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Mojave Mail: Unread Messages Not Displaying In Left Pane

For some reason, the unread messages count is not displaying the left panel in Mojave Mail. It shows in the dock, and in the favorites bar, but not the left pane.


See image below.



Not sure what setting is tripping it up...

Posted on Sep 10, 2019 12:31 PM

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Posted on Sep 11, 2019 4:03 PM

Are you using "Classic" or "Normal" mail mode (in Mail Preferences select the "Viewing" icon and then try the opposite mode from what you're now using) -- does that make a difference? Does switching it back stay the same?


Is this a POP or an IMAP account?


Do the unread messages in the main window indicate they are unread or read (there is a big blue dot to the left of the bold from/subject text)? I wonder what would happen if you manually marked some messages as "unread" -- does that change the count displayed? -- to try this just highlight a couple of read messages then in the Message menu item click on "Mark as unread" -- again messages that have been read do not have a big blue dot to the left of the from/subject line.


Does the Mail "Window" menu item show the correct unread count for the Inbox at the bottom of the menu list?


Try creating a filter that saves some messages to a new mailbox and then force the rule to run (need to select a range of messages before running rules with Option+Command+L -- does that mailbox show a count? First create a new mailbox called "xxx-test" the just create a rule that says that if any message has your name in it move it to the xxx-test mailbox -- don't forget to select/highlight a few messages before applying the rules -- does the xxx-test mailbox show a count?


Just some stabs in the dark to get Mail unconfused.


Good luck...

15 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 11, 2019 4:03 PM in response to MJX

Are you using "Classic" or "Normal" mail mode (in Mail Preferences select the "Viewing" icon and then try the opposite mode from what you're now using) -- does that make a difference? Does switching it back stay the same?


Is this a POP or an IMAP account?


Do the unread messages in the main window indicate they are unread or read (there is a big blue dot to the left of the bold from/subject text)? I wonder what would happen if you manually marked some messages as "unread" -- does that change the count displayed? -- to try this just highlight a couple of read messages then in the Message menu item click on "Mark as unread" -- again messages that have been read do not have a big blue dot to the left of the from/subject line.


Does the Mail "Window" menu item show the correct unread count for the Inbox at the bottom of the menu list?


Try creating a filter that saves some messages to a new mailbox and then force the rule to run (need to select a range of messages before running rules with Option+Command+L -- does that mailbox show a count? First create a new mailbox called "xxx-test" the just create a rule that says that if any message has your name in it move it to the xxx-test mailbox -- don't forget to select/highlight a few messages before applying the rules -- does the xxx-test mailbox show a count?


Just some stabs in the dark to get Mail unconfused.


Good luck...

Sep 11, 2019 1:48 PM in response to MJX

Wonder if you click on the "Mailboxes" icon to the left of the "Inbox (1)" to hide the Mailboxes pane, then click again to show it -- does that make a difference? Does the same thing happen in a different login?


Wonder if you have a corrupted/bogus envelope index file -- see the discussion at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3780528 -- they talk about exiting mail, then removing the files "Envelope Index", "Envelope Index-shm" and "Envelope Index-wal" located in the ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData folder, but on Mojave, that is now named ~/Library/Mail/V6/MailData -- then restarting Mail to rebuild these index files -- the rebuilding process may take a while if you have a lot of mail (I did this on my 25K mail contents and it took about 5 minutes on a fast internet connection). Suggest just moving these files to your Desktop or some other temporary location in case there is a problem. Also suggest doing a full backup before experimenting in case there are problems. If Mail rebuilds these files correctly, remove the ones you removed as they are no longer needed.


Another idea is to create a smart folder that does the same thing as "Inbox" and others that are not correct. Let us know if you want help in trying this idea...


Good luck...

Sep 12, 2019 7:30 AM in response to dot.com

First up, thanks for trying to help me resolve this! Now, onto your suggestions...


  1. I'm using the "Normal" layout mode. I tried using Classic, but it didn't help.
  2. It is an IMAP account. There was a time this all worked fine...
  3. The unread messages do have a big blue dot beside them.
  4. I tried marking messages as "unread", but it didn't help.
  5. The Mail Window menu item does show the correct count (both read & unread).
  6. I tried creating a new mailbox and your rule, and yes - *that folder* does indicated the number of unread messages in the left pane. I'll attach a screengrab.




Sep 11, 2019 2:46 PM in response to dot.com

Unfortunately... none of those ideas worked. :(


  1. Clicking the mailbox icon didn't help.
  2. Tried fixing the envelope file. It rebuilt, but didn't fix the issue.
  3. Tried creating a new user and set up mail there. For a second it showed me the number uncounted messages in the left pane... but then disappeared!


So... I'm at a loss. -_-

Sep 12, 2019 8:14 AM in response to MJX

IMAP means that everything is synchronised between the server and your mac: that my take time!

Give Mail that time....

I have 8 email addresses, and about 50'000 mails on the servers and my mac, and many with attachments: I am lucky that I don't have to sync them again. After you think that everything is really synced (just the number is no indication of that), you can quit Mail, then restart to see if it was really ready, if not it will go on syncing.


Sep 12, 2019 4:07 PM in response to MJX

Perhaps a call to Apple support or a visit to your local Apple store and see if one of the Genius folk have some ideas?


From what you describe, Mail knows the correct count for unread messages but is not showing that for the "Inbox" or other folders for some reason. Since a second account exhibits the same incorrect behavior, it really looks like some sort of bug in Mail and you might want to report it as such and reference this discussion thread.


Good luck...

Mojave Mail: Unread Messages Not Displaying In Left Pane

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