Mail keeps crashing

Hey pvdlugt,

Thanks again for trying those steps!

Using the Shift key to open Mail is like using safe mode to start your Mac. It prevents some items from loading.

I'd suggest trying safe mode to start up your Mac, as it does some system checks and may resolve the issue.

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac

Safe mode does take longer to boot up and make your Mac look a bit different, you may see flashing on the screen, which is OK.

Start up normally after testing in safe mode, and see if the issue did get resolved.

If the only way you can successfully use the Mail app is by opening with the Shift key, I'd recommend contacting Apple Support so they can kook further into why this is happening.

Cheers!

Hello pvdlugt,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities! I see you're having an issue with Mail since upgrading to macOS Catalina, and I'd like to help out.

If you haven'y restarted your Mac since noticing this issue, go ahead and do that. It's a simple step, but it can resolve unusual issues.

This article can help If you can’t send email on your Mac.

If you're still having issues, some questions which can help to isolate the issue:

When the Mail app has issues, do you get an error message?

Does your email still send, or do you need to resend it?

Do you have more than one email account? Does this happen with each account?

Cheers!

Hi pvdlugt,

Thanks for replying with the additional information. You've done a great job troubleshooting so far!

Let's see if we can isolate this issue a bit more.

If you quit the Mail app, then open while holding the Shift key, then try to send an email, does that make any difference?

Have you tried to send an email using any of your email provider's webmail? For iCloud, you can test from the iCloud.com webpage. Just sign in with the Apple ID you use for iCloud.

Another test, is to start your Mac in safe mode: Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac

If you can send email successfully in safe mode, restart your Mac normally, and try sending an email again. Safe mode does some system checks and can repair issues.

Lastly, if you're still having the same issue, I would suggest trying with a another user on your Mac. You can make test user following these steps: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac

Then add the iCloud email account and test sending an email. If successful, add one of the other accounts and test, and so on.

Add or remove email accounts in Mail on Mac

Let me know what you find for each test, and we'll continue from there.

Thanks!