Stephen M. Paulsen

Q: Mail shows wrong message body

OS X 10.9.4 / 3.2GHz Quad-Core / 16GB DDR3

Mail 7.3 (1878.6)

IMAP Server at InMotion Hosting

 

I continue to see messages in my mail folders that have the header information (From / Subject / Date) from one message in the message listings, and the From / Subject / Date of a DIFFERENT message in the message preview.

 

This is NOT Google.  The IMAP server is from InMotion Hosting.  On the server, the messages are accurate: the From / Subject / Date information is attached to the message body it represents.  It is only in Mail that the information gets scrambled.

 

I have used the Rebuild for this mailbox, which usually corrects the problem.  On occasion, I have to delete the mail account from Mail and add it back in again to force an accurate rebuild.

 

Why is this happening?

 

Other search phrases I've used include

Wrong message headers in mail

mac mail wrong messages

wrong imap messages mac mail

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Aug 20, 2014 9:25 AM

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Q: Mail shows wrong message body

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 20, 2014 3:16 PM in response to Stephen M. Paulsen
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Aug 20, 2014 3:16 PM in response to Stephen M. Paulsen

    Quit Mail. Force quit if necessary.

    Back up all data before proceeding.

    Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

    ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData

    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

              Go Go to Folder

    from the menu bar. Paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V, then press return.

    A folder window will open. Inside it there should be files with names as follows:

              Envelope Index

              ExternalUpdates.storedata

    Move those files to the Desktop, leaving the window open. Other files in the folder may have longer names that begin as above. Move those files, if any, to the Trash.

    Relaunch Mail. It should prompt you to re-import your messages. You may get a warning that the index is damaged and that Mail has to quit. ClickOK. Typically, the process takes a few minutes, but it may take hours if you have gigantic mailboxes. In that case, you may be able to speed things up by temporarily adding your home folder to the Privacy list in the Spotlight preference pane. Remove it when Mail has finished importing.

    Test. If Mail now works as expected, you can delete the files you moved to the Desktop. Otherwise, post your results.

  • by tarcarter,

    tarcarter tarcarter Oct 30, 2014 6:48 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2014 6:48 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks for the info, Linc!

     

    I've been having this same problem, and rebuilding the mailbox (as mentioned elsewhere) usually solves it only temporarily -- the same mailbox will have the same problem with different messages (two messages having their sender and subject switched) within a few days. Before I try this, I noticed other files with the same names and a "shm" or "wal" suffix (e.g. "envelope index-shm", "Envelope Index-wal"). Should I move those to be rebuilt as well, or will that cause some problems?

     

    Thanks!

     

    OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

    Mail Version 7.3 (1878.6)

  • by pj1712,

    pj1712 pj1712 Dec 20, 2014 2:24 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Dec 20, 2014 2:24 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks Mate, worked brilliantly. Was working on a friends computer for over 2 hrs to fix the problem and still no luck, than read your solution. Now working well again!

  • by debored,

    debored debored May 20, 2015 12:43 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 20, 2015 12:43 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Linc,

    Thank you for the very detailed and easy to follow instructions. I'd tried rebuilding; I'd tried synchronizing; and nothing had worked, but this worked like a charm. Thank you SO MUCH!

  • by pigeonpieandchips,

    pigeonpieandchips pigeonpieandchips Nov 4, 2015 4:06 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 4, 2015 4:06 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Hi Linc,

     

    Just to say a massive thanks for this information. I have just started using apple mail for the first time on 10.11.1 and this same problem has appeared. Needless to say I was less than impressed with the robustness of the mail app but your solution has fixed it for me. thanks once again.

     

    David

  • by Karbonara,

    Karbonara Karbonara Jan 21, 2016 2:28 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2016 2:28 AM in response to Linc Davis

    I've noticed this very same problem for quite some time now, and finally got disturbed enough to start looking for a solution (mainly because, for some reason it hasn't affected the folders I use the most).

     

    I found this thread in less than a minute - and your answer solved it.

     

    Great thanks!

  • by Pamela Winn,

    Pamela Winn Pamela Winn Feb 9, 2016 5:50 PM in response to Karbonara
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Feb 9, 2016 5:50 PM in response to Karbonara

    Does this leave all your archived email and locally stored messages intact?

  • by nosnittap,

    nosnittap nosnittap Apr 4, 2016 4:39 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 4, 2016 4:39 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thank you, sir.  Worked like a charm

  • by matthewfromvan nuys,

    matthewfromvan nuys matthewfromvan nuys Aug 10, 2016 1:19 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 10, 2016 1:19 PM in response to Linc Davis

    I have a similar problem where messages are showing the incorrect header and subheader, but the messages themselves are also modified in a strange way. When viewed on any other device, they read as normal, but they look like spam on this one machine. Now I can't use this machine to check mail because I might mistakenly delete an important message.

     

    I tried your suggestion, Linc Davis, and it seemed to work for a short while, but things are incorrect again.

     

    Here are a couple screen shots showing my situation.

     

    On my iPad, the message loads correctly, and here's how the mailbox looks:

    IMG_0491.PNG

    On my iMac, this is how the inbox looks:

    Screen Shot 2016-08-10 at 1.10.10 PM.png

    The actual message appears to be embedded in the spam message at the bottom:

    Screen Shot 2016-08-10 at 1.18.26 PM.png

     

    Anyone have any suggestions?

  • by matthewfromvan nuys,

    matthewfromvan nuys matthewfromvan nuys Aug 10, 2016 1:24 PM in response to matthewfromvan nuys
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 10, 2016 1:24 PM in response to matthewfromvan nuys

    Also, I just noticed that once deleted, the message is formatted correctly and reads correctly. The issue only happens in the inbox.