Apple Mail App - Duplicate iCloud accounts

I also have the duplicate iCloud mail account issue in the Apple Mail app. Only on my Mac (running Sonoma). My iPhone and iPad only have one account (no duplicates). I've tried a bunch of fixes, but the duplicate iCloud account keeps popping back up in the Mail app.

Your instructions to fix the problem seem to stop partway.

1. Create new User
2. Add email account (I'm assuming you mean add the iCloud mail account, since that's the issue).

Then what? What I want is the duplicate iCloud mail account removed from the Mail app in my main user account. So, what happens after I create a new user account and an iCloud mail account in that new user account? Does it fix the duplicate issue in my main user account, and return it to one iCloud mail account? If so, can I now delete this second, unnecessary user account? Your fix contains steps 1 and 2 but seems to be missing steps 3, and maybe steps 4 and 5. A step-by-step fix should end with the last step being where a person started but with the issue resolved. I appreciate people responding to a problem with a fix, but it needs to be a detailed step-by-step solution, from beginning to end, otherwise, it can create new issues, in this case, two user accounts.

Once you create a new user account ( admin account ) say " B " in users and groups . log out primary apple account ( take cursor on apple logo and log out account " me " , the second user account will be active , the new iCloud mail account will be configured , leaving duplicate iCloud account in primary account .

Also make sure you must have turned on desktops and documents box , notes , mails , photos .....all checked in from Mac system preferences in primary account , once new account B is created these are again to be checked .

Once you are sure all iCloud data is synced , delete the primary account Delete a user or group on Mac - Apple Support

• Remove the user’s home folder from the computer: Select “Delete the home folder,” then click Delete User. The user information is deleted and the storage space is freed.
• Delete a group: Click Delete Group to confirm.

Create a new admin account in users and groups Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support and configure mail accounts Add email accounts in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

Thanks so much for the detailed step-by-step instructions! That's perfect.

I did manage to solve my issue on my own and before I saw your step-by-step guide. Initially, I was deactivating the mail switch in the iCloud settings, turning off only mail sync, and then on again. It would work for a while, but then that duplicate iCloud Mail account would pop back up hours later. I figured since it is an iCloud issue, maybe just completely sign out of iCloud and back in. So here's what I did...

1. Go to "Settings" and click on my name/Apple ID at the top left
2. Scroll to the bottom of the Apple ID page and click "Sign Out"
3. This signs me out of everything Apple ID/iCloud related, with options to keep copies of iCloud data on my Mac. I didn't bother keeping copies because I was just going to sign in and resync everything again.
4. After I was all signed out of my Apple ID on the Mac, I restarted the Mac (just in case it helped with anything. I have no idea if restarting helped or not, just figured I'd do just in case it mattered.)
5. Once restarted, I signed back into my Apple ID/iCloud (including Mail), and everything started resyncing. I opened Mail and there was only one iCloud account there and it all synced up. It's been a week and still only one account, so it seems this solved the duplicate issue.

So, my solution was to sign completely out of Apple ID/iCloud on the Mac, and sign back in again. (with maybe having to restart the computer. Again, I don't know if this made a difference, but it's what I did.)

But again, thanks for your detailed solution above. if one fix doesn't work, it's nice to have an alternate solution.

I've seen a few other comments regarding this problem, with either no answers or solutions more complicated than yours - so thought worthwhile to respond.

Your simple approach of signing out/into iCloud also worked for me. I think it came back without the reboot, but I had to do that for another reason - so it might be worthwhile regardless. One thing of interest is that re-syncing of files, emails etc took a long time with my slow internet connection (I live in the sticks). A bit of a pain, but worthwhile if two identical iCloud accounts in Mail with identical behaviour annoys you (it did me!).