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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

Mar 8, 2021 7:15 PM in response to lwalton

Same problem on my iPad 4. On select emails, where I have cc’d myself, my own Mail program says ‘contact sender to use different format’. The “move email to trash then back to inbox” workaround works occasionally. I found another workaround: “Reply” to the email. But DO NOT REPLY by touching the arrow in the lower right corner of your screen. Instead, touch and hold on the particular header for your email (the left column where the box is blue when email is selected) and in the pop up menu touch “Reply.” A new message will open, and the original text is visible. What you do with it after this is up to you.

Mar 10, 2021 12:54 AM in response to charontheboatman

i haven’t got bcc to myself on so can’t be problem and also it is occasional emails I’m receiving not sending. As said before believe problem is due to companies including embedded logos with internet links. I.E. company sending email to say item posted and having a logo/link to the carrier company to enable tracking of the parcel. Can view email on iPhone and iPad as a forward to myself from MacBook Pro.

Mar 23, 2021 5:33 AM in response to SP-ALB

Thanks this worked for me, too. Yes inconvenient but it worked. Also, yes, this has been around for a long time. I had it on my 6S, then my X and now on my 12 pro. I just found your suggestion. It’s always been a problem with my own copy of email messages that I bcc myself sent from my iPhone so that I have a record on my MacBook Pro.

Mar 23, 2021 12:35 PM in response to TxbluJ

Some additional info on the problem where you have bcc'd to yourself. If you do the trick of deleting the message in the inbox, and then moving it back from the bin to the inbox, it now displays ok, but the copy in the sent folder has been deleted. If you try moving the message from the inbox to the sent folder (just for a laugh) it disappears completely from all folders.

Apr 1, 2021 2:06 AM in response to FrankDylan

Seem to have two problems here causing the message Can't Display. "One" the people using Bcc which can be switched off to cure it. "Two" problem I have and some others when we receive emails with web links and embedded logos in them e.g. a link to a courier delivering a parcel or restaurant order email with an embedded logo link to its website. Can this thread be split ? as the Bcc problem has a work around but the embedded logo problem seems not to have been resolved or a temporary work around found.

“ This message cannot be displayed”

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