My mac mail is stuck on 'preparing to import messages'during set up

So I'm about to launch my website, and need to connect my web account to my mac mail . I re-installed it with the disk today. But when I started the set up process it seems to be stuck on the first stepI let it go for hours and no change , I've tried on several occasions to no avail . I'm cluess as to what to do next. If I haven't provided enough info pleas ask and I will do my best to get it to you. Thank so much in advance for any help!
Mac os x 10.6.3
2 ghz intel core 2 duo
1 gb 667 mhz DDR2 SDRAM
Snow leopard

I'm having the same problem.
Bought a new iMac that had Snow Leopard when shipped. Transferred everything fine from my PowerPC iMac running Leopard to the new iMac with Snow Leopard. Got everything setup and then received my free upgrade notification from Apple.
Performed the upgrade and since then Mail is forever preparing to import messages, but only for 1 of the 2 login accounts.
Mac OS X 10.7.1 Lion
2.93 ghz intel core i7
8 GB 1333 mhz DDR3

Similar Messages

Mail is stuck at Preparing to Import Messages

Mail is stuck at Preparing to Import Messages

I'm having the same problem.
Bought a new iMac that had Snow Leopard when shipped. Transferred everything fine from my PowerPC iMac running Leopard to the new iMac with Snow Leopard. Got everything setup and then received my free upgrade notification from Apple.
Performed the upgrade and since then Mail is forever preparing to import messages, but only for 1 of the 2 login accounts.
Mac OS X 10.7.1 Lion
2.93 ghz intel core i7
8 GB 1333 mhz DDR3

Yosemite - Mail - Stuck at Preparing to import messages

Unable to run Mail in Yosemite as it gets stuck at Preparing to import messages.
Have had to start using Sparrow just to send and receive mail on the Mac.

Hello,
I have the same issue than WJG-AU. Here is the log:
21/11/2014 20:37:13,006 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent) The _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit key is not available on this platform.
21/11/2014 20:37:13,132 bird[220]: Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
21/11/2014 20:37:13,132 bird[220]: Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
21/11/2014 20:37:13,155 bird[220]: Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
21/11/2014 20:37:23,662 Mail[3582]: *** Assertion failure in -[MFIMAPAccount _IMAPMailboxForMailbox:name:createIfNeeded:], /SourceCache/Mail/Mail-1993/MailFramework/IMAP/MFIMAPAccount.m:1652
21/11/2014 20:37:23,663 Mail[3582]: An exception occurred during invocation of -[LibraryImportAssistant synchronouslyDoTheImport]
21/11/2014 20:37:23,663 Mail[3582]: Require mailbox name to create IMAPMailbox for <MFMailbox:0x7ff34151dce0 (relative path=[Gmail]/Messages envoyés, attributes=0, displayName=CompanyNameuuid=F193BF88-A078-42E3-8AF9-BEE3DCBB76C6)>
21/11/2014 20:37:23,664 Mail[3582]: (
0   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff972c264c __exceptionPreprocess + 172
1   libobjc.A.dylib                     0x00007fff8d1966de objc_exception_throw + 43
2   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff972c242a +[NSException raise:format:arguments:] + 106
3   Foundation                          0x00007fff92f485b9 -[NSAssertionHandler handleFailureInMethod:object:file:lineNumber:description:] + 195
4   Mail                                0x00007fff9760147e -[MFIMAPAccount _IMAPMailboxForMailbox:name:createIfNeeded:] + 219
5   Mail                                0x00007fff97601350 -[MFIMAPAccount IMAPMailboxForMailbox:createIfNeeded:] + 91
6   Mail                                0x00007fff97662699 -[MFLibraryIMAPStore initWithCriterion:mailbox:readOnly:] + 569
7   Mail                                0x00007fff976780e8 -[MFLibraryStore initWithMailbox:readOnly:] + 88
8   Mail                                0x00007fff9765452b +[MFLibrary importMessagesFromEnabledAccounts] + 3941
9   Mail                                0x000000010d3d8624 Mail + 1857060
10 CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff9719b33c __invoking___ + 140
11 CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff9719b192 -[NSInvocation invoke] + 290
12 MailCore                            0x00007fff952a30cc -[MCMonitoredInvocation invoke] + 242
13 MailCore                            0x00007fff952cd1d4 -[MCThrowingInvocationOperation main] + 48
14 MailCore                            0x00007fff9525571d -[_MCInvocationOperation main] + 426
15 Foundation                          0x00007fff92e5d59c -[__NSOperationInternal _start:] + 653
16 Foundation                          0x00007fff92e5d1a3 __NSOQSchedule_f + 184
17 libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff937b6c13 _dispatch_client_callout + 8
18 libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff937ba365 _dispatch_queue_drain + 1100
19 libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff937bbecc _dispatch_queue_invoke + 202
20 libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff937b96b7 _dispatch_root_queue_drain + 463
21 libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff937c7fe4 _dispatch_worker_thread3 + 91
22 libsystem_pthread.dylib             0x00007fff92e4e6cb _pthread_wqthread + 729
23 libsystem_pthread.dylib             0x00007fff92e4c4a1 start_wqthread + 13
21/11/2014 20:38:45,171 WindowServer[139]: scrollPhase Began (1), but previous was 1 (not 0, MayBegin or End)
Thanks in advance for your help.

