David Werner1

Q: Yosemite mail mailbox alphabetical sort doesn't work

Why am I having trouble getting one mailbox into proper alphabetical order, and how can I fix it? It moved a mailbox to end of list, and I can't move it back w/o a lot of trouble, involving possible loss of the mailbox & subfolders along w/ it.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Dec 3, 2014 2:49 PM

Close

Q: Yosemite mail mailbox alphabetical sort doesn't work

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Previous Page 2
  • by MattW214,

    MattW214 MattW214 Jun 21, 2015 11:25 AM in response to David Roach
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 21, 2015 11:25 AM in response to David Roach

    Your first, longer version finally fixed the sorting problem for my gmail IMAP account in Mail. I am running Yosemite 10.10.3. I tried the shortened version first but it did not work. Thanks David!

  • by Jim Houghton,

    Jim Houghton Jim Houghton Aug 13, 2015 11:55 AM in response to David Werner1
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Aug 13, 2015 11:55 AM in response to David Werner1

    Why the everlovin' H does something as simple as putting a vertical list of email folders (and their subfolders) into A-Z order have to be so complicated? I'm not a computer whiz, and I could understand if I were asking it to do something unusual. But ALPHABETICAL ORDER???

  • by swyoung1,

    swyoung1 swyoung1 Aug 24, 2015 8:04 PM in response to David Werner1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 24, 2015 8:04 PM in response to David Werner1

    Alright, guys, I figured out a workaround for this problem. You must first nest the target mailbox in the mailbox you want it to appear above. Once you remove it from the nest, it doesn't matter where you tell it to go, Apple Mail will automatically place it above the mailbox under which you nested it.

     

    Apple Mail v.8.2 (2104)

  • by ikemarrus,

    ikemarrus ikemarrus Aug 27, 2015 3:27 AM in response to David Werner1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 27, 2015 3:27 AM in response to David Werner1

    I think that whoever said that you can reorder mailboxes that are nested inside folders, but not those at the outer level, is correct. I followed advice here to nest a folder that's at the outer level into another folder and drag it back out to the outer level. What I found was, that no matter where I said to put it on the outer level, Mail alphabetized it. So if you want them alphabetized, that worked for me. Am using Yosemite 10.10.4.

  • by Seanfromcanberra,

    Seanfromcanberra Seanfromcanberra Sep 16, 2015 9:31 PM in response to al5555555555
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 16, 2015 9:31 PM in response to al5555555555

    I tried many of these without success. I may have done something wrong.

     

    However, I stumbled on a simple solution. I renamed the mailbox folder by adding a 1 to the end of it (sure any character would work). It immediately placed it in alphabetic order. I then just renamed it by removing the 1. It stayed in place.

  • by ORM999,

    ORM999 ORM999 Sep 19, 2015 2:35 AM in response to Seanfromcanberra
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 19, 2015 2:35 AM in response to Seanfromcanberra

    Hi Team

     

    After weeks of trying everything, backing up, dragging about and messing around. This option worked for me:

     

    Just remember to disable the email folder, before you go into the Terminal and paste this:

    cd ~/Library/Mail/V2/IMAP-EMAILFOLDERNAMEHERE

        find . -name Info.plist -exec rm {} \;

     

    Where the EMAILFOLDERNAMEHERE is you need to replace this with the name of your email folder less the @icloud.com

     

    Heres a guide below but worked perfect for me. Thanks Forum. Andy

     

    https://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/article/nested-imap-folders-in-apple- mail

  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Sep 19, 2015 3:14 AM in response to David Werner1
    Level 6 (10,536 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 19, 2015 3:14 AM in response to David Werner1

    Consider that you have TWO entries to show the accounts in Mail:

    first: Mail->Preferences->Accounts tab

    second: Mail-Accounts.

    I am not sure which one everybody here is taking about.

    You will see that the order in Mail-Preferences-accounts will reflect the order in Mail-Accounts after some time.

  • by cckantor,

    cckantor cckantor Oct 13, 2015 7:10 AM in response to David Werner1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 13, 2015 7:10 AM in response to David Werner1

    This worked! Thank You!

  • by carol1945,

    carol1945 carol1945 Nov 14, 2015 5:45 AM in response to cckantor
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 14, 2015 5:45 AM in response to cckantor

    Same problem!! This is ridiculous.  My folders were all in ABC order for a few months, now they are not.  I need ABC order!!!  I have not tried the workarounds yet, but will try them.  I thought computers were supposed to save us time.  I have a practically brand new macbook pro with retina display.  Bought it maybe 3 months ago.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Nov 14, 2015 10:58 AM in response to carol1945
    Level 9 (73,817 points)
    iTunes
    Nov 14, 2015 10:58 AM in response to carol1945
  • by illumined_horizons,

    illumined_horizons illumined_horizons Jan 2, 2016 11:46 PM in response to David Roach
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2016 11:46 PM in response to David Roach

    excellent, worked like a charm. many thanks, as I've searched around the internet for at least two hours for a fix. thanks again!

  • by saab93viggen,

    saab93viggen saab93viggen Jun 22, 2016 2:41 PM in response to Seanfromcanberra
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 22, 2016 2:41 PM in response to Seanfromcanberra

    This works like a charm in El Capitan, too.  Genius!

  • by rkcarter,

    rkcarter rkcarter Sep 26, 2016 6:32 AM in response to David Roach
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 26, 2016 6:32 AM in response to David Roach

    I was able to do a modification of the longer version and the shortened version. This worked for me on 10.11 (where mail is V3 rather than V2):

     

    • Quit Mail.app
    • In Terminal:
      • cd ~/Library/Mail/V3/IMAP-nameofyouraccounthere
      • mv .mboxCache.plist .mboxCache.plist.OLD
    • (NOTE: I didn't bother messing with the folders' Info.plist files)
    • Open Mail.app

     

    The account's folders were back to being properly alphabetically sorted.

  • by rkcarter,

    rkcarter rkcarter Sep 26, 2016 1:50 PM in response to rkcarter
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 26, 2016 1:50 PM in response to rkcarter

    Aggh, it won't let me edit my post above. I don't know if I had hit an unrelated problem -- I was rebuilding a mailbox in a different GMail account also in Mail.app -- but I was seeing the mailbox rebuild not make progress and couldn't exit mail after doing the above. So I exited, did the above and also did David Roach's find/delete of the Info.plist files, and then mail.app was working properly after all. So disregard my comment about skipping the delete of Info.plist (apparently I can't edit my prior comment after a certain length of time).

Previous Page 2