Accountsd process using huge amounts of CPU and memory

I ran that process as well. Didn't work for me at all. Nothing has. I saw that forum before I even commented on here.

Lastly, you obviously don't own a business or an Exchange account, because that's not even an option for me or our businesses. We have multiple businesses with multiple Exchange emails that have folders and sub folders galore. Those would never even come into sync or show up even if we did that work around.

I could care less about the Calendar, but we live off of our replies, customer replies inside folders. Especially now that most of our 300 employees are working from home.

Updated:

I'm going to test the IMAP theory. I hope it works with folders.

I really don't know why you're giving him —and us— that hollow and scripted answer —from which we're quite tired of. The reality is that there a good amount of people that has this issue after updating to Catalina, and probably there are more our there, but they don't know they have it, even more since these days internet is so ubiquitous.

The issue, at least in my case, arrises when I leave mail app open, I close the lid of the computer and the computer loses internet connexion —at it should, since it was a tethered connection from my phone. I guess that the computer wake ups in power nap mode —if you have this feature enabled on the power settings— doesn't fine any network connection and goes crazy.

I guess that a work around is to disable power nap or close mail app if there is not internet.

I have exactly the same problem since moving to Catalina (I even had waited for 15.1) and I have been working on trying to resolve this since WEEKS. It's the worst problem I've ever experienced on a Mac in 20+ years. It affects my productivity enormously, because I need Apple Mail as a client.

I've spent numerous hours with support, performing all of the typical tasks they request. We could reproduce it under safe mode, with a new user, and also deleting lots of things in the libraries did not lead to any sustainable change.

Due to this (OK, and the new keyboard) I've even decided to immediately move to a new full-spec MacBook Pro 16" from my late 2018 (!) full-spec MacBook Pro. Interestingly, after migrating it was gone and performed well for something like a week until I added a certificate because I had to decrypt an encrypted e-mail that I had received in the past and was readable on my "old" 2018 MacBook Pro. Since adding the certificate, the problem was back on the new machine, so it seems to be related to certificates. I've tried to delete as much keychain data as possible related to my mail accounts (the problem it seems to be Exchange related) and I also removed the certificate from the keychain. Interestingly, the problem persisted even after removing the certificate. One thing I also noticed is, that one e-mail related certificate seems to come back automatically, even if I've deleted it. But this certificate is not the certificate I had needed for decrypting.

Following the final instructions here (https://buymymonkey.wordpress.com/2019/10/27/osx-catalina-cpu-spike-checking-mail-after-upgrade/) brought some days of relief. But now it's back, so maybe it's just a question of time and me adding the certificate just coincided with the problem occuring again. But I personally dont think so, because accountsd is keychain related and this would be a very big coincidence.

It's really frustrating. Even three calls with 2nd level (sadly, with three different people) didn't help. I had to redo many, many things even though I informed them what I had performed in the past on their request. In the end, the last agent just made very unprofessional (and obviously wrong) assumptions about the cause and told me to contact Microsoft, because it's not Apple's fault, also AppleCare just is a hardware guarantee, and with reinstalling everything my problem would be gone.

They just ignored that due to moving to the new computer I was able to pinpoint a possible cause of this - in my opinion - huge problem which clearly is some system bug. Also, no one was able to explain why the deleted certificate keeps coming back.

I'm really surprised that within spending multiple hours in high level support no one ever wanted to look into console or process info which might give clues what it relates to. Sadly, I'm not able to decipher the system information, but I'd say there's lots of indications on errors visible in console.

Apple needs to do something with this problem.

Obviously it's affecting more people than just me, in exactly the same way.

Hi blcmildmay,

Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities! I understand you're running into a performance issue with your Mac when it comes to using your Mail app, and I'd like to help.

It sounds like you did a good job identifying the relation between the high CPU process and the Mail app. Have you tried resetting the SMC: How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support. If not, give that a go. If the issue remains, continue below.

Let's have you boot up into safe mode. It’s a way to start up your Mac so it performs certain checks, repairs, emptying of system cache, and prevents some software from automatically loading: Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support. Once in safe mode, check to see if the same behavior continues when using the Mail app online and offline. Sometimes safe mode can successfully resolve some issues. With this being said, after testing in safe mode, restart and log in as normal to see if that helps resolve the behavior.

If it continues, I will have you test a new user account next, to isolate if this is a user-specific issue, or a system-wide issue. Here’s how: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support. Based on the results in the new user, you could continue to the section titled 'If the issue doesn't happen in the other account' or 'If the issue happens in the other account' to continue troubleshooting.

Keep me posted on the results and status of this behavior.

Regards.

blcmildmay,

Thanks for updating to the latest macOS!

I understand how impacting a behavior like this can be, especially when you need access to your important emails throughout the day in varied environments.

Testing in safe mode and a new user can be helpful in determining if this is a system-wide issue, or user-specific issue. This helps determine the best way to move forward with troubleshooting as well.

Due to the nature of your issue, I would like you to reach out directly to Apple Support, so they can continue investigating this specific behavior further. Feel free to run through safe mode and new user steps, so you can provide the results to Apple Support once you are speaking with them. Use this link to reach out: Contact - Official Apple Support.

Thank you for your time.

Best regards.

I have the exact same issues with my fancy new 16" Macbook... though my CPU shoots up to 400% and the fans RAGE.

It would be great if the OP can tell us if this update fixed their problem.

Does anyone know if the 10.15.3 update solves our problem?

Myself no. I'll definitely look into that if that's a possibility to do so. Thanks. I'm not sure what's doing it. One minute it's mail next it's Adobe creative cloud.

Yeah, Apple is very good about not allowing that and smut on their app store.

Why my previous post has been marked "solved" I don't know.

Sadly, the link does not provide a permanent solution. For me, it still keeps coming back.

lpuerto, GREAT! I did not know about this possible solution – I'll check ASAP! Thanks!