MAIL.app hung on "Preparing to import messages" screen

Hi, I've been using a MacBook Pro for the last 4 months (coming from the PC environment). When I start using my Mac, I didn't like the MAIL.app at the beginning, I never finish the account setting in it because I didn't have an .mac account. For That time, I have use Thunderbird with no problem. But now that I got myself a .mac trial account, I would like to use MAIL.app.
Here come the problem : Every time I launch the MAIL.app, After the "Welcome to Tiger Mail" screen, MAIL start to Import messages. I get the "Preparing to import messages" screen with the blue&white stripe bar cycling... But It goes forever!
If after 30mins I decide to cancel the process, I get an exception error : EXCBADACCES (0x0001).
What Can I do?
Thank You

Hi phototech1974.
Not sure what does having a .Mac account have to do with wanting to use Apple Mail as your mail client. Mail is a standard mail client that can be used to access any mail account that provides POP or IMAP access...
Anyway, if you’ve never used Mail before, you may just get rid of the Mail data files present in your home folder as a result of you having tried to set it up in the past, and set up Mail again from scratch as follows:
1. Quit Mail if it’s running.
2. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/. Move the entire Mail folder out of there, to the Desktop.
3. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/Preferences/. Locate com.apple.mail.plist and move it to the Desktop.
If all is well and you don’t miss anything, the files on the Desktop can be deleted, although you may want to keep them for a while, just in case.
Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user’s home folder. You can easily locate any of the folders referred to in this post by copying the folder path here, doing Go > Go to Folder in the Finder, and pasting the folder path there.

Yosemite stuck on preparing to import mail messages

I just bought a new Macbook Pro and imported my files from an external hard drive using Lion, then upgraded to Yosemite. Now I can't open mail-it is stuck on "preparing to import". Is this a bug in Yosemite? How long does it take? There are so many problems with Yosemite-not a smooth transition at all. Also, Yosemite now doesn't recognize my external hard drive (WB My Book) so I can't back up my computer and WB says it's because it doesn't yet have an upgrade for Yosemite because Apple hasn't provided them with the info!

Does this involve the forum you posted in - iPhoto for the Mac - in any way? If it does pease explain
As to Yosemite - yu have personal problems with your system - My family has upgraded 6 or 7 Macs without a single problem - the vast majority of the millions of upgrades have have not problems - as at least as far as iPhoto is concerned only a ver few problems reported are due to either Yosemite or iPhoto 9.6 for Yosemite - almost all are either user error or data problems
So if you have a problem that you want solved post it in the correct forum and provided details about you system and about the symptoms of your problem and any error message - eliminate editorial comments as they confuse people trying to help and add nothing to the process
LN

Help...my email is stuck at "preparing to retrieve messages"

all of my connections are green-lighted,
i've tried starting and restarting
i've taken accounts offline and then back online
i've looked for the IMAP/account concerned/offline cache to delete it but couldn't find it...
....when i check new mail it spins and spins and under window/activity, it's stuck at "preparing to retrieve messages."
i can SEE occationally a flash of the status bar lower left saying "incoming mail, 2 of 174" or some such, but it then disappears and NO new messages come in. help!

