Info doesn't work, either.
Also, another person on our network here is using Mail and the same POP provider and is having no issues at all (so it must be something on my account or my computer).
Does anyone have any other route for me to take?

Try this to determine the scope of the problem:
1. Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Accounts, and create a new user account for testing purposes.
2. Either log out of your main user account or just quit Mail so that it does not interfere with the other user account.
3. Log in as the newly created user and set up Mail anew there.
4. If this is a POP account, go to Mail > Preferences > Accounts > Advanced and disable Remove copy from server after retrieving a message if it’s enabled.
5. Check whether the problem also happens when logged in as another user.
Also, try using a different method to connect to Internet, if possible, or connecting the computer to Internet as directly as possible, i.e. bypassing any routers that might be present, using an ethernet cable instead of wireless, etc., and see whether that makes a difference.
I'd rather get emails on this issue where I'm sure to
get them at my email account that is my alias.
I have no idea what are you talking about here.

Since updating to Mavericks, Mail doesn't work properly. It just stops working (no error messages--it just won't check for new mail) and I must shut it down and reopen it to get it working again. Any suggestions?

Since updating to Mavericks, Mail doesn't work properly. It just stops working (no error messages--it just won't check for new mail) and I must shut it down and reopen it to get it working again. Any suggestions?

Try to force quit the mail app
Double tap the home button. When you see the app previews on the screen scroll sideways if needed to get the preview in question on the screen. Flick that preview up and off the screen to close the app. Single tap the home button or home screen preview to exit the mode.
Failing that, go into the settings, mail, contacts and calendars and remove your account info then put it back in and see if that works

Fetching New Mail finished but the mail is not retrieved

Mail App 2.1 on Mac OS X 10.4.8
upgraded from previous mail versions (yes)
One single POP mail account.
(17 messages in inBox, lots of messages in other folders)
Problem One:
When I click get Mail,
the Activity Viewer shows fetching new mail 8 of 11, 9, 10, 11. And then the viewer empties as if it's finished. But there is no new mail in my folders.
If I click Get Mail again, it repeats the same process.
Acts like it's successfully getting all the mail from the POP server but then no mail shows up, and I can repeat the process ad infinitum.
I have done the following without success:
removed MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded2
Deleted my com.apple.mail.plist file and re-set up my POP account.
Neither of these tricks worked.
Problem Two:
I am no longer able to drag messages from the InBox to any of my folders.
I get the error message "The message XXX could not be moved to the Mailbox YYY"
Problem Three:
I cannot save a message as a draft. I get the error message "The message could not be saved"
All three of these problems appeared simultaneously this morning after 10am.
Can anyone help me clean up my Mail 2.1?
Thanks
mac ancient Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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 filesystem issues, if any, and making sure that there’s enough space available on the startup disk (a few GB, plus the space needed to make a backup copy of the Mail folder), try this:
1. Quit Mail if it’s running.
2. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/Mail/. Make a backup copy of this folder, just in case something goes wrong, e.g. by dragging it to the Desktop while holding the Option (Alt) key down. This is where all your mail is stored.
3. Locate Envelope Index and move it to the Trash. If you see an Envelope Index-journal file there, delete it as well.
4. Open Mail. It will tell you that your mail needs to be “imported”. Click Continue and Mail will proceed to re-create Envelope Index -- Mail says it’s “importing”, but it just re-creates the index if the mailboxes are already in Mail 2.x format.
Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user’s home folder, i.e. ~/Library is the Library folder within the user’s home folder.

Fetch new mail messages does not work

On my notebook the fetch new mail messages does not work
Settings:
- Fetch new messages: every minute
- Play sound Purr
I need to us the manual button.
On my imac it works fine with the same accounts

My mail sounds are all screwed up. I hear the plane fly when I send an email but when I receive mail, no sound. I have rules set up which worked in Tiger. One rule is for mail to play a message "You have a message from "John Doe" when I receive an email from "John Doe" but it only plays when I send "John Doe" and email. Assbackwards.
Sometimes when reading new mail, it just disappears. I have to click on it again. I find this version of email to be very flaky!
Dave Brenneman

New mail doesn't make the "new mail sound" when received

Hi! I have a .mac email account, and I use two different aliases for the account. I want all the mail sent to one of the aliases to go into a designated mailbox. I've tried doing this with both a smart mailbox and using a rule to move the messages to a mailbox on my .mac account (not both at the same time, I've tried it separately both ways).
Both of these options work, except that mail will not make the "new mail" sound when I get a new email for that mailbox. Even when I add to the rule that it should make a sound, it doesn't. Other mail (i.e., all of my other mail that is delivered normally to my inbox) is not affected--I still get the normal sound. Any ideas? Thanks! (And BTW, I always give points for helpful answers!)

