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Level 1

14 points

Unread message count is wrong in Mail and Dock

Just last week I noticed that both my Email Inbox & Mail Dock Icon is showing an incorrect unread message count on both my MacBook & iMac. I am using a Microsoft Exchange Hosted account (Office 365) and it is the only email account tied to both of my Macs. My iPhone shows the correct unread message count as well as Outlook Web Access, and on a seperate windows-based computer, Outlook is showing the correct unread message count of 3. Both Mac systems are using OS X 10.7.3 and I have never experienced this issue before.

The MacBook is showing 39 unread messages, and the iMac is showing 16, in actuality there are 3 unread messages. If I create a smart mailbox that shows only unread messages - it shows up with the correct number (3), when I sort by "Unread Messages" for Inbox, it only shows that I have three unread messages.

I have rebuilt the inbox, I have deleted the email account from the computer, restarted the computer and then readded it, all it did was bring the unread message count from 19 to 16 on my iMac (still - it should be 3).

I have also gone to Mail -> Preferences -> General and verified that Show Dock Unread County is set to "Inbox" but oddly enough, when I click "All Mailboxes" the unread count on the Dock changes to 3.

Is there a file I can delete to reset that unread message count? I feel like I've done everything that's suggested to no avail.

Thanks!

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Mar 4, 2012 7:10 PM

99 replies

Nov 27, 2015 1:50 AM in response to AlconicCF

My dock icon was showing 9000 unread after a migration from a previous system. No unread count showed in the side bar. I found this tip (although it refers to snow leopard it works to el Capitan) which fixed the problem for me:

http://davidrpoindexter.com/bugfix/snow-leopard-fix-incorrect-unread-message-cou nt-in-mail-app-dock/

The unread messages it found were in outbox

Dec 10, 2015 1:40 PM in response to Brian S. Campbell

Where's your El Capitan post of this problem?

It's been months since the last time this bug showed up for me. Until today.

Schloken

Level 1

4 points

Apr 5, 2016 6:46 AM in response to AlconicCF

Heheeeh, here's what I had this morning:

A real challenge for those aiming for "Zero Inbox" policy 🙂

Jun 23, 2016 3:29 PM in response to AlconicCF

I encountered this problem recently, too, and it was actually a really easy fix. For some reason, my iPhone's mail inbox seemed to overrule the inbox displayed on my iMac mail (in the dock). I don't use Mail from the dock on my iPhone - I strictly use the application for my mail provider (on my phone). Sure enough, when I picked up my phone, there was an unread message in my inbox. I simply opened the mail, and the problem was solved! I know this answer has been posted several years after the initial question was asked, but I hope that it can be of some help to someone who may have this problem in the future! For the record, I still use an AOL account for some mail (as well as gmail), so maybe this is particularly a problem when using AOL mail.

Many blessings!

Matt

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Aug 15, 2016 3:30 AM in response to AlconicCF

I haven't read through all the answers so maybe this is redundant. My problem, and I've had it many times in the past, is a false unread mail count of 3 in both the Mail application and on the dock in Mavericks. I have at least 15 mail accounts enabled and in this most recent incidence two of them were showing a total of 3 unread emails. I tried deleting the Mail "Envelope Index" files to no avail, but the "killall Dock" command in Terminal corrected the Dock badge—got rid of the erroneous unread mail count there. Mail was still showing 3 unread. What finally worked for me was simply going to Mail preferences and disabling the two accounts. I then re-enabled them and the problem was fixed.

Aug 15, 2016 3:32 AM in response to bigusmacus

Update: As soon as new mail came through the problem reemerged. Guess it may not be a permanent fix. I'll keep trying to figure this out. Perhaps a combination of the Mail Envelope file deletion and disabling the accounts?