Mac Mail 13.4 missing column headers

Question

Level 1

8 points

Mac Mail 13.4 missing column headers

Title says it all. I know this has been raised (and not resolved) before, but I need to raise it again. It was suggested that people could revert to a previous version of MacOS to get to a previous version of Mac Mail that has headings for the email list. I would like to know how far back I have to go on Catalina (10.15.x) to get this functionality back.

My school is forcing me to move to modern authentication, but the version of Outlook that goes with Catalina doesn't support modern authentication either (go figure). I need my Mac mini, but Catalina is as recent an OS as I can install. I thought I would be okay with reverting to Mac Mail, and I am okay as far as modern authentication goes, but now I cannot manage my columns. And Apple passive-aggressively won't fix their silly mistake. How ridiculous is this?

So... will going to a previous version of Catalina get my mail columns back? How can I find a version of Catalina, say, 10.15.6?

Posted on Apr 28, 2024 7:32 AM

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Answer 1

6x6

Level 6

11,492 points

Apr 28, 2024 12:21 PM in response to --Jan

Thanks for the link. I found a series of discussions mentioning this issue in macOS Catalina. Here is one that mentions the limitations: Missing Column headers on MacOS Catalina - Apple Community.

It would not be possible to get only a previous version of Mail. You'd have to go back to a previous version of macOS (macOS Mojave). Note that macOS Mojave may have the authentication issue you mentioned earlier.

Would your Mac be compatible with macOS Big Sur? This would probably do the trick.

Another solution would be to use another mail client compatible with macOs Catalina. I'm not well versed in this domain but you'll find apps such as Thunderbird.

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Answer 2

6x6

Level 6

11,492 points

Apr 28, 2024 10:36 AM in response to --Jan

If you can view your emails in column view, you only need to right-click the column headers to add other columns.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

239,471 points

Apr 28, 2024 1:47 PM in response to --Jan

OK, thanks, they sre there on my Catalina Mail.

In Mail>View>Columns, what all is checked?

If checking those doesn't help then...

Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at startup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode? Could take 10 minutes or more.

Safe mode attempts to repair Disks & clears lots of caches & loads safe Drivers, & prevents loading of 3rd party extensions, so if Safe Mode works try again in regular boot.

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does it work in the new account?

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Answer 4

--Jan Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 28, 2024 11:55 AM in response to BDAqua

it's the same problem as in Headers in column view in MAIL APP not pr… - Apple Community

what I want to know is what the latest version of Catalina is, that I can use, to get back this functionality.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

239,471 points

Apr 28, 2024 8:39 AM in response to --Jan

Can you show us a screen shot, all versions of Mail should have the columns. :)

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Answer 6

--Jan Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 28, 2024 11:53 AM in response to 6x6

Nope, what is there is a very long tab that allows you to change the sort order for the messages. you cannot add columns. I am talking about Mail on Catalina.

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