appletech122

Q: why is the mail application so unreliable?

I have made my move to a Mac laptop this year after being overrun with iOS devices in my house. The MacBook Air I have is an awesome machine. One of the main things I got it for is for business productivity. The simplest of things I should be able to do is communicate over email, but the native mail application is so unreliable it is embarrassing. I have a yahoo account that I was able to setup fine enough. Every time I send an email it is a gamble as to whether or not it is sent or not. That is unacceptable. The mail accounts I setup on my iOS devices seem to be bulletproof and it boggles my mind that the mail client on the Mac OS is so bad. I wasted time with the support lines on several occassions and all they could tell me is tht sometimes after I send an emal it can get stuck in between sending and getting off the yahoo server so there is no record it has been sent and no copy in drafts. What an awful answer. It has gotten to the point where the only way I am confident to use email is on my iPhone or through the web browser on the yahoo site. I am really unhappy about this and would like to know if other people see the same problem.

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Mac OS Native Mail application

Posted on Jan 29, 2013 6:52 AM

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Q: why is the mail application so unreliable?

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  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Jan 29, 2013 6:58 AM in response to appletech122
    Level 9 (53,457 points)
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    Jan 29, 2013 6:58 AM in response to appletech122

    I suggest that you try another mail service besides Yahoo.

     

    I use three mail services with Mail.app and have never seen any problems like that.

     

    For an opinion on how reliable Yahoo is read https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4753935?tstart=0

     

    Allan

  • by appletech122,

    appletech122 appletech122 Jan 29, 2013 8:46 AM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (3 points)
    Jan 29, 2013 8:46 AM in response to Allan Eckert

    Thanks for your input Allan. I have a problem with those general answers especially when I hear it from Apple support. You know as well as I do how difficult it is to change your email address accross your contacts and communications. Yahoo isn't some no-name email service. They are one of the big ones. This also doesn't make sense because I am not having the same issues on my iOS devices. Only on the Mac OS mail client. This solution would be a cop-out for apple and a major PITA for people neededing to leave their email provider. What is left? Only gmail? I am convinced this is a quality issue with the Mac OS and it needs to be addressed by Apple.

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Jan 29, 2013 8:55 AM in response to appletech122
    Level 9 (53,457 points)
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    Jan 29, 2013 8:55 AM in response to appletech122

    Well seeing as how you have your mind made up, I give up.

     

    Allan

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jan 29, 2013 8:58 AM in response to appletech122
    Level 9 (50,245 points)
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    Jan 29, 2013 8:58 AM in response to appletech122

    Yahoo is causing a raft of problems, check this site.

     

    Get another email account, not Yahoo.

  • by appletech122,

    appletech122 appletech122 Jan 29, 2013 9:30 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (3 points)
    Jan 29, 2013 9:30 AM in response to Csound1

    Same answer huh? This has been happening for months. This isn't a new problem. Regardless of the mail service used, doesn't anyone else find it really scary that you can send an email that you assume went off just fine and the Mac OS mail program can lose it without a warning or a trace of what the message content was? Really?

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jan 29, 2013 9:32 AM in response to appletech122
    Level 9 (50,245 points)
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    Jan 29, 2013 9:32 AM in response to appletech122

    appletech122 wrote:

     

    Same answer huh? This has been happening for months. This isn't a new problem. Regardless of the mail service used, doesn't anyone else find it really scary that you can send an email that you assume went off just fine and the Mac OS mail program can lose it without a warning or a trace of what the message content was? Really?

     

    Never happened to me, but then again I would never rely on a system like Yahoo for anything, it's your choice though.

  • by appletech122,

    appletech122 appletech122 Jan 29, 2013 9:35 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (3 points)
    Jan 29, 2013 9:35 AM in response to Csound1

    What email provider do you use?

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jan 29, 2013 9:37 AM in response to appletech122
    Level 9 (50,245 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 29, 2013 9:37 AM in response to appletech122

    Microsoft Exchange for business, iCloud for personal use.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jan 29, 2013 3:18 PM in response to appletech122
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Jan 29, 2013 3:18 PM in response to appletech122

    If you have a "free" (ad-supported) Yahoo account, then SMTP/POP access is not supported, according to Yahoo. It may sometimes work, but not reliably. The only supported way to use a free account is through the web interface.

  • by William Lloyd,

    William Lloyd William Lloyd Jan 29, 2013 3:22 PM in response to appletech122
    Level 7 (21,141 points)
    Jan 29, 2013 3:22 PM in response to appletech122

    Another issue is the SMTP server.  Many or most ISPs will block outbound SMTP transfer if it's not through their mail server.  This helps cut back on SPAM.

     

    The issue is not with Apple Mail.  It's with your ISP or it's with Yahoo mail.

     

    Likely the reason the iPhone can send and the Mac cannot, is the iPhone is sending over the cellular connection, which is not likely to be blocked by an ISP.

  • by Lanny,

    Lanny Lanny Jan 29, 2013 4:04 PM in response to appletech122
    Level 5 (7,900 points)
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    Jan 29, 2013 4:04 PM in response to appletech122

    I closed my Yahoo account. But hey, if you like lots of SPAM, it's great for that.

     

    I currently use iCloud and 2 Comcast accounts the are set to forward all to the iCloud account.

  • by candide555,

    candide555 candide555 Jun 12, 2013 4:12 PM in response to appletech122
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 12, 2013 4:12 PM in response to appletech122

    I'm spending hours with the techies on my server, which is the cable company we contract with. First I kept getting the message that Mail didn't recognize the server but it would connect when I clicked Connect. Then it started letting me receive messages but not send. Now I can't do either, and the company has no help for me. I have run the disk utility verify and repair options and it tells me all is well.

     

    I don't want my emails anywhere on the web, just here at home. The cable techs have gone over and over the technicalities on their end and have concluded that Apple Mail is the problem. I find evidence of that in much online grumbling, but here I find only self defense.

     

    How could you help me?

     

    1. Admit that your software has bugs. Tell me some things I could try to get my email working again. I'm finding such protocol elsewhere on the web but it all seems to relate to earlier versions of OSX.

     

    2. Show me where I could upgrade to a less buggy version than 6.2. This is my second laptop in the past year (first one stolen) and each had different problems with Mail. The first one kept losing mail. Messages would come in and then be gone when I'd go to answer them. Important items I would not delete. That's not happening with this one -- it just keeps losing connection with my server.

     

    Please stop pretending that anyone who has problems with Mail is afflicted in some way. There are problems, and I'm very shocked that Apple, who used to be one of the good guys (at least in my book), seems to to be stuck on a policy of self righteousness. Guys, your halo is tarnished with Apple Mail -- time to realize that and cope.

  • by Lanny,

    Lanny Lanny Jun 12, 2013 4:27 PM in response to candide555
    Level 5 (7,900 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 12, 2013 4:27 PM in response to candide555

    In case no one has told you this before, you're not talking to Apple here. You're talking to other people just like yourself. If you want to whine to Apple, send your comments to: http://www.apple.com/feedback/

     

    Don't assume that the poster's whose user name is, "appletech122" is an Apple employee.

     

    Apple's Mail is an email client software, that configuration wise, is the same as its competitors. If they are not configured properly, or the email provider is unreliable, you're going to get the same results.

  • by candide555,

    candide555 candide555 Jun 13, 2013 9:48 AM in response to Lanny
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 13, 2013 9:48 AM in response to Lanny

    Thank you, I will take my beef to that link.

     

    But in defense of my "whine" I'd like to add that this email provider worked fine for several years when I used Eudora software on my computer and before the Intel chip came along.

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