Sudden Massive Memory Spike in Mail

It could be some malformed message, or (more likely, I think) it could be that you have some third party software to a tripping Mail in some situations.

Please run Etrecheck and post its full report here. Use the "additional text" button and paste the report into the text box.

No problem. I have not personally used Etrecheck, but I've heard great things about it. If you prefer not to, that's fair too. Here's a couple other things you can try.

• Check for any application updates.

• You could try using Safe Mode to see if the issue goes away while in safe mode. If the issue doesn't occur in safe mode, then the issue is being caused by something you've installed. Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

• You could also create another user account under System Settings > Users and Groups to see if the issue only occurs with your account.

• You could try running first aid with Disk Utility. How to repair a Mac disk with Disk Utility - Apple Support

• As a last resort, you could try to reinstall macOS. Or, you could reach out to Apple's support directly. They might be able to provide further troubleshooting. Note: Reinstalling macOS doesn't delete user data and only reinstalls the system. User data, and the system data are stored on different volumes. Despite this, it's always a good idea to backup your data before reinstalling. How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

Hope this helps!

Best,

The first thing I would look for are any system updates. The Mail app is a system application so, any updates there could help improve the experience. Are you running the latest version of Sonoma?

Best,

sophian wrote:

Thanks Luis....I appreciate the suggestion.....but I don't want to run any 3rd party software that I don't know anything about. I tried just now to get some online feedback about Etrecheck, and it's pretty mixed. 50% contributors say it's safe and great, the other 50% insist it's done them harm.

We get that a lot... and it is usually people who fall for actually damaging software like cleanmymac that have second thoughts about Etrecheck.

Just look around this forum, and you will find hundreds of reports. Etrecheck does not change anything on your mac, all it does is produce a report, so that others here can know about disk space, mac model, OS version, and especially which third party daemons, extensions and agents that modify the system are there.

It is your call of course.