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“ This message cannot be displayed”

On my 3rd gen iPad Air, the Mail app has started displaying the error message:


This message cannot be displayed because of the way it is formatted. Ask the sender to send it again using a different format or email program.”


about one time in 10 messages. It has so far only happened in emails that I BBC’d myself. IOW, I am the sender. And I can see the first few words of the original email in the sidebar. So it’s a Mail glitch?


Any know the solution? Thanks.

iPad Air, iPadOS 14

Posted on Oct 7, 2020 7:23 AM

Reply
134 replies

Dec 21, 2020 8:25 AM in response to lwalton

Using Verizon emaiI, I have the same issue. When I bcc myself, I receive the email, and the text is visible in the list of emails, but when I open the email - both in the sent folder and in the inbox - I get this error message:


“This message cannot be displayed because of the way it is formatted. Ask the sender to send it again using a different format or email program.”


Thankfully, the other recipients get the correct email, so the issue is only on my sending phone. What works for me is deleting the copy of the email from the “sent email” folder. Magically, the copy of the email in my inbox is restored to its proper condition.


Dec 23, 2020 6:53 AM in response to Stuyv

StuyV, deleting the sent email also works for me. I am wondering if the problem is that there is limited space in the sent folder, so that as you remove sent messages, more space is created and the issue goes away. IOS 13 had this problem, but it was with the inbox... if you had too many messages in your inbox, the oldest messages disappeared. With IOS 14, that problem disappeared, but now we have an issue with the sent folder. I have a brand new ipad air 4 and I didnt have this issue for several days until emails started to build up in my sent folder and now I have this problem all the time. I am also wondering if the amount of emails in other folders will affect this as well, which is why it seems the issue happens randomly, i.e. clean out some emails in the inbox, more space created, problem goes away until more emails build up. But thanks for the suggestion to delete the sent email. That works!

Dec 30, 2020 4:08 AM in response to PeterPetrum

This is ridiculous already!!!! With ALL THE TECH out there, APPLE STILL CANT FIX THIS ANNOYING PROBLEM???? We should not have to send the email to trash and then bring it back to see it!!!!!!!!! What a MICKEY MOUSE WORK AROUND!!!!!!!! Since ios 14, this has been a RANDOM EVENT on every IOS DEVICE running APPLE MAIL!!!!!!!! REALLY APPLE???????????? Why cant you FIX THIS ANNOYING PROBLEM ???? You have all this spectacular tech, and yet why you cant fix this problem is beyond me?????? Have you even tried???? When you call, you are just advised that noone else has reported this problem. That is total BS and you know it. It even happened in 2012. Then somehow went away. I never had it happen till IOS 14. So, just what is it that makes this issue happen and WHY CANT IT BE ELIMINATED???? WHY CANT YOU GET RID OF THIS?????? It has been happening long enough and noone wants to hear about your mickey mouse work around!!!!!!!!! We want it FIXED!!!!!!!! IS there an APPLE ADVISOR out there who can SHED SOME LIGHT ON WHY THIS IS NOT FIXED AFTER MONTHS OF COMPLAINTS???

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