I'm having the same problem.
Bought a new iMac that had Snow Leopard when shipped. Transferred everything fine from my PowerPC iMac running Leopard to the new iMac with Snow Leopard. Got everything setup and then received my free upgrade notification from Apple.
Performed the upgrade and since then Mail is forever preparing to import messages, but only for 1 of the 2 login accounts.
Mac OS X 10.7.1 Lion
2.93 ghz intel core i7
8 GB 1333 mhz DDR3

Mail 4.6 Preparing to import messages

I performed an update some weeks back which seemingly included an upgrade from mail 4.5 to 4.6.... Since then each time I try and launch mail i get the "welcome to mail" where i have to click to import messages to benefit from all these new features..... Needless to say mail never opens as the preparing to import messages window just sits there. And the messages never import which is now really annoying!
I've rung apple who are becoming more like Microsoft in wanting to charge for everything.... It was fine before you released you're Bl00dy patches and updates!!!!! yes but it will cost you £35.....
I only have one mail icon in the Apps folder and I've tried installing from the mac OSx disk but that takes mail back to version 4 which doesn't run OS X10.6.8.
I've also tried restoring from time machine to version 4.5 but i get the same error that this version will not work on Mac OSX 10.6.8..
Any help would be appreciated if anyone else has experianced this..
Shame on you Apple for not properly testing patches before they are released..

I found this on the forum which did the trick..
(1) remove the Mail caches from your user Library folder ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.mail
(2) reapply the latest combo updater 10.6.4, you can download it from Apple downloads page
(3) from your user Library folder drag the file Envelope Index to the desktop, that would be ~/Library/Mail/Envelope Index
(4) if that didn't fix the issue, drag the preference file of mail from ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist to the desktop and sees if that help

Mail never finishes "Preparing to import messages"

I just upgraded from OSX 10.2.8 to 10.4.5. Mail was
working fine under 10.2.8 but now after upgrading that
system it just sits on "±Preparing to import messages".
It sat that way for about 3 hours.

The conversion from Mail 1.x to Mail 2.0 is broken. Take a look at this thread to better understand the problem:
Help! "You need to take this account online in order to download it."
Although it talks about Panther, the conversion issues are likely the same. Since you haven't started using Mail on Tiger yet, your best bet IMO would be to tidy up your mailboxes in Mac OS X 10.2.8 first, using a copy of your mail database that Mail 2.0 hasn't touched yet, if that's still an option.

My mac mail tells me there are 168 incoming messages but then only receives six

My mac mail tells me there are 168 incoming messages but then only receives six
I'm using the latest version of mail but not very good in dealing with computer problems. My email supplier is Bt Internet.
Can anyone help

I have seen something similar once. A message on the mail server was corrupted and the download would never complete, but would always start the next time I launched Mail. It was the oldest message, so Mail always started with it, blocking all other mail. Deleting the file on the server was the solution. Don't know if that fits your situation. Good luck. BTW, I called my ISP's tech support and they watched the server's actions and could see that the file was not actually transferring. Give yours a call.

My mac mail on just keeps sending the same messages even after deleted and shows thousands of emails supposed to be coming in

My mac mail on just keeps sending the same messages even after deleted and shows thousands of emails supposed to be coming in

If you have a backup, you can restore the e-mails. 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. Library/Mail/V2.
Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.

Mail preparing to import messages since 2 days...

Hi,
I updated my Macbook pro with yosemite and all software update but when I launched Mail for the first time, I got this message : "Preparing to import messages". How long does I wait before to use Mail ? Is it normal ?
Best Regards
JoyeR

It seems Tiger lost my Mail files. I restored from backup, then started Mail again. It imported in less than 1 minute, then started up normally.
Beavis2084

Mail stuck on "Preparing to Import"

Yesterday, seemingly out of the blue, the mail program shot me an error message saying something to the effect of "mail app had been corrupted"...I didn't think much of it but tried to restart it and it took me to a welcome screen and prompted me to "click to import messages or hit cancel to do it later." Well, if I hit continue the app just hangs indefinitely and if I hit cancel the app just closes. I've tried to work through some of the solutions presented in the forums, namely, moving my com.apple.mail.plist file to the desktop--there was a similar solution offered that instead involved moving a file from the cache folder but for some reason I don't seem to have that particular file. I'm uber frustrated and about to pull the rest of my hair out...please help
10.10.1 Yosemite
2.7 i5 iMac

