Why does Apple Mail destroy email contents?

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Level 1

24 points

Why does Apple Mail destroy email contents?

There's obviously a bug in Apple mail (or is it the operating system?) that it seems, no one wants to acknowledge - especially Apple; which therefore it doesn't need to fix.

The eraisng of emails is infuriating, frustrating and really bad for running the business (destroyed invoices & receipts etc).

Is there a genuine work-around (apart from rebuilding the mailbox; or opening in safe mode etc)? Or is this something that Apple simply doesn't want to throw a small amount of its $billions at to rectify once and for all?

One of the most frustrating aspects is that the contents of the email can be seen in the email list - but on opening - the email is blank?¿? Huh¿?¿ Go figure!¡!

Very frustrated - and very angry!!!

iMac 27", macOS 10.14

Posted on Oct 28, 2019 2:52 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Old Toad

Level 10

210,615 points

Oct 31, 2019 4:51 PM in response to Edward Cox

Copy the report

and use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply. How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine what's causing the problem..

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,758 points

Oct 29, 2019 3:28 AM in response to Edward Cox

Sounds like you need to rebuild your mailboxes.

All of the raw messages are indexed into a database. You see the output of the database in the lists in Mail. When you open a message, it fetches the raw data from the message linked to the UI with the database.

If that database isn't working right, you would see what you describe. The Rebuild command from the Mailbox menu will re-index your email messages. That might restore your messages.

Do you have a backup?

Where is the email stored? Locally or on the email server?

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Answer 3

Edward Cox Author

Level 1

24 points

Oct 30, 2019 4:51 PM in response to Barney-15E

Hi Barney,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I have rebuilt mailboxes many times over - all that does is reproduce a host of empty emails.

Where is this database of raw messages that you speak of? Maybe I should investigate the source.

I have read many times of this occurring in Mail - it's a common theme.

It seems the elephant in the room is - 'why is this occurring at all - ever?' I have many apps that are basically databases (DEVONthink, MacJournal, Scivener, etc) nothing like this ever occurs - however many folders, subfolders (many levels of subfolders) - so why does this occur with Apple's Mail app? And why has this discussion been going round the internet for years (it seems) without Apple addressing the issue?

Here endeth my bleat!

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Answer 4

Edward Cox Author

Level 1

24 points

Oct 31, 2019 12:05 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hmmmmm…… Amazing! Very interesting.

Though… unfortunately, not a file that I can decipher. Thanks anyhow.

So back to the elephant in the room question.

Why is the Mail database becoming corrupted - whereas all other databases that I use sail on forever - totally impervious to all that might want to do damage?

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,758 points

Oct 31, 2019 3:32 PM in response to Edward Cox

Hmmmmm…… Amazing! Very interesting.

Though… unfortunately, not a file that I can decipher. Thanks anyhow.

It's a Sqlite3 database. If you don't know SQL, it won't make any sense at all.

If you are just opening it as a text file, it will be completely garbled.

You can just delete the file along with the shm and wal files of the same name. Mail will rebuild them. However, that should be what happens when you Rebuild the Mailbox. It may be something else causing your problem.

Why is the Mail database becoming corrupted

I don't know why yours has (or what the actual problem is). Mine has never had any problems.

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Answer 6

Oct 31, 2019 3:38 PM in response to Edward Cox

Edward Cox wrote:

Why is the Mail database becoming corrupted - whereas all other databases that I use sail on forever - totally impervious to all that might want to do damage?

One potential cause of corruptions is add-on junk apps; add-on cleaners, add-on anti-malware, malware, that sort of thing.

Another potential cause can be a hardware problem, though that usually effects more than mail.

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Answer 7

Edward Cox Author

Level 1

24 points

Nov 3, 2019 2:34 PM in response to Barney-15E

Hi Barney,

Brilliant - Thanks for sharing.

I've heard of SQL in my long and murky life - but have never studied or used it - therefore, as you quite correctly summised - completely garbled. So - although of great interest - not really much help at this stage.

Though, I do greatly appreciate being made aware of that aspect of the Mac's inner world.

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Answer 8

Edward Cox Author

Level 1

24 points

Nov 4, 2019 2:33 AM in response to Old Toad

Hi Old Toad,

Thanks so much for the headsup regarding this superb bit of kit. It certainly seems to have done the trick.

I downloaded EtreCheck - upgraded to the PowerPack - ran it - it found three Major Issues. If I remember correctly Flash, Java and something to do with DEVONthink (possibly as a result of Flash and or Java).

Etrecheck makes it easy to see where the offending bits live - so I trashed all of that. I also made sure that all evidence of Flash and Java were totally removed my system (or at least as far as I can ascertain using the techniques found on line).

Everything certainly seems to running more smoothly now - but more importantly - Mail doesn't seem to be erasing emails any more.

I'm still finding some erased emails - but they date from well before EtreCheck entering the fray - so I'm hoping that they are evidence of the negative effect of the Major Issues found - rather than an ongoing issue.

Though, if the issues is ongoing - I shall take you up on sending a report through - and hope that you or your colleagues might be in a position to decipher what's going on. But at the moment - that's hopefully not necessary.

Thanks to everyone for your time, effort and input.

Regards

Edward

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