Mac Mail Window Opens Spontaneously at Random

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Mac Mail Window Opens Spontaneously at Random

I see similar issues described in other threads here, but no solutions seem to be described, so I guess I'll try again. Some of the threads I've read seem to just stall with the original poster apparently giving up. The web has several discussions about this that Google turns up and many suggestions for curing this problem, none of which have worked for me. So this isn't a problem secular to me. So were goes:

Mac Mail opens its window spontaneously when I'm doing something else. No new mail message is there when it does this. As long as I am not operating in full screen mode, the Mail window opens under the active application. If I am in full screen mode, say watching a video, it opens on half the screen, displacing the application showing the video.

One suggestion here in the Apple forum suggested starting in Safe Mode, which I have done. I am uncertain whether this cures the problem, because it happens randomly, with no predictable interval. Once I restart normally, the problem persists, so whatever things Safe Mode clears out seem to be unrelated to my trouble.

This problem began plaguing me on a late 2012 27" iMac sometime ago, although I can't say when for sure. It transferred with Migration Assistant to my new 2019 27" iMac. I debated about beginning from scratch when the new machine arrived, but that is a pain in its own right. Is there a solution for this problem that is known to work?

iMac 27", macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 27, 2020 2:28 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Malcolm J. Rayfield

Level 7

23,095 points

Apr 30, 2020 4:43 PM in response to hawkmoth

Don't count on erasing and reinstalling fixing this. When I got my new Mac mini last year I did not restore from my Time Machine backup or use Migration Assistant. I copied my iTunes and photo libraries from the backup but downloaded any apps from the developers sites. I did all app and OS setting manually and entered iCloud and Gmail account info. Mail started opening spontaneously every few hours. The only way to stop it was deactivating the Gmail account in Mail. I logged into Gmail and set it to forward all incoming Gmail to my iCloud mail.

There were no left over preferences, settings, or hidden files from the old computer, just a completely new Mac OS. The problem is being caused by something being sent from Gmail that Apple Mail should either ignore or give an error message, instead of just opening its Mail window.

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,499 points

Apr 28, 2020 4:17 PM in response to hawkmoth

Hmmmm, this is pretty strange and I think we should try this...

Open Terminal and run each of these one at a time

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

sudo /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -seed -lint -r -f -v -dump -domain local -domain system -domain user -domain network

killall Dock

sudo mdutil -E /

sudo mdutil -i on /

Rebuilding a drive index can take a long time, so be prepared to wait whether you do it through the System Preference panel or the command line.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,499 points

Apr 27, 2020 4:55 PM in response to hawkmoth

Hello,

I see a lot of threads where the Original Poster never replies after some suggestions, makes it difficult to followthrough to the end, but do admit a small percentage never get solved even at length. I try to be in for the long haul, but have no formal Computer training.

You can save us asking dozens of questions by submitting a report...

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 if you capture the URL while there…

https://pastebin.com/

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.

There is also free Malwarebytes which may take care of it...

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

250,499 points

Apr 27, 2020 6:46 PM in response to hawkmoth

Well, could be anything, report didn't help as much as I thought, but delete this file...

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.adobe.ARM.***.plist

~ 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.

Then as a test see how long you can run on safe mode to see if it happens in that mode...

Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at startup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode?

I'm suspecting one or more of the User Login Items:

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,499 points

Apr 28, 2020 8:17 PM in response to hawkmoth

The sudo and following are all one line...

sudo /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -seed -lint -r -f -v -dump -domain local -domain system -domain user -domain network

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Answer 6

hawkmoth Author

Level 1

30 points

Apr 29, 2020 5:46 AM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

Try using the yellow (Minimize) button to close the Mail window instead of the red (Close) button. In Dock system preference you can enable "Minimize windows into application icon" to avoid creating an extra dock icon.

Malcolm J. Rayfield wrote:

Try using the yellow (Minimize) button to close the Mail window instead of the red (Close) button. In Dock system preference you can enable "Minimize windows into application icon" to avoid creating an extra dock icon.