You’re welcome.
Actually, I don’t participate here just to be helpful. I also do it to learn. I know WAY more about Mail now than I knew when I started helping people here... and without having experienced myself any of the problems I troubleshoot each and every day...
I really wanted an answer.
That’s precisely why you shouldn’t say in advance that you’ll give points. Nobody is going to assume you won’t, so there is no need to say you will. All you have to do is mark posts when appropriate (without saying in advance that you will). That makes everybody happy.
don't you ever get frustrated by the number of people who don't
mark helpful or solved answers as such?
Not if the OP somehow lets me know whether the proposed solution worked or not. Sometimes I know for sure what the problem is and how to solve it, but others I don’t, and the user’s feedback is way more valuable to me than any points I could get.
So yes, merely setting up a smart mailbox is enough to make Mail
to quit making the sound.
I’ve been unable to reproduce what you describe, but I’ve found something that could be related. Selecting an IMAP (or .Mac) mailbox causes Mail to check for changes made to that mailbox, including checking for new mail and applying rules as appropriate, just like it would do when automatically checking for mail according to your settings, except no sound is played if new mail arrived...
Could that be what you’re observing, i.e. could it be that Mail is actually behaving as expected but it seems that it isn’t because you’re checking for new mail as a result of manually selecting the account’s Inbox or something like that?

"Mail" won't show my Yahoo mails...

Hello,
I'm using three boxes, all Yahoo. Had a minor problem with one of them and the Yahoo people told me they had switched the account to another server to solve the problem (which was actually solved).
But since then, "Mail" won't show the incoming mail. The activity indicator shows "x" mails having been collected but they don't show either on he screen or next to the account name...
One exception: as I tried to cancel then re-create the faulty account, it does collect messages the first time it opens...but then afterwards nothing shows although mails are showed to have been collected.
The other two boxes I use with Yahoo are collected without any problem.
Yahoo can't or won't help...
Anybody with an idea ??? Could the problem be linked with changing the server ? But then how is it hat mails are shown to have been collected by he activity counter even if they don't appear on he screen or next to he account name ?
Many thanks and greetings from southern France.
JP/

no one knew why i couldn't get my messages from the pop server at att/yahoo into my mail on my mac. there were no answered questions to the support topic why can i see mail activity....messages on the server, but not coming into the mail box? sending is fine, but for some reason, it suddenly stopped 3 days ago and for 3 days i searched for a fix. the only way i found this was a mail access error on the web mail thru att.yahoo where my messages showed up (they were also showing up on the i phone, not the mac)...had to verify the email....and while waiting, i found the att yahoo help page that cleared the whole problem
not removing files and putting them back in while opening and shutting mac....all the ports and ssls were checked and correct
apparently you have to clean your cache
totally all att's fault
Web Mail - How do I clear my browser's cache?
It's true, a clogged cache can slow down and even stop your browser. Who wants that? Not us. Let's get to work clearing your cache. Which browser are you using? Instructions are included below for each of these:
Firefox 2.x for Windows or Mac
1. For Windows or Mac, click Tools and select Clear Private Data.
2. In the window that opens, select whichever items you'd like to clear. When you're done, click Clear Private Data Now.
Safari 3 for Mac
1. In the Safari menu, click Empty Cache. That's it!
2. To also clear the History, click the History menu and click Clear History (at the bottom).

Mail won't stop downloading old mail

I just upgraded to IOS 5 on my iPad2. I have a number of mail accounts set up. When i open up the mail program it checks for new mail and then it uploads hundreds of old mail as if I haven't read them before and I have to painstakingly delete them one at a time. When I open up mail later on it continues to do the smae thing with the same mail!
1) Is there anyway to convince the Mail program tha I only want new mail starting from today?
2) Is there any way to bulk delete mail rather than one at a time?
This problem is also compounded by how Mail marks new mail. My two mail services are Optonline. And Gmail. Where Optonline puts a solid blue circle in front of ecery new piece of mail. My Gmail does nothing to note new mail, it's just there. So
3) How can I get Gmail to mark new mail, so that I know I have some without having to check it all of the time and read the date stamps?

