Mail on mac stuck 'moving messages'

Same problem on iMac but MacBook Pro is having no problem. Emails are not downloading I must quit Mail and restart it again before emails download.

Thank you, I will attempt this

I am having exactly the same problem on my MacBook Pro that is now a problem after upgrading my iMAC to Catalina. Moving Messages comes up bottom Left on Mail and they are not Moving!

Is this an Exchange account?

Am I the only one with this problem who doesn't use Exchange? I'm using gmail.

Thanks David. For me, gmail has always worked. I only experienced this problem with Exchange based accounts. I'll keep on digging. Appreciate it. m.

Thanks Lex. I'll go take a look at it and check it out. Appreciate it. m.

If we are all Having these issues how come no one has come forward from Apple support to tell us how to fix it?

Thank you for these instructions as they worked for me.

I can’t move through the email and can’t move the mail

I have exact same problem of Apple Mail not syncing and getting stuck on "moving messages" when I try to delete any emails on my Mac. No problem with iOS Apple Mail app, only on Mac OS Apple Mail is getting stuck, not downloading messages and if I try to delete then gets stuck. The only solution is to delete the Exchange account completely and reinstall which fixes the problem for 10 minutes or so, then exact same issue! Apple needs to release a fix for this ASAP.. otherwise Outlook for Mac will be the only other viable email client :(

I am using macOS Catalina Version 10.15.3 and Apple Mail version 13.0. Emails are on Microsoft Exchange server.

A temporary fix is as follows:

1. Remove all exchange accounts from your Mac.
2. Re-install all exchange accounts.
3. Only use Mac OS Apple Mail to download, read, reply and organise emails in folders - never DELETE any email from Mac OS Catalina Apple Mail client.
4. Only use your iOS (iPhone) Apple Mail app to delete emails from exchange server (or do it on webmail outlook access).

The "moving message" jam only happens when you try to delete emails from Apple Mail on your Mac. As long as you can avoid deleting emails from your computer, it should work fine. I have been trying this for last couple of days, working fine - too scared to try the delete button in case it gets stuck again!

• I have the same issue after last Catalina upgrade - it is an issue synching folders on the Mail client to folders on the server
• It may be the mapping of the trash folder in the client to the trash folder on the server. I'm in the UK and the last upgrade of the Mac Mail Client on Catalina changed "Trash" to "bin"
• The problem is solely in the Mac client and is limited to one way sync from my mail client to the google server. Changes made in the gmail app synchronise to the Mac client fine.
• I’ve tried switching which one the “bin” on my mail client syncs with by going in to Mail >> Preferences >> Mailbox behaviours

But problem still persists preventing syncing of all folders to the server. Except - I can send and receive mail.

It is this problem in the Mac support area

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251018274

Here is a Apple support ID from another user and my support ticket ID

101014877688

101142379717 mine

Any other thoughts on how to remedy? 

Thank you. I was able to narrow it down to the trash folders that weren't synchronising and after deleting all files in the trash folder in the client and on the server, the problem went away.

Thanks

I had the same issue and fixed the problem. The cause is that the ~/Library/Mail folder had the com.apple.quarantine attribute set after the upgrade. As a result, emails could not be moved into the mailbox files from the application. Mail gets stuck in an endless loop of trying to refile the emails and being denied permissions.

Here’s how to see if you have the problem. On the command line in a terminal type:

ls -l@ ~/Library/Mail

If it returns a list of information that contains the attribute “com.apple.quarantine”, you have the problem. The good news is that the solution is trivial. Simply type the following:

sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Library/Mail

This will recursively remove the attribute. I left the Mail application running while typing it in and before the command completed, the “Moving Messages” count went to zero.