Common Issues With Apple Mail | Media Temple Community

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summary

apple mail is the default email client that comes with all macs running os x 10.0 or later. This guide provides information on the most common apple mail problems.

this is for the latest version of apple mail, version 5.0 on lion os 10.7. your version of apple mail may vary.

not sure what version of os x you are running? see: how do i find the version of my operating system(s) on a mac?

frequently asked questions

Q: What’s the best way to ensure my emails are backed up in the mail? a: mac os x comes with a feature called time machine that will keep backups of your entire machine, including emails in mail, when configured correctly. however, it is also good practice to perform manual backups. You can find detailed instructions on how to export a copy of your mailbox at http://support.apple.com/kb/ph4811.

q: The email will repeatedly ask me for my password, how do I stop it? a: There are several issues that can cause this issue to arise. most of the time checking your settings will solve this problem. If this does not resolve the issue, you will need to reset the password of your email address in the account center (mt) and send the new password by mail.

q: The mail says that it cannot “verify the certificate”. what does this mean? A: This is because it is configured to use a secure ssl connection, which is a very good thing. however, to use an ssl connection with the grid, you must configure the incoming and outgoing mail server to be your access domain. otherwise, you can choose to continue or ignore the warning, although you may continue to receive this message in the future.

Q: Emails sent via Post are not showing up in my Sent folder, why? a: When using imap, as we recommend for the grid, mail requires you to provide a specific folder to save sent messages. follow these simple steps to set this up:

click and highlight your account’s “sent” folder.
click the “mailbox” menu
choose “use this mailbox for”
choose “sent”

this will configure mail to save new outgoing emails in your account’s sent folder. If you want previously sent emails to appear, you need to drag them from the mail’s local sent folder to the sent folder that appears in your account.

I don’t receive mail

From time to time, your mail application (sometimes called “apple mail” or “mac mail”) stops receiving new mail. you may be able to verify that you are receiving new mail through webmail, another email client or computer, or even through a mobile phone. when this happens, the fix is extraordinarily easy!

here’s how it’s done: from within mail.app, click on the mailbox menu (see figure 1):

choose “disconnect all accounts” and wait 10 seconds.
choose “disconnect all accounts”.

Figure 1: Follow these steps to refresh your Mail application.

You should start seeing the new mail flow in your inbox.

do not send or receive email

If your mailbox is constantly spinning and mail is not going in or out, it means that imap is not syncing. in this case, try these steps:

close mail.app.
go to /users/your_profile/library/mail/imap-account_concerned/.
delete the hidden .offlinecache folder.
start mail.app again.

A new offline cache folder will be created.

note: this will not delete any messages.

can’t send email

First, close mail.app completely. you can do this with command-q or by clicking on the mail and selecting exit. then reopen the app by clicking the stamp icon on your dock.

Next, confirm that your email settings are configured correctly. For more information, read this article: Email Settings for Apple Mail.

Once you’ve confirmed your account settings are correct, let’s review your outgoing settings.

sent messages not saved

yes, this can happen when using imap. read this article for more information: email settings for apple mail.

nested inboxes

Figure 2: The dreaded nested inboxes.

In imap accounts, users have the option to specify their root folder for mail accounts (also known as “imap path prefix”), which isolates the folders used by the mail program from others in the account of the user on the email server. when users experimented with prefix input, some were able to fix the problem, while others did not.

Potential fixes: Change the imap path prefix. go to the mail preferences and in the “accounts” section select the problematic account. then go to the “advanced” tab and change the field to the value given by the account provider. if the problem persists, users can try changing the case of the route prefix input. for example, with google gmail, the default is to use “[gmail]” as the prefix, but users can also try “[gmail]” or “[gmail]”. also, since the prefix is actually a folder path, users can try putting a forward slash “/” at the end of the prefix, which can help indicate that the path ends in a folder. some users may also have success adding the “inbox” name to the end of the imap prefix, but it is recommended that users try with and without this.

change the behavior of the mailbox in figure 2, the trash mailbox is at the end of the tree of nested inboxes. this could indicate that the problem lies with how the junk folder is treated. as such, users can try toggling combinations of the “move deleted messages to trash” and “store deleted messages on server” options, which are available on the “mailbox behaviors” tab in “accounts” preferences .

reset mail preferences: imap prefix settings are stored in the account settings in the preferences files for mail, and if there is a corruption in the preference files that prevents changes to the settings from working correctly, then this could be the reason why the problems reoccur for some users the mail preferences file is named “com.apple.mail.plist” and is located in the /username/library/preferences/ folder. deleting this file will require users to re-enter account information, but mailbox settings and downloaded messages will remain intact.

additional help

what to send if you need help from (mt) media temple:

exact email account that is experiencing the problem; include two or three specific examples, if multiple accounts are affected.
permission for (mt) media temple technicians to reset email account password for testing. you’ll need to reset your email password later to regain access.
all email clients are used to check email. include if you use pop or imap. Example: I use outlook (imap) at work, my iphone (pop) when I’m in business meetings, and webmail when I’m on vacation.
Include any error messages you get from your email software. copy and paste the exact error.
include any bounces you receive when you try to send an email or that your contacts receive when they try to send you an email. copy and paste the entire bounce.
when did the problem start?
does the problem happen all the time or intermittently? does it happen at a specific time?
describe what you do that triggers the problem. Example: I get a popup error when I try to send an email; or, when I first connect to my inbox, it takes 10 minutes to load.

if you are trying to investigate a specific email, please also include the following:

exact subject line.
sender and recipient.
date and time the email was sent, within 15 minutes. note that in the grid, mail logs are only kept for one week, so the email must also be recent.
header information from the original email (can be located in your sent folder). how to view email headers

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Common issues with Apple Mail | Media Temple Community