Mail is Slow and lagging.

However, CMMX does have some interesting information about Mail.

There are the two Mail-related tools under CMMX’s Cleanup and Speed modules. I typed them as they do not copy and paste.

1

Cleanup -> Mail Attachments

Removes local copies of email downloads and attachments.

Saves local disk space – Removes email attachments as they remain accessible via inbox. 

Optimizes local mail data – Your email won’t be storing hundreds of company logos and other minor attachments.

2

Speed -> Maintenance -> Speed Up Email [Ed. This is one of 8 tools under Speed.]

Re-indexes the envelope database of your Mail application to improve inbox performance and search speed. It is a safe and useful procedure that does not affect your emails in any way.

Usage recommendations:

Slow search within Mail application

Various mailboxes issues

Occasional use is recommended

Apple Mail does already offer Rebuilding and Re-indexing, which MacPaw describes in this article:

https://macpaw.com/how-to/rebuild-mailbox-mac

But Rebuilding must be done one mailbox at a time, and I have dozens. And Re-indexing involves going deep into ~/Library/Mail and finding and deleting certain Envelope Index files which Mail will then rebuild. All that scares me. 

It sounds like CMMX apparently automates Rebuilding and Re-indexing.  

First, there is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus, VPN or security apps on your Mac.  This documents describe what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community and Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support.  

There are no known viruses, i.e. self propagating, for Macs.  There are, however, adware and malware which require the user to install although unwittingly most of the time thru sneaky links, etc.   

Anti Virus developers try to group all types as viruses into their ad campaigns of fear.  They do a poor job of the detecting and isolating the adware and malware.  Since there are no viruses these apps use up a lot of system resources searching for what is non-existent and adversely affect system and app performance.

There is one app, Malwarebytes, which was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community, that is designed solely to seek out adware and known malware and remove it.  The free version is more than adequate for most users.  

CleanMyMac is considered by most experienced users in these forums to be akin to malware. Uninstall it and any other apps in those categories according to the developer's instructions. You can check to see if you've removed all of the supporting files by downloading and running the shareware app Find Any File to search for any files with the application's or the developer's name in the file name.  For CMM software you'd do the following search(es): 

1 - Name contains cleanmymac

2 - Name contains macpaw

Any files that are found can be dragged from the search results window to the Desktop or Trash bin in the Dock for deletion.

FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages.  

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Updated my 2020 MacBook Air to Ventura and the problem has gone away

Francois1975 wrote:

I did reinstall it and that did not work for me. I am still having issues. No one at Apple can figure it out. I just can't believe it.

iMac Pro, macOS 12.3

The current stable release of Monterey including bug fixes, is macOS 12.4

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

App Passwords can only be used with accounts that have 2-Step Verification turned on.

--Create & use App Passwords--

1. Go to your Google Account. https://myaccount.google.com/

2. Select Security.

3. Under "Signing in to Google," select App Passwords. You may need to sign in.

4. At the bottom, choose Select app (Mail) and choose the app you using Select device (Mac) and choose the device you're using.

5. Follow the instructions to enter the App Password.

6. Tap Done.

-Mac Mail Client Configuration-

1. From the menu bar in Mail, choose Mail > Add Account.

2. Select your email provider from the list as other mail account, then click Continue.

3. use 16 digit app password instead of google account password press sign in and it would end up with asking IMAP/SMTP settings.

4. set IMAP and SMTP as follows

-Incoming Mail (IMAP) Server: imap.gmail.com

-Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server: smtp.gmail.com

I have been having the same problems as described here, have re-installed the system on both iMac and MacBook Pro from scratch (one at the Apple Store) but still the mail program fails to download the text of the message into the preview pane at all, or only very very slowly eventually fills in. Meantime, I see the message "downloading" on the lower left hand corner.

Interestingly, another sending mail issue (outgoing mail server list corrupted), seemed to be fixed after the last update of the system. But the slow mail problem persists.

The only workaround I have found is to access our business mail through the web-based interface. Not great as I have multiple e-mail accounts, but at least I see the messages timely.

I do have to report that after deleting CleanMyMac, after 1 full day, my mail is faster. It takes 2 seconds to load each inbox etc. It's still not as fast as it was, and I'm not sure it will last, but it seems that deleting this piece of software has somewhat worked for me. It's very possible it's not the cause as others don't have this software installed and it still persists for some after reinstalling the OS.

Apple, please look into this issue it's causing a lot of headache for MANY of your users.

I believe you're right about Monterey being the source of the issues. I will tell you why ... yesterday, I installed Ventura 13.0 on my 2017 iMac and presto, email display delays seem to have dropped to 2-3 seconds... problem is I have seen this before so I will hold my final verdict for the next week or so.

I just wish Apple would acknowledge that there is/was a technical problem when they are alerted to it and at least advise people of a 'band-aid' fix and that they know about and are dealing with the problem - not much to ask for and as in my case, it would have saved the contents of an entire email account!

Here's hoping!

Except that mail is a major problem for me on Monterey and Ventura, I've had multiple crashes since updating to Monterey 12.6.1 and now also on Ventura 13.0. On both updates I was only able to open mail in safe mode. A major hurdle that even made this possible was deleting the old envelope files and going online to AOL and deleting just about all of my old messages, particularly the sent mail. Once I was able to open mail in safe mode, I could restart the machine and only open mail AFTER the restart. Waking the machine from sleep is still sluggish and it takes a while (minutes)to download new messages and open previews, and the trackpad mouse usually locks up during this process. I still cannot reopen the mail window while the machinbe restarts.

Ventura can be a permanent fix. It was for me.

I have three Macs, in my case, the newest one: 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max is the only one that's really slow ... and only on the Mail app:

I have a M1 MacBook Air, an M1 Mac mini and a 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max.

All are always updated to the lasted Mac OS Monterey (currently 12.5.1)

I have three Mail accounts (Apple iCloud, Gmail, Comcast) all configured in Apple Mail app on each Mac.

M1 MacBook Air and M1 Mac Mini have always been just fine in Mail performance.

Mail performance on the 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max is horrible. Blank Mail windows for 5 to 10 seconds until messages listing are displayed. Switching between accounts takes 10 to 20 seconds until the Mail app messages listing is displayed. I have tried rebuilding mailboxes, no change. Restarting the Mac helps, but then degrades and gets worse until next restart.

Again, only the 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max has poor Mail app performance. All Mail settings are exactly the same on all three Macs.

An update for my Mail issues:

I have three Macs: Mac Mini M1, MacBook Air M1, 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max

Mail is setup identically on all three Macs.

Mail is very slow *only* on MBP M1 Max. I have three Mail accounts online in Mail: Apple, Gmail, xFinity

Mail is painfully slow on message list and view updates. It often will hang on updating views and message lists when switching from one account to another, sometimes minutes.

I discovered that while waiting for Mail to update, if I switch my application context to another app (Safari for example), then Mail immediately updates while I am in Safari. I go back to Mail and switch accounts, view and message list update hangs, go back to Safari and then Mail immediately updates.

For some reason switching to another application causes Mail to instantly update.

Go to: Mail Preferences --> Extensions --> click on the Extension you want to remove and remove it. Close Mail. Reboot the computer. My Apple Mail now loads normally. You may want to remove all Extensions."

Wait and see if it continues to be a solution.

I looked at my Mail Prefs->Extensions, but saw no extensions at all. Nothing to remove.

I got a new iMac that can run Ventura. After updating it to Ventura, Mail is faster, which was not the problem. For the past day, no message fields have been empty, which was the problem. Maybe Ventura fixed Mail.