macOS Ventura Apple Mail messages are blank / empty

This seems to be an intermittent yet long-lived bug i.e. it keeps coming up version after version. This is currently happening to me on Ventura 13.0.1 and Apple Mail 16.0. I do not see any pending updates. I am not running antivirus or vpn software.


I have done the following:

• turned off all checkboxes on the Preferences > Privacy pane; restarted Mail.

• opened the email in its own window.

• rebuilt the inbox (select inbox, click Mailbox > Rebuild); restarted Mail.


Still can't see the email.


I can see the message body if:

• I open the email in icloud.com

• I forward the email in the desktop client


Things I have not tried yet:

• safe boot

• resetting Apple mail preferences


Reference posts are below; only in one of them has the poster reported back that they got it working (they were running anti-virus software (Avast) but that doesn't apply to me).


Email body not visible on Apple Mail Clie… - Apple Community

https://www.sanebox.com/help/29-apple-mail-emails-are-appearing-blank

Body of email messages appears blank - Apple Community

OS12 Mail message content is blank - Apple Community

Emails in Apple Mail just went blank - Apple Community

Blank Mail body - Apple Community

Email Contents Blank Since Upgrading To M… - Apple Community

icloud mail content invisible in 12.0.1 - Apple Community

Mac mail messages appear blank - Apple Community

Blank email body - Apple Community

Mail Not Working on Your Mac? Here’s How to Fix Any Apple Mail Problem










MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.0

Posted on Dec 19, 2022 9:58 AM

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Posted on Oct 6, 2023 10:34 AM

Further information:

The update to Sonoma did not resolve this. In fact the Mail and Safari problems got worse after the update, as did a number of other issues which I had been experiencing.

I had previously been advised by Apple Support to carry out an Erase and Install but this did not resolve the problems.

I have been to the Genius Bar today and they have completely reformatted my Mac.

The Genius carried out a lot of tests but no problems were found with the hardware. He said he thought the problems might have been caused by restoring from Time Machine. I'm not convinced but we'll see. I have manually copied the files I need back to the machine and installed only the Apple iWork Apps. I will give it a day or so to see what happens. All the nonsense with the machine and now a second Erase and Install has wasted a great deal of my time. I will not be very patient with my next contact with Apple Support should that be necessary . . .

John

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51 replies

Mar 18, 2023 2:04 PM in response to tbirdvet

Update. I had the "show remote images" set to off in Outlook which is why I thought it had no/little content. I reinstalled MS Outlook and no issue with the mail content. I tested Outlook side by side with Apple Mail and when I got an email with no content on Apple Mail it showed full content in MS Outlook. I guess I can assume this is an Apple mail issue only. I may stay with outlook unless Apple can fix this issue.

Apr 7, 2023 1:06 PM in response to Shummeister

Issue: “mail has no content”


This is not the easiest fix but the only one that worked for me (should work for either Monterey or Ventura):


 After trying every suggestion, I finally (as a last resort) booted into recovery, erased my drive and reinstalled the OS (Monterey, 12.6.3).  I then migrated my files, apps, etc. from my TM backup.  This fixed the mail issue.  I tested this for the last 7 days (150 emails) and the mail is rock solid.  I’m guessing somewhere along the way after some OS security update the issue started. 


NOTE:  Before reinstalling the OS I tried updating to Ventura but the issue continued.  I also tried just reinstalling the OS not touching the data volume but that did not work.  I had to erase the drive and start over.

Jul 15, 2023 5:45 AM in response to suewestlake

That is a marvelous idea. I should have thought of this myself :-). In the past, I used to do this regularly. But somehow after upgrading to Ventura, I haven't found the time to install the related Onyx version.


I ran Onyx maintenance, and things have been stable now for a while, without black/white screens and missing buttons. Though, I did get a purple screen once, while presenting with Keynote (restarting Keynote fixed that). Let's hope this is a permanent solution.


A friend of mine mentioned that he solved this problem by aggressively clearing caches and deleting unneeded application files. That took him two days. So, I didn't fancy going in that direction. Probably, Onyx does a similar thing, but then automatically.

Jul 22, 2023 12:42 AM in response to ws_tom_v

Running Onyx fixes the problem temporarily for me but it comes back.


I've discovered that relaunching the Finder from  > Force Quit also fixes it temporarily.


When the problem with blank e-mail occurs I have also noticed that concurrently when entering something in the search field in Safari and pressing Return, nothing happens. Again re-launching the Finder fixes this temporarily for me . . .

Jul 24, 2023 6:15 AM in response to Old Toad

I tried Safe Boot for about 20 minutes and the problem did not re-appear in that time. However, the problem does not always appear very quickly anyway. I had to re-boot to normal operation as things I require are not available in Safe Boot mode.

I have now reported the issue to Apple via Feedback Assistant and ask everyone else who is seeing this problem to do so as well. The more people report a problem, the more attention it may get. Apple Feedback Assistant is here: https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/


Sep 3, 2023 1:49 AM in response to JJGraphics

I eventually spoke to Apple Support and the techie also suggested doing an erase and reinstall of macOS as, in addition to the glitches with Mail and Safari, the Data volume on my nearly new Mini M2 Pro had become slightly corrupted.

I've now had the opportunity to do that and then restored everything from a Time Machine backup but unfortunately all that effort has not fixed the problem with Mail and I'm still occasionally seeing the issue with Safari where entering an address and pressing Return does nothing. (Quitting Safari and re-starting it with the Shift key pressed usually, but not always, solves that problem – sometimes a reboot is necessary).

As I said previously, rebooting the Mac temporarily clears the issue with Mail and the messages become visible again.

I am also now seeing occasional glitches and freezes with other applications I use which have never happened previously. I'm beginning to wonder if there is coincidentally a hardware problem with my new Mac. My next move will be another call to Apple.

I have also reported the problems via Apple Feedback Assistant but have not had a response.

Sep 18, 2023 10:25 AM in response to MsFjordstone

I have still not had a chance to pursue these irritating issues with Apple vis-a-vis my new Mac mini as I am very busy but hope to do so in the next couple of days. Hopefully we will see a change with Sonoma but I'm not holding my breath.

Agree that rebuilding the index fixes the problem temporarily in Ventura but has no effect on the coincidental issue of Safari becoming unresponsive when Mail plays up.

I have also noticed that the Mac is very reluctant to re-start when these issues occur and sometimes has to be forced to re-start by holding th power button.

macOS Ventura Apple Mail messages are blank / empty

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