What is your account type - POP or IMAP?

All of sudden my Apple Mail won't transfer photos from Mail to iPhoto using the "add to iPhoto" feature in the drop down menu

All of sudden my Apple Mail won't transfer photos from Mail to iPhoto using the "add to iPhoto" feature in the drop down menu. Do you know how to fix this?

mmchisholm - just so you know you're not alone, I too am having the exact same issue as of latest software update bundle. Have to manually add each photo until Apple issues solution or minor software update.

Mail.app 10.6.4 constantly polling Gmail (IMAP) but not fetching new mail

Since upgrading to Snow Leopard 10.6.4, Mail.app has been having a problem with Gmail (IMAP).
When I launch Mail.app it connects to Gmail without any problem and fetches any new mail. The next time it checks for mail on Gmail, the animated activity symbol appears next to my Gmail inbox and then stays there spinning constantly. Any new mail is not retrieved, and it will continue like this until I quit and restart Mail.app, in which case the cycle repeats - first fetch is ok, subsequently can't fetch mail.
Have experienced this on both my Macs. Have tried disabling/re-enabling accounts, deleting & recreating, resetting passwords, but all to no avail. One glimmer of hope is that Gmail (IMAP) seems to work fine on my iPhone and iPad, so the problem seems to be in the version of Mail.app in Snow Leopard 10.6.4?

oddly i fixed by deleting the account and creating it again.

Just upgraded to Maverick, now mail won't automatically upload new messages

My 93 year old father just upgraded his operating system to Maverick and now his new Mail won't automatically upload to his inbox. I don't use Mail in this way and have no idea what adjustment needs to be made so it will work again. It keeps asking for his email password but that doesn't help. Any suggestions? I'm sure it's an easy fix...somehow they just aren't communicating... Thanks!

OS X Mail: Troubleshooting sending and receiving email messages

After Mavericks upgrade Mail 7 not automatically fetching new emails

Hello,
Since the Mavericks upgrade, Mail is not anymore automatically fetching new emails, but at the initial lauch.
I tried to modifity the settings, from 'Automatic', to 5 minute, to 15 minutes, stopping Mail and starting again each time but it does not help.
Emails are fetched only after the lauch of Mail, and when I manually ask Mail to do it.
It's really annoying.
I saw on French forums, that I'm not the only user reporting this, but I don't see many posts on the Apple forum with the exact same issue.
I don't know what to do to fix/find a workround for this problem.
If someone has any idea, I'm more than open to try it.

Try this workaround until Apple fixes it.
Copy this into a plain text file (i.e TextExit in plain text mode)
Save as com.yourname.Checkmail.plist to ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
Log out and back in, or re-boot
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
          <key>Label</key>
          <string>com.yourname.Checkmail</string>
          <key>ProgramArguments</key>
          <array>
                    <string>/usr/bin/osascript</string>
                    <string>-e</string>
                    <string>tell application "Mail" to check for new mail</string>
          </array>
          <key>StartInterval</key>
          <integer>60</integer>
</dict>
</plist>
This is set to check every minute (<integer>60</integer>), change to your needs (in seconds)

"Open link in new tab" not working with Safari and new Yahoo Mail won't open in new tabs. Yahoo says it is a Safari issue. I don't think so.

Any ideas?
Works fine in classic Yahoo mail. But in the "new" Yahoo mail, there is not even an option to open in new tab when I right click the message to be opened. Interestingly enough, I can right click open to new tab on any other link on the same page that the emails are listed in.
Anyone encounter this? Have a solution?
Thanks.

From your Safari menu bar click Safari / Reset Safari. Select the top 7 buttons, click Reset.
If that didn't help, try troubleshooting the Safari .plist file.
Quit Safari.
Open a Finder window. Select your Home Folder in the Sidebar on the left. It has a small house icon. Then open the Library folder then the Preferences folder.
Move the com.apple.Safari.plist file from the Preferences folder to the Desktop. Relaunch Safari. Try Yahoo / tabs. If it functions as it should, move the .plist file to the Trash. Otherwise move it back to the Preferences folder.
And check Safari / Preferences - Extensions. If you have any installed, turn that off, quit then relaunch Safari. Try again.

Mail won't complete fetching new mail

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