MAC Mail not saving all sent items

I have switched from Mail to Thunderbird. Since then no issue and not a single email not appearing in the Sent folder in Thunderbird and on the Yahoo server (as a can see via the web client). Looks to me that sometimes the Yahoo server does not collaborate well and a timeout issue occurs. In such situation, Mail does not care and the email does not appear in the Sent folder (though it has been sent), but Thunderbird does care and tries again until everything is fine.

Curiously, I never had this issue on Mail for iOS, it is only an issue on OS X.

Still no solution? I downloaded the 10.10.3 beta, hoping it would finally be solved. iMac using a Mail iCloud account. First message sent disappeared. Not a beta problem obviously as it's been a problem for years. Still not fixed though.

I too have the same issue of IMAP accounts messages not going into sent. The simple thing I did after was: Go to Mail, Preferences, Accounts, click on the account that is not saving on the sent folder and uncheck " Store sent messages on the server". Click on General, save what you just did and close the window. Send a mail and check your sent folder, you should be just fine.

I think you'll find that's what we've all done already! The problem is that just occasionally a random sent email doesn't appear in the Sent folder. As things happen, it's likely to be an important email that gets lost with no way of finding it.

Amazing that after all these years, this is still happening. Suffice it to say, we all send many emails and I work so fast sometimes I forget if I sent one or not and need to check: no dice. So, I end up looking like a tool and wasting time by rewriting an email to clients, a la "I'm sorry if you received this already…" Not to mention that I need a record of sent emails, for multiple reasons.

I have been a Mac user for 20-plus years, but had never used Mac Mail because of its incompatibility with my office Exchange server. I was using Outlook for Mac instead. When I changed jobs a few months ago I finally decided to try Mac Mail. Now that both my work email and my home email are set up as IMAP accounts in Mac Mail, I have to say that overall this application is by far the worst experience I have ever had with an Apple product. As someone mentioned before (and I have now read this entire thread), when people used to ask me why I used Apple instead of Microsoft, my answer was always, "Because everything just works the way it is supposed to". I can truly say that with this Mail program, that is certainly not the case. Among other issues I have with the overall interface, I am also having the same problem of some random emails not being saved to the Sent folder. The problem has occurred infrequently since I set up the Mac Mail program a few months ago. Today, after sending a very important email with a 7 mb attachment, and then not seeing it in my Sent folder, I finally decided to search for a solution. Now, after having read all 42 pages of this thread, I see that after three years there is no solution and Apple simply isn't interested in addressing the problem. I also had another completely unrelated technical issue with my Apple TV recently and I found the customer service from Apple to be equally unhelpful in that case. I finally solved that problem on my own. The one I am having now with Mac Mail is way beyond my technical abilities, and apparently it's beyond everyone else's, including Apple's, as well. The fact that this problem has been occurring for so long is simply unacceptable. What a disappointment. Time to short your Apple stock, people. The red flags are popping up everywhere.

I recently got an imac because i need more screen space than my little 13" macbook could provide. the macbook was on mavericks and mail was running fine--messages that were sent were saved. I've had the macbook for 3 years and saving my sent messages on the server were never a problem, even after upgrading to yosemite. when i set up mail on the imac (runnning on yosemite), no sent messages were saved. this has plagued me for over a month. i finally found this thread see that for years others have been equally frustrated. I've dedicated this day to sorting this out and found this link; it did the trick. It solved my problem and hope it solves yours.

http://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/email/mac-mail/set-up-mac-mail-save-sent- items-server

Thank you for the tip, however, after selecting the sent folder, when I click on "Use this mailbox for", all the options are greyed out. I wish I could say I am surprised.

All my options are greyed out now too, but at least my sent messages are saved. I looked into it anyway and found this--

http://statusq.org/archives/2013/11/16/5492/

also, try reading the comments section in the link from my first reply. it addresses the grey out options too. i hope no one goes grey given all these issues!

good luck!

