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Mail App randomly opens

Forgive me if this has been posted already. Ive recently noticed the mail app opening randomly while I'm watching something on my Mac in full screen. The mail app opens by itself, for no apparent reason to split screen.


Has anyone else had this occur? I'm using a MacBook Pro, with Mojave 10.14.5 if that helps.


Thanks,

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 8, 2019 4:08 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 20, 2019 8:12 PM

Yes, I am definitely also having this issue... and it is very annoying. I am running macOS Mojave version 10.14.5 (18F132) and Apple Mail version 12.4 (3445.104.11).


To clarify the issue, I am running Mail normally all of the time with the Mail window completely closed (clicked red x in title bar or File > Close ⌘W) but with the application still running in the background (a dot shows below the Mail icon in the dock). Incoming mail notifications work as expected and arrive in the upper right as notifications. These incoming mail notifications do not cause the Mail application window to open, and are not the problem. If I start a video, a game, or really any application in full screen mode eventually the Mail application window will open on its own initiative and consume half the full screen space... so the window is split horizontally (prior full screen app on left half, Mail on the right half). This occurrence is not tied to incoming messages, loss or reacquisition of connectivity to mail server(s), or anything immediately apparent. As a pure guesstimate, I would say it occurs about once every 15-30 minutes.


My typical workaround response is to quit out of Mail and shut the application down completely. This does resolve the issue. But this solution is an annoyance as then I no longer have immediate access to my Mail and I do not get incoming Mail notifications. Additionally, I often forget to completely shutdown Mail prior to playing a video.


This appears to be a relatively common problem...

  1. Mail pops up randomly (Apple / Support Communities / Mac OS & System Software / OS X El Capitan)
  2. Email Opens Randomly (Apple / Support Communities / Notebooks / MacBook Air)
  3. Mail App Randomly Opens into split view with my browser daily with Mojave (Reddit r/macOS)
  4. Solution for those who have the Mail app randomly open a window (Reddit r/macOS)
  5. Mail app opens randomly in MacOS 10.14.5 (StackExchange)
  6. Mail opens a window randomly in split screen with my fullscreen window (StackExchange)


Some suggested solutions and my experience...

  1. Mail > Preferences > General > New Message Notifications picker. Not relevant, does not solve issue.
  2. System Preferences > Users & Groups > (Account) > Login Items. Not relevant, does not solve issue.
  3. Third party software. Still possible, but most likely not relevant. I've closed most 3rd-party software with no change.
  4. Mail > Preferences > General > Prefer opening messages in split view... checkbox. Did not solve issue for me.
  5. Google Calendar solution discussed in link #4 above. Possible solution. Still trying this one. See further notes below.
  6. System Preferences > Mission Control > Displays have separate Spaces checkbox. Didn't work for me, but seemed to cause Mail to start popping up behind non-fullscreen apps. Appeared to make the issue worse for the brief time I tried it.


I do have Gmail, but I have Calendars sync disabled under System Preferences > Internet Accounts > Gmail. (I only have mail sync enabled for Gmail.) So I would think Google calendars would not be a culprit. I did try to follow the instructions in link #4 but the post is one year old and the Google calendar settings seem to be laid out slightly differently than as reported in that post. Either that, or I am misunderstanding the posted instructions. I did just now turn off all calendar notifications as in the following screenshot (most of them were set to email notification previously). If this works, I will report back.


Similar questions

6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 20, 2019 8:12 PM in response to fruzzl

Yes, I am definitely also having this issue... and it is very annoying. I am running macOS Mojave version 10.14.5 (18F132) and Apple Mail version 12.4 (3445.104.11).


To clarify the issue, I am running Mail normally all of the time with the Mail window completely closed (clicked red x in title bar or File > Close ⌘W) but with the application still running in the background (a dot shows below the Mail icon in the dock). Incoming mail notifications work as expected and arrive in the upper right as notifications. These incoming mail notifications do not cause the Mail application window to open, and are not the problem. If I start a video, a game, or really any application in full screen mode eventually the Mail application window will open on its own initiative and consume half the full screen space... so the window is split horizontally (prior full screen app on left half, Mail on the right half). This occurrence is not tied to incoming messages, loss or reacquisition of connectivity to mail server(s), or anything immediately apparent. As a pure guesstimate, I would say it occurs about once every 15-30 minutes.


My typical workaround response is to quit out of Mail and shut the application down completely. This does resolve the issue. But this solution is an annoyance as then I no longer have immediate access to my Mail and I do not get incoming Mail notifications. Additionally, I often forget to completely shutdown Mail prior to playing a video.