1/13/15 9:23:22.353 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent) The _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit key is not available on this platform.
1/13/15 9:23:22.409 PM bird[300]: Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
1/13/15 9:23:22.409 PM bird[300]: Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
1/13/15 9:23:22.417 PM bird[300]: Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
1/13/15 9:23:26.949 PM networkd[145]: -[NETProxyLookup pacLookupComplete:proxies:error:] PAC evaluation error: Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=2 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork error 2.)" UserInfo=0x7ff8ebf1a470 {kCFGetAddrInfoFailureKey=8}
1/13/15 9:23:59.418 PM networkd[145]: -[NETProxyLookup pacLookupComplete:proxies:error:] PAC evaluation error: Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=2 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork error 2.)" UserInfo=0x7ff8ebf1a470 {kCFGetAddrInfoFailureKey=8}
1/13/15 9:24:35.242 PM Mail[1658]: Error reading table of contents file from /Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Deleted Messages (N******).mbox/table_of_contents: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “table_of_contents” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo=0x600000275080 {NSFilePath=/Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Deleted Messages (N******).mbox/table_of_contents, NSUnderlyingError=0x60000044d5f0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"}
1/13/15 9:24:36.421 PM Mail[1658]: Error reading table of contents file from /Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/ToDos.mbox (N******).mbox/table_of_contents: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “table_of_contents” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo=0x600000477540 {NSFilePath=/Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/ToDos.mbox (N******).mbox/table_of_contents, NSUnderlyingError=0x600000253050 "The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"}
1/13/15 9:24:36.429 PM Mail[1658]: Error reading table of contents file from /Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/ToDos.mbox (N****** (aol)).mbox/table_of_contents: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “table_of_contents” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo=0x6000004636c0 {NSFilePath=/Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/ToDos.mbox (N******(aol)).mbox/table_of_contents, NSUnderlyingError=0x600000252330 "The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"}
1/13/15 9:24:37.421 PM Mail[1658]: Error reading table of contents file from /Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Drafts (N******)).mbox/table_of_contents: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “table_of_contents” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo=0x608000076100 {NSFilePath=/Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Drafts (N******)).mbox/table_of_contents, NSUnderlyingError=0x6080010450d0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"}
1/13/15 9:24:37.429 PM Mail[1658]: Error reading table of contents file from /Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Drafts (N******).mbox/table_of_contents: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “table_of_contents” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo=0x608000076100 {NSFilePath=/Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Drafts (N******).mbox/table_of_contents, NSUnderlyingError=0x608001042df0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"}

Force Mac Mail File/Save As to use Raw Message Source

Mac Mail version 6.3. When using File/Save As, is there a way to force the save as format to be "Raw Message Source" always? I change it to that, but over time it seems to switch back to Rich Text and I know I didn't change it.

Thank you.
I saved the email as Raw in a folder on my desktop, then went to file-import mailbox in mail, and tried to import it. I got a message that it saved to an import folder in the mailbox list, but there is no such file. I tried making an Import folder and import it again, but it did not work.
Then I tried saving as Plain Text and Rich Text Format. I got an error that No valid Mail for Mac OS X files were found.
I have SpamSieve, could that be a problem?

HT2500 Mac mail macbook pro 10.6.8 receiving messages hear chime but no mail notification. cannot see or open

Mac Mail. receiving messages. I hear chime. Cannot see notifications in inbox or mail icon in dock. Thus cannot open messages. Macbook pro 2009 10.6.8.

Hi Softwater,
Thanks for your kind and swift response.
It's not the recent e-mails which I'm worried about.
They can stay on the server until I've resolved my OLD e-mails, 99% of which are long deleted from their servers.
I'm deliberately keeping Mail offline until I've retrieved my 20 year e-mail history, all of which has been put into sub-folders within sub-folders within sub-folders.
I've got to get my e-mail history back.
Thanks.
Best,
Michael

Help! My Mac Mail account is locking up, says "Copying message to Outbox"

I can receive e-mail but not send. When I try to send, Mac Mail "locks up" with the message "Copying message to Outbox". Any suggestions on how to fix?

You’re welcome.
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 the filesystem issues, if any, and ensuring 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 locally stored.
3. Locate Envelope Index and move it to the Trash. If you see any other “Envelope Index”-named file there, delete it as well.
4. Move any “IMAP-”, “Mac-”, or “Exchange-” account folders to the Trash. Note that you can do this with IMAP-type accounts because they store mail on the server and Mail can easily re-create them. DON’T trash any “POP-” account folders, as that would cause all the mail stored there to be lost.
5. 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.
6. As a side effect of having removed the IMAP account folders, those accounts may be in an “offline” state now. Do Mailbox > Go Online to bring them back online.
Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user’s home folder. That is, ~/Library is the Library folder within the user’s home folder, i.e. /Users/username/Library.

My mac mail is stuck on 'preparing to import messages'during set up

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