Apple Mail slow to connect to IMAP and Exchange mailboxes

Question

Level 1

8 points

Apple Mail slow to connect to IMAP and Exchange mailboxes

In the past few days, Apple Mail has started to take a very long time to display the mail in my accounts when I click on an inbox or on a mailbox in the sent or drafts folders. Outgoing messages sometimes take many minutes -- as long as 20 or even 30 -- to send. I have 11 email accounts, which includes two Exchange accounts with three shared inboxes, one iCloud account, two Gmail accounts and some good old-fashioned IMAP accounts.

Mail is also very slow to perform searches.

I tried restarting in safe mode and that did not help. I've also hit rebuild a few times and I can't tell if that's done anything or not.

I'm running OS 10.13.6 on a MacBook Air. Mail is v.11.5 and I have SmallCubed's Act-On and Tags installed, but uninstalling them made no difference either.

Everything else on my computer is working more or less fine, except for two things, one which might be related:

I recently installed an HP LaserJet M254 printer, which my computer connects to wirelessly. When I send something to the printer it takes a long time (maybe a minute, maybe longer) to connect to the printer. When I print something from my phone, it prints instantly (as advertised by HP!). So I wonder if the issue is the way my computer connects to my network.
The second thing has existed for a long time: when I switch to the Messages app, it often takes 40-60 seconds to switch.

I hope someone has some ideas!

Madeline

MacBook Air

Posted on Feb 17, 2020 5:44 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Feb 26, 2020 7:25 AM in response to madkoch

Madeline,

Make a New Location, Using network locations in Mac OS X ...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2712

System Preferences>Network, top of window>Locations>Edit Locations, little plus icon, give it a name.

System Preferences>Network, click on the little gear at the bottom next to the + & - icons, (unlock lock first if locked), choose Set Service Order.

The interface that connects to the Internet should be dragged to the top of the list.

Sys Prefs>Network>highlight the Interface you're using>Advanced>TCP/IP>Configure IPv4: Using DHCP.

If using Wifi, instead of joining your Network from the list, click the WiFi icon at the top, and click join other network. Fill in everything as needed.

System Preferences>Network>choose interface>Advanced>Proxies Tab, make sure none are set, like for HTTP & HTTPS.

System Preferences>Network, unlock the lock if need be, highlight the Interface you use to connect to Internet, click on the advanced button, click on the DNS tab, click on the little plus icon, then add these numbers...

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

1.1.1.1

9.9.9.9

Apply.

Reply

Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Feb 28, 2020 12:42 PM in response to madkoch

Biggest problem...

Virtual Memory Information:

Physical RAM: 8 GB

Free RAM: 16 MB

Going to slow anything down.

Delete these files, restart & see if things are better...

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.bjango.istatmenus.fans.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.bomgar.bomgar-scc-5D8BEF31.plist

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.bjango.istatmenus.agent.plist

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.bjango.istatmenus.status.plist

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.bomgar.bomgar-scc-sdcust-login-drone-5D8BEF31.plist

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.xerox.printbackd.plist

This last one...

~ tilde indicates hidden Home Library.

Apple hid the Users' Library folders...

Method 1:

From the Finder, select the Go menu at top of the screen, and choose Go to Folder.
In the window that opens, enter ~/Library, and click Go.

Method 2:

Go to the Finder (or desktop).
Hold the Option key on your keyboard, and click the Go menu at the top of the screen.
With the Go menu open, you'll notice that pressing and releasing Option will display or hide the Library choice in this menu.

4 Select Library from the Go menu (while holding down Option) to access the hidden folder.

Reply

Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Feb 28, 2020 10:02 AM in response to madkoch

OK, good it's something else, I fear failing Hard Drive but are you running any Anti-virus Apps?

EtreCheck is a simple little app to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac.

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Pastebin is a good place to paste the whole report...

https://pastebin.com/

Or use the paperclip at the bottom of a Reply to attach the full report here. :)

Workable but harder for me to work with...the Note tool on the bottom of this editor's toolbar, as shown in the image, to copy and paste the output from EtreCheck.

Reply

Answer 4

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Feb 25, 2020 1:19 PM in response to madkoch

Are you using the internet access provider's own WiFi router, or your own?

Are you renting the WiFi router, or do you own your own?