So basically what they are saying is that the server controls the settings and that's why it's greyed out and it's not Apple's fault. I don't buy that. The problem occurs on both mailboxes I have set up (one is a home email account with Comcast and the other is a work account with GoDaddy, both set up as IMAP. In the account settings for each I have checked "Store sent mail on the server" and delete "Never".). And the problem is completely random. It only happens with one in every 50 or so emails I send, and there is no consistent characteristic to the emails, such as an attachment or a reply all or something like that. It just happens out of the blue, and when I go to look for the message in the Sent folder it's not there. It's very frustrating because I have lost some important work emails. I do not believe it is an issue with the server settings because in eight years of using Outlook I never experienced this problem (or any of the other myriad problems with Mac Mail) even once. I believe it is a glitch with Mac Mail and that Apple should fix it, but the fact that this has been a problem for so long is a pretty clear indicator that Apple has no intention of fixing the problem and doesn't care. The only reason I switched from Outlook is because the latest version of Microsoft Office is five years old, and, as far as I know, they don't plan to ever release new version. I'm really thinking about switching back because I can't stand this mail program.

Hi everyone,

I feel I may have something to offer this post.

Please Note: This may have already been suggested, however I'm far too busy to go through 3+ years worth of posts to see if it indeed has!

The issue:

Ok, so I have the same issue as a lot of you seem to have - and have done for over 12 months now: Emails in Mac 'Snail' Mail not reaching the sent folder (or the server) upon send, if set up as IMAP - recipient still gets the email - I no longer have a record of it (bloody ridiculous!).

This is what I feel i have to offer:

I ran some tests to see if I could establish a pattern to the missing emails, I FOUND ONE:

Basically when I send an email (so create the email as normal and hit send) and then straight away start to navigate around Mac Mail (for example go straight to the sent folder, or some other folder) 9 out of ten times the email goes missing. HOWEVER, if I send the email, and leave Mail alone for a minute or two (go read a book, start another job in another application, go make a cup of tea or something - just do something that doesn't involve Mac Mail) the email reaches my sent folder. Bizarre! Also, try leaving mail alone until after the 'whooosh' sound, this works too!

The Result:

By leaving Mac Mail alone after sending the email 10 out of 10 emails reached my sent folder. SORT IT OUT APPLE!

Obviously, if you've got a lot of tasks to complete in Mail, you're screwed, as this process will make those tasks take even longer - but at least you'll have a copy of the sent email waiting for you.

Woodinho out.

I was having the same problem and I tried the following and it worked on my Mac mail.

I just read the post here:

"Error. The message could not be saved." In Mail what does this suggest?

""This is happening because Mail is trying to save the draft to a server which your Mac can not find. I was getting these annoying messages everytime I used my work account at home - it is in IMAP account for which Mail.app's default setting is set to save sent mail and drafts on the server. Go to Mail/preferences/accounts, select the account, go to Mailbox Behaviors and under Drafts, uncheck "save drafts on server" - and the Truth shall Set you Free."

Kelly

So does anyone who has access to El Capitan Beta have this issue still or have they fixed it?

All that does for me is empty my Sent folder completely! Evidently nothing is being stored on my iMac... Re-checking the box for storing on the server takes me back to the status quo ante.

Update: Minutes after writing my previous post, I found this page headed 'Common issues with Apple Mail':

http://mediatemple.net/community/products/dv/204643430/common-issues-with-apple- mail

Looking there I read this:

Q: Emails sent in Mail do not appear in my Sent Folder, why?
A: When using IMAP, as we recommend for the Grid, Mail requires you provide a specific folder to save sent messages. Follow these simple steps to configure this:

1. Click and highlight the "Sent" folder for your account.
2. Click the "Mailbox" menu
3. Choose "Use This Mailbox For"
4. Choose "Sent"

Item 4 in that procedure wouldn't work, because all the options under 'Use this mailbox for...' were greyed out. So it occurred to me to create a new mailbox for the email account I'm interested in and try with that: it worked, in that any new emails I send now appear in my original 'Sent' folder, although they don't in the 'new' Sent folder.(?!) It's early days, but it seems fixed for now...