“ This message cannot be displayed”

I have the same annoying problem every few messages bcc’d to myself

And me - maybe I need to Move it to “Trash” (Bin) and not delete it

Can’t find an edit option for my post above - here is the link https://getsupport.apple.com/?caller=cups&SG=SG004

It starting happening with Os 14. That being said, apparently it happened for a while in 2012. I can’t believe APPLE HAS NOT BOTHERED TO FIX IT, since it’s been around off and on since then!

Did you delete the original email? It should be in Trash/All bins under the date it was sent

lwalton,

Thanks for the update.

While the article titles may not specifically mention the issue you're experiencing, they may help resolve it.

If the issue continues after those steps, reach out for further help here: Get Support

Take care!

I’m having the same problem. Everything was working before. I have an iPhone 11 running 14.0.1. Was working before.

I tried emailing myself. I get the same problem. Am going to test emailing from one of my other accounts and see if the problem persists. Wondering if the latest rev caused an issue? I am not sure when I updated my iPhone. I can check for the last email I sent that said “sent from my iPhone” to get an idea of when it was ok, and a range for when it went south...

I have the same problem with my iPhone 11 after running the latest update. I found a work around on another forum.

=> Delete the message, then go to your trash and move the message back to your inbox. The email should then be readable. Not convenient, but it works.

Apparently this is not a new issue with Apple but seems to have cycled around with various updates. The original message on the other forum was old. Hopefully Apple will fix it on the next update.

I create an email message and get the dreaded

“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.”

iPhone 7, iOS 14.2.

This is still not fixed as of 11 Dec 2020.

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???

I have an iPhone 8 and had this issue for the first time ever today.

Sounds like it’s the same situation as you.

I sent an email (just text) and BCCed myself only to get the same message you did.

I went to the sent folder to open the email there and it said the same thing.

Hopefully the three people I emailed received a legible email and not this error.

Thankfully this issue was resolved when I turned my phone completely off and restarted it. When I opened the email this time it had the contents I had typed.

I hope your situation gets resolved.

Yes, I have read about the fix, but it’s still ridiculous. Have just this morning downloaded the latest version of the software and it fixes all sorts of nonsense in which I’m not interested. What is going on? Eliminate the problem!

I have precisely the same problem WITH MY BRAND NEW IPAD with default settings. Neither the bcc nor sent will display my emails, so I have no record of what I'm sending out. This is awful, given that it's brand new and with default settings.

Amazingly even with 14.4 rollout this week, this is still not fixed. Perhaps next move is complete new install on phone. You would think after dropping a grand for new devices, they should’ve fixed this bug years ago?

I have got same problem as others above. Could see/read the emails yesterday on my iPhone 11 Pro. Today when looked at on iPad 11 pro got the cannot display message wrong format. When went back to phone email could see preview but when opened got cannot display message also now corrupting other messages I’ve already received and read if I try to read them again. Deleting to bin and moving back again doesn’t do anything still corrupted. Tried forwarding but still won’t display and ended up losing one message altogether from the system. Don’t know whether it is linked to syncing between the iPad and iPhone both have been updated recently. Before update had it happen briefly with one email a month ago but resolved after couple of days. Also had problems with email two weeks ago when I couldn’t reply to one I had received just stayed in outbox and wouldn’t send said email settings were wrong. Checked them and all was perfect and email setup confirmed them as ok when reset them but email reply still wouldn’t go. Apple obviously needs to sort out their email programme. Notice I still receive their emails ok. Look forward to someone at Apple reading these comments and actually acting on sorting out the problem. Especially as normal ( I.e. non scrambled) email format is a standardised item across the various platforms so people can communicate.