Reminders app broken on Mac mini M2

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Level 1

16 points

Reminders app broken on Mac mini M2

I recently bought an Apple Mac mini M2, and it's working great except for the Reminders app. I used the Migration Assistant from a Time Machine backup on a portable SSD.

The Reminders app continues to work fine on my other Apple devices, iPad, Apple Watch, and iPhone. It also works using the Safari browser on the mini in the iCloud.com website, so I know I'm using the correct Apple ID.

Symptoms are:

Can’t see any iCloud reminders in Reminders window on Mac
Can’t create any new reminder
Menu option File / New Reminder is grayed out
Menu option File / New List does nothing
Menu option File / New Group does nothing
Menu option File / Templates displays one Template - “illness”. Create List button is grayed out
A new Reminder can be added using Siri on the Mac, but it isn’t displayed on the Mac. It does show up on my iPhone and Apple Watch. This also confirms that I'm using the correct Apple ID.
Nothing happens when I click on “+ Add List” on the lower left of the app window

Attempts to correct the problem include:

All the steps in If your iCloud Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders won’t sync, several times.
System re-install

Would a clean install help? I searched the entire SSD for a file with containing "Reminders" and found nothing of interest like a plist to delete, so that seems futile. All the data is on iCloud, right?

Mac mini, macOS 13.4

Posted on Jun 9, 2023 12:59 PM

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Answer 1

BiknSwans Author

Level 1

16 points

Jun 10, 2023 1:14 PM in response to Barney-15E

Right, thanks, but I did that. It's one of the steps in the Apple Support document. LINK.

Here's a synopsis of what I've tried so far:

Checked status of Reminders
using latest version of MacOS; Ventura
Signed in with the same Apple ID on all devices
Check the date and time settings on my Mac
Refresh Calendars
I'm not using events in On My Mac, Exchange, or Google
I can't delete completed or overdue reminders on my Mac as none are listed. I did just delete 883 completed reminders using my iPhone (I failed to notice that step before). No completed reminders show up on my iPad or iPhone now.
Restarted my Mac
Opened iCloud.com, cleared the Safari cache
In iCloud.com, opened Mail - oddly the newest mail was from August 2022. The Mail app on the Mac seems fine, as it does on the iPhone and iPad. Then returned to Reminders, which are fine on iCloud.com
Signed out of iCloud.com, and signed back in.
Restarted the Mac. Doing that now, and will update in a bit

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Answer 2

BiknSwans Author

Level 1

16 points

Jun 13, 2023 12:39 PM in response to BiknSwans

Apple support fixed my problem. I called Support, got up to a level 3 advisor, and the fix was simple.

All I had to do was drag this folder to the desktop: ~Library/Reminders, and then restart the Mac mini.

My reminders immediately displayed.

All is well, and the customer service was excellent.

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Answer 3

BiknSwans Author

Level 1

16 points

Jun 11, 2023 6:31 AM in response to BiknSwans

I think I have another clue as to what's going on.

I created a new user with administrative privileges, and used my Apple ID to access iCloud.

My reminders show up and are working fine with the new user. Clearly something is wrong with my normal user account, but I'm not sure what to do next.

Should I transfer all my Documents folder to the new user? And eventually delete the old user?

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Answer 4

BiknSwans Author

Level 1

16 points

Jun 10, 2023 1:24 PM in response to Barney-15E

After the restart I turned it off in iCloud system settings, restarted again, and then turned it back on. It's still buggered. The mostly blank Reminders window is still there.

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

113,566 points

Jun 10, 2023 7:38 AM in response to BiknSwans

I'd turn it off in iCloud system settings and then re-enable it. You have to hit the Show All button in the settings to view the Reminders switch.

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Reminders app broken on Mac mini M2

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