Problems with Mail on MacBook Pro

Hi there, Running OS 12.3.1 on my MacBook Pro and Mail Version 16.0


I have several email accounts set up. Everything works fine, except when I get a message I can only look at it once. If I go to another account or anywhere else in mail, when I switch back to my inbox, the message is gone!


I'm also running mail with two old iMacs - OS 10.13.6 and Mail 11.5. Everything syncs together fine with the MacBook Pro.


Everything works fine on the iMacs - but if I look at the message on the iMac before I do on the MacBook Pro, the message will disappear from the MacBook Pro. While no changes on the iMacs. The messages remains until I delete them.


Also - concerning the Sent Mail Folders: All good on the iMacs. Each account has whatever account was used for that message in the sent folder. Each account only has the messages that were sent from that account. But on the MacBook Pro, everything is mixed together in the "All Sent" folder, but the individual account folders are blank.


It's all very strange. I figure there's some settings in the MacBook Pro Mail that I need to tweak, but I can't find anything. Could use some help. Thanks for any in advance.


Posted on Mar 6, 2023 8:44 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 7, 2023 6:45 PM

Hi SProton,


Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities. Does the first issue you mentioned with your emails disappearing occur with a particular account or all accounts on your Mac? This sounds like it may be due to a POP email account. When using a POP account, emails are downloaded from the server to a single computer, then deleted from the server. You can check your email settings from Mail - Official Apple Support to confirm.


In regards to the Sent folders, check to make sure that your Sent folder is correct from Mail > Settings > Accounts > Mailbox Behaviors. It sounds like All Sent may be selected. Check out Change Mailbox Behaviors settings in Mail on Mac - Apple Support for further information.


All the best.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 7, 2023 6:45 PM in response to SProton

Hi SProton,


Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities. Does the first issue you mentioned with your emails disappearing occur with a particular account or all accounts on your Mac? This sounds like it may be due to a POP email account. When using a POP account, emails are downloaded from the server to a single computer, then deleted from the server. You can check your email settings from Mail - Official Apple Support to confirm.


In regards to the Sent folders, check to make sure that your Sent folder is correct from Mail > Settings > Accounts > Mailbox Behaviors. It sounds like All Sent may be selected. Check out Change Mailbox Behaviors settings in Mail on Mac - Apple Support for further information.


All the best.

Mar 8, 2023 7:39 AM in response to SProton

Thanks for reaching out again, Sproton. Before going through the steps of removing the mail account, let's try setting it up again on a test user account. This can help us determine is this is only happening in one location on your Mac: Add a user or group on Mac


Add a user
1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Settings, then click Users & Groups  in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)
2. Click the Add Account button below the list of users on the right (you may be asked to enter your password.)
3. Click the New Account pop-up menu, then choose a type of user.
* Administrator: An administrator can add and manage other users, install apps, and change settings. The new user you create when you first set up your Mac is an administrator. Your Mac can have multiple administrators. You can create new ones, and convert standard users to administrators. Don’t set up automatic login for an administrator. If you do, someone could simply restart your Mac and gain access with administrator privileges. To keep your Mac secure, don’t share administrator names and passwords.
* Standard: Standard users are set up by an administrator. Standard users can install apps and change their own settings, but can’t add other users or change other users’ settings.
* Sharing Only: Sharing-only users can access shared files remotely, but can’t log in to the computer or change settings. To give the user permission to access your shared files or screen, you may need to change options in File Sharing, Screen Sharing, or Remote Management settings. See Set up file sharing and Share the screen of another Mac.
7. For more information about the options for each type of user, click the Help button in the lower-left corner of the dialog.
8. Enter a full name for the new user. An account name is generated automatically. To use a different account name, enter it now—you can’t change it later.
9. Enter a password for the user, then enter it again to verify. Enter a password hint to help the user remember their password.
10. Click Create User.
11. Depending on the type of user you create, you can also do any of the following:
* For an administrator, select “Allow user to administer this computer.”
* Select “Allow user to reset password using Apple ID.” To use this option, the user must have set up iCloud on this Mac. However, this option isn’t available if FileVault is turned on and set to allow the user to reset their password at startup using their Apple ID.
* Use Sharing settings to specify whether the user can share your files and share your screen.
* For information about Apple’s privacy policy, see the Apple Privacy Policy website.
* If your Mac or Magic Keyboard has Touch ID, a new user can add a fingerprint after logging in to the Mac.



Regards.

Mar 8, 2023 4:30 AM in response to faith185

Hi there, Thanks for the reply. I have several accounts set up and the emails disappear on all of them. I'm not using POP. I have IMAP for Incoming Mail and SMTP for Out going mail, as recommended from my website host. As far as the sent folders, they are also set correctly.


As a matter of fact, my setting on the MacBook Pro are "exactly" the same as on my iMacs. I checked all the parameters several times, so I'm sure about that.


I should also mention that when I first set up Mail on the MacBook Pro, everything worked fine. It worked well for several months and then one day, for no apparent reason it stopped working. So, the only thing I can think of doing is trashing everything and setting up mail again. I'd rather not have to do that because of the many accounts involved and it will take awhile. So, if you have any other suggestions please let me know. Thanks for the support!

Mar 8, 2023 11:49 AM in response to Jmanna13

Thanks for the detailed instructions. I set up all my email accounts in a few minutes. That worked great. Both problems are gone, but now I have a few more questions.


How do I copy files from the old set up to the new one? I can't seem to access the hard drive or desktop files on the old set up. There's no Macintosh HD icon on the desktop. All networking functions are fine and I can copy files from my other computers.


But getting back to the original problem. It remains. Do you have any ideas as to what I can do to fix that? I guess I can just switch from my original set up to my new one in a few seconds. Just curious as to why it happened and if it can be fixed. Thanks for the great support!


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Problems with Mail on MacBook Pro

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