Thanks for this suggestion. I knew already that it works. But Mail is the only application where that is needed on a routine basis, and it did not used to be necessary. Another iMac in the house (my spouse's) does not behave this way. In the end, though, this might be what I have to resort to doing.

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

250,499 points

Apr 30, 2020 10:14 AM in response to hawkmoth

Very interesting, thanks... brings up the question, have we disabled Sys Prefs>Notifications>Mail ?

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Answer 8

BDAqua

Level 10

250,499 points

May 1, 2020 10:37 AM in response to hawkmoth

OK, that doesn't appear to be it.

As a test...

In Mail>Prefs>General set it to Manual, does it still pop Mail up if you don't manually check for Mail?

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Answer 9

hawkmoth Author

Level 1

30 points

May 2, 2020 10:05 AM in response to BDAqua

It appears that changing the mail checking to Manually cures the random popups. I think it may be too soon to be sure, but I haven't had another episode while that option was selected. I will watch for the rest of today. However even if this works, it is not a permanent solution. I would deal with the annoyance of the popups, rather have no notification of new mail.

Things were going well enough that I thought another experiment was in order, so I set Mail to be checked on a schedule, every 15 minutes. That is not a solution. Mail still pops up without provocation with that setting.

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Answer 10

hawkmoth Author

Level 1

30 points

May 3, 2020 5:40 AM in response to mrokloricred37

APPLEAL wrote:

This has gone on for months. Apple is aware of the problem though nothing seems to be done to fix it. They claim it is a Google/AOL issue. This happens to me on 2 Catalina macs 2014 and 2019 as well as a High Sierra imac. All "proposed fixes" have not worked. Switching mail providers has worked, but I prefer Mail.

I hope something gets done soon.

I have little doubt this is associated in some way with Gmail accounts. (I wasn’t aware that AOL is also a problem.) And if it really were Google’s issue, why don’t other mail clients suffer the same behavior?

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Answer 11

Apr 28, 2020 8:14 PM in response to hawkmoth

Try using the yellow (Minimize) button to close the Mail window instead of the red (Close) button. In Dock system preference you can enable "Minimize windows into application icon" to avoid creating an extra dock icon.

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Answer 12

hawkmoth Author

Level 1

30 points

Apr 30, 2020 1:51 PM in response to hawkmoth

Here is another random piece of information about my Mail installation: When I open Mail from a completely closed state, the usual dot appears below it on the dock when I click the icon once. It takes a second click to actually open the Mail window. No other app behaves this way. All of them open to their main window with a single click. I have no idea whether that is in any way relevant, but it is another oddity.

So far, Mail has not opened its window spontaneously since I turned off all notifications. I do not yet regard this a definitive, though.

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Answer 13

May 2, 2020 9:22 PM in response to hawkmoth

This has gone on for months. Apple is aware of the problem though nothing seems to be done to fix it. They claim it is a Google/AOL issue. This happens to me on 2 Catalina macs 2014 and 2019 as well as a High Sierra imac. All "proposed fixes" have not worked. Switching mail providers has worked, but I prefer Mail.

I hope something gets done soon.

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Answer 14

hawkmoth Author

Level 1

30 points

May 4, 2020 11:55 AM in response to BDAqua

Carbon Copy Cloner can send email when it finishes a backup. I don't have that set up, though. But the backup happens late at night, so no one would be there to watch to see if Mail opens when it finishes.

I think I am done trying to figure this out, unless there is another likely idea. For the time being, I will learn to minimize the active Mail window to the dock (yellow button), instead of closing it, but leaving it running in the background (red button). Or, I will hold my nose and change over to Outlook 365.

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Answer 15

hawkmoth Author

Level 1

30 points

Apr 28, 2020 4:20 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for sticking with me. Could you give me a bit of information about what those commands are meant to do?

in the meantime, earlier today, I reinstalled the operating system, but without erasing the disk. I’ve been watching since then to see if that had a good erect.

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Mac Mail Window Opens Spontaneously at Random

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