Are you connected to the WiFi router over a WPA2 secured network (requires a password to login).

Reply

Answer 5

madkoch Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 25, 2020 9:11 PM in response to a brody

Thanks for responding!

This happens regardless of whether I am on my home network or elsewhere. But to answer your questions my internet is a cable modem that is in bridge mode, connected to an Apple Time Capsule, and I use a WPA2 network.

Reply

Answer 6

madkoch Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 28, 2020 7:17 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks, BDAqua

I set this up a day or so ago, and have been watching to see if it makes a difference. But it would appear not to.

I have a feeling this has something to do with the way my computer connects to the wifi network. There are a couple of other symptoms that also involve syncing (or maybe loading stuff into the cache?) that are also slow: sometimes when I open Notes, it takes a long time to display the notes; sometimes when I switch to Messages, I get the spinning beachball for a long time; when I send something to my wireless printer, it takes a long time for the computer to send the information to the printer, whereas if I print from my phone it kicks in within seconds.

Today, in Mail, I am having trouble both searching for messages (something now wrong with Spotlight?) and there's a bunch of messages sitting in the outbox not going out. No problem with sending messages on my phone...

Reply

Answer 7

madkoch Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 28, 2020 11:29 AM in response to BDAqua

Oh, I don't like the sound of that!

No, no anti-virus stuff. I installed malwarebytes a couple of weeks ago, ran it and then un-installed it, and I also ran First Aid Repair. It didn't find anything to repair.

Okay, ran EtreCheck with the "no problem, just checking" option. It shows up SmallCubed on the "major issues" list, and I've wondered about that. How do I fix that?

You can see the report here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x2lbbr5gv0j3xbm/MadAir%202020-02-28%20v1.pdf

Reply

Answer 8

madkoch Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 29, 2020 8:35 AM in response to BDAqua

So far, so good. I notice in the Activity Monitor that memory used is now 5.25 gb, cached files are 2.73 gb and the swap used is 1.38 gb. Not knowing what any of that means, I nonetheless assume that the lower figures for cached and swap stuff is a good sign. I also took the opportunity to delete the Wacom tablet stuff, as I rarely use it.

Will keep monitoring...

In the mean time, should I keep using the network location that I created with those DNS settings?

Thanks again for your help.

Reply

Answer 9

madkoch Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 4, 2020 9:20 AM in response to BDAqua

Well, I'm sorry to say that those steps didn't solve the problem. (I didn't change the location, btw.) I have two sneaking suspicions: one is Carbonite, working in the background all the time to back up my files to the cloud, and the other is SmallCubed.

I've been using Carbonite for several years, and I've always suspected it is the reason my battery seems to last less time than other people's, the fan seems to work almost all the time and the computer runs warm.

I also suspect SmallCubed's MailTags because it takes forever to open up the dialogue window to assign tags and projects.

So I might try disabling them one or the other or both for a bit. Unless someone has another suggestion!

Reply

Answer 10

madkoch Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 4, 2020 12:20 PM in response to BDAqua

BDAqua, I meant that way back when you first suggested making a new location, I did that -- and I've been using that new location ever since, without making any subsequent changes. But since those DNS settings aren't making any difference, I could conceivably make a new location without any tweaks, and use that as my default -- thus not reverting back to my old one. (Not that it really makes any difference...)

Reply

Answer 11

madkoch Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 28, 2020 1:21 PM in response to BDAqua

Ah, that Xerox printer thingie is an artefact -- that's my old printer. No longer exists. Will do what you suggest and report back in a day or two. Thanks, BDA.

Reply

Answer 12

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Feb 28, 2020 1:25 PM in response to madkoch

:)

Reply

Answer 13

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Feb 29, 2020 9:44 AM in response to madkoch

Sounds good, yes you're right about VM, & yes I'd use the New Location, but it is easy to switch Locations if you wish... at the top of the Network Pref Pane. :)

Reply

Answer 14

Mar 4, 2020 11:31 AM in response to madkoch

I just want to throw out there

Mail is a horrible application

The synchronization with my iPhone is horrendous (All my stuff is latests versions)

Reply

Answer 15

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Mar 4, 2020 1:11 PM in response to madkoch

Ah, I see, thanks. :)

Reply

Apple Mail slow to connect to IMAP and Exchange mailboxes

Similar questions