This appears to be a relatively common problem...

  1. Mail pops up randomly (Apple / Support Communities / Mac OS & System Software / OS X El Capitan)
  2. Email Opens Randomly (Apple / Support Communities / Notebooks / MacBook Air)
  3. Mail App Randomly Opens into split view with my browser daily with Mojave (Reddit r/macOS)
  4. Solution for those who have the Mail app randomly open a window (Reddit r/macOS)
  5. Mail app opens randomly in MacOS 10.14.5 (StackExchange)
  6. Mail opens a window randomly in split screen with my fullscreen window (StackExchange)


Some suggested solutions and my experience...

  1. Mail > Preferences > General > New Message Notifications picker. Not relevant, does not solve issue.
  2. System Preferences > Users & Groups > (Account) > Login Items. Not relevant, does not solve issue.
  3. Third party software. Still possible, but most likely not relevant. I've closed most 3rd-party software with no change.
  4. Mail > Preferences > General > Prefer opening messages in split view... checkbox. Did not solve issue for me.
  5. Google Calendar solution discussed in link #4 above. Possible solution. Still trying this one. See further notes below.
  6. System Preferences > Mission Control > Displays have separate Spaces checkbox. Didn't work for me, but seemed to cause Mail to start popping up behind non-fullscreen apps. Appeared to make the issue worse for the brief time I tried it.


I do have Gmail, but I have Calendars sync disabled under System Preferences > Internet Accounts > Gmail. (I only have mail sync enabled for Gmail.) So I would think Google calendars would not be a culprit. I did try to follow the instructions in link #4 but the post is one year old and the Google calendar settings seem to be laid out slightly differently than as reported in that post. Either that, or I am misunderstanding the posted instructions. I did just now turn off all calendar notifications as in the following screenshot (most of them were set to email notification previously). If this works, I will report back.


Jun 8, 2019 4:45 PM in response to fruzzl

Hi there, fruzzl!


Thanks for stopping by the Apple Support Communities. If I understand your post, while watching video content in full screen, the Mail app will suddenly pop up, taking your display into Split Screen mode: Mail on one side, your video on the other. I'm happy to help!


There could be a number of reasons that Mail keeps popping up. While we may not be able to determine exactly what is causing it, we can certainly troubleshoot to try correcting the unexpected behavior. Give the following steps a shot, testing between each:


  1. Quit any open apps (saving changes to documents first) by pressing Command+Q while in that app. Then, restart your Mac: How to turn your Mac on or off - Apple Support.
  2. Check for, and install, any available updates for your computer: How to update the software on your Mac - Apple Support.
  3. See if the issue continues in a new user account: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support.


If you still have trouble after that, don't hesitate to respond back. If you do, please include any additional information about what happens when Mail pops up. For example, does it happen while viewing media from multiple sources and apps? Are there any errors (and if so, what are there)?


Have a wonderful weekend!

Jun 10, 2019 2:32 AM in response to chris_g1

I don't know what to tell you. I've done all that you've suggested prior to writing my initial post. There's no change - still occurs. This only seems to occur when I'm in full screen mode with safari. It doesn't matter how many apps are currently open but minimized or open in there back ground. It also doesn't appear to popup due to new mail. Just randomly opens.

Jun 20, 2019 11:19 PM in response to -Alec-

-Alec- wrote:

...This occurrence is not tied to incoming messages, loss or reacquisition of connectivity to mail server(s), or anything immediately apparent. As a pure guesstimate, I would say it occurs about once every 15-30 minutes...

Do you think it could be linked to the "Check for new messages" setting.



Although I'm not sure what can be done if it is because presumably switching to "Manual" turns off the automatic process and therefore will require you to open Mail each time!


You could try switching from automatic to one of the fixed times (or vice versa) to see if it makes any difference though.

Jun 10, 2019 7:52 PM in response to chris_g1

Just following up. Just now while reading a letter in word, the mail app popped up on its own. The program I had open wasn't in full screen mode, nor was I watching a film in Safari. The mail app was open but minimized. When the app opened, there appeared to be no new mail.


Annoyed with this earlier, I had done some investigating. Some believed this was due to a gmail calendar notification setting. So I logged into my account and turned off the setting. This apparently wasn't the cause.


I have three accounts in my mail app currently, live and exchange account and gmail. I cant tell for sure if one of the accounts are causing this specifically or if its just the app itself. From what I'm reading online though, this doesn't appear to be an isolated incident. Others are experiencing this too.


If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to chime in.


Mail App randomly opens

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