Exchange under Mountain Lion

UPDATE - had teh same problems as before after a couple successful shut downs and re-boots. BUT, I really seem to think that this is an issue as to how mail is indexing the information in the library, not how it's working with the servers (maybe it's both?). The information is still on my MBP, but not being found and displayed by Mail. I think that the paths and subfolders that are being created is causing the problem.

I don't know if that helps, but maybe someone who understands how the computers work and use library better than me can take it from here.

UPDATE UPDATE - I went into Home>Library>Mail and DELETED the folder that referenced my exchange account. I reopned mail and VOILA - everything was back again....

DO NOT do this if you are uncomfortable messing with the library folder. To display the library folder you hold down the option key while the "home" folder is displayed.

ARW15 - here is something that might be workth a try. It involves accessing and deleting files in your hidden Library folder, so if you are uncomfortable then don't do. For me, my business was completely haulted so I had nothing to lose. It's your call.

NOTE: This seems to be temporary and needs to be re-performed from time to time to keep things working.

1. Go into "Preferences" and access the accounts and remove the exchange account you are working with.

2. Close Mail.

3. Open Finder

4. Select the "Home" folder

5. Hold down the "option" key and a folder called "Library" will appear.

6. Select Library and navigate to "Mail"

7. I had a sub volder called "V2" - go there if you have it.

8. Find the folder that is marked with your exchange account. Here is what mine looked like for my "davisconsultingaz.com" account:

9. DELETE that entire folder. Yup - that's what I did.

10. Empty trash.

11. Re-open Mail.

12. Go to preferences and re-add your exchange account. I didn't mess with any server settings after that - ingoing, outgoing, whatever. I left everything the same.

13. For me - everything populated and I was back in business. Even added everything in Calendars when I opened it.

After a while I started to have problems again. I did the same thing from 4 down and all my mail reappeared again (basically - I didn't delete my exchange account).

Obviously this is a band-aid that is working for me. I am NOT a technical expert, so if I'm causing more problems by doing this I don't know that yet. Again - I don't know the full ramifications of playing the "libarary" folder (it's hidden for a reason, right?) but without mail my business stops so I was/am willing to take the risk.

Let me know if this works for you too!

awd

Similar experiences for me after upgrading MacBook Air to ML with Exchange 2010 server.

Initially Calendar failing to update only - removed relevant Keys from Keychain, removed account, set up account again and Calendar has been fine but mail failing to bring in any historical information, i.e. new messages only.

Rebuild on mailbox (folder by folder) but about a third of messages still missing.

Might try removing all data from the Library tomorrow ...

Steven,

Thanks for pointing this out! The instructions I gave for editing the /etc/hosts file are a bit off. When performing Step 4 the IP address does come FIRST followed by the Server Name. Other than that, the instructions are valid.

Apparently this forum does not allow you to edit a previous post, so I will provide the UPDATED instructions again here. The changes are italicized. Again, this has resolved this issue for me at least since I did it on 7/26/12 ....

"It appears the workaround of editing the /etc/hosts file as suggested earlier works. For those less technically inclined this is how to do it:

1. Close Mail. Wait a few seconds and then open it back up. Got to Preferences - Accounts. Select your Exchange server entry and see what value ML insists upon putting in Internal Server. Write this down somewhere.

2. Open up Terminal. Type "ping server.domain.com" (no quotes) where server.domain.com is the value that you previously used in the Internal Server setting for Mail. If you're lucky the server will respond at least once. Write down the IP address (xx.xx.xxx.xx).

3. Open up Finder. Select Go-Go To Folder menu. Enter /etc in the dialog and click Go. Find the file named "hosts". Copy it to the Desktop.

4. Open up the "hosts" file on the Desktop in TextEdit. At the end enter the IP Address you wrote down in Step 2 on the left. A few spaces over on the same line enter the Internal Server name you wrote down in step 1. Save the file and close TextEdit.

5. Drag the updated "hosts" file on the Desktop back into the Finder window display the /etc directory from Step 3. You will need to authenticate with your password. Be sure to select the replace option.

6. All the Exchange enabled apps should work now.

What this does is tell the OS that "server.domain.com" should resolve to the IP address of the actual external server you want to use ... rather than the IP address it actually has. You've basically "tricked" the system in order to get around this boneheaded change. So far I haven't seen any issues. Emails in the Exchange inbox sometimes disappear ... but I have the feeling that's a separate bug. Switching from one mailbox to another and coming back often fixes this issue. Restarting Mail seems to fix it consistently when it occurs.

Hope this helps!"

I posted this on 7/27 with some visual aid. It definitely works.

Thanks, this seems to have resolved my problems, at least temporarily.

It seems to be only my laptop using Mail with the problem. I have two other associates who upgraded to ML but they use MS Office 2011 and have no issues with the internal server.

Hopefully Apple will come up with a quick fix.

This didn't fix my problem. Seemed like a good one to try for those without the terminal and server and ping savvy. Apple knows this is a big deal. They're gonna get us something soon. Have to.

Joe

non of this works 😟

After one day again missing folders and mail 😟

please apple fix this issue asap

Just to add to the chorus: I too am having this problem with my work Exchange server. It is very unfortunate. My main work software tool -- Mail app -- is broken under Mountain Lion.

Ondray Wells Jr. wrote:

Apparently this forum does not allow you to edit a previous post, so I will provide the UPDATED instructions again here.

It does, but only for 15 minutes after the initial post 🙂

I have spoken with apple support a few times now, and have downgraded my macbook air bakc to lion - all back to working perfectly. my macbook pro is on ML and having the same problems as everyone else.

this is issue appears to be with ML. Please contact apple and put pressure on them to resolve the issue. I run my business on macs and this is a nightmare issue, and one which i feel apple neeed to sort out asap.

I have found that checking the unchecked Internal Port SSL box (in the advanced tab of the preferences for my Mail Exchange account) resolved the issue I was having, at least for the present. I hope others, whose issues with Mail.app seem more deep-seated, find resolution soon.

The solution for me was based on Ondray Wells Jr.'s post. Although I have a question which I hope someone more familiar with hosts file can answer.

My problem description and solution:

1) I set up Exchange Mail in ML using "remote.company.com". Mail.app then changes both Internal and External server fields to "mail.company.com". Apparently this is how our IT set up Exchange's Autoconfigure. I can also confirm what everyone else had observed: the Internal and External Server fields cannot be manually set that would survive a restart of Mail.app.

2) When I'm at home, I can ping "remote.company.com" and get 1.2.3.4. I cannot ping "mail.company.com".

3) At work, I can ping "remote.company.com" and "mail.company.com" and both get me 5.6.7.8. But I cannot ping 1.2.3.4 (which is the ip I get from pinging "remote.company.com" while outside of office network).

4) Mail.app works fine at work, without my having to change anything, since "mail.company.com" resolves.

5) Mail.app works fine at home if I add the following line in my /etc/hosts file. This is basically Ondray's solution and this helps resolve "mail.company.com" when outside of office network.

1.2.3.4 mail.company.com

6) But, the fix in (5) above prevents Mail.app from working when I'm at work, since from the office network, 1.2.3.4 cannot be reached. So I added the line below to my /etc/hosts file. And that solves my problem -- Mail.app has been working for me both in and out of our office network, with many restarts and shutdowns in between.

5.6.7.8 mail.company.com

So, now, someone please help me understand why my solution works. :-) I now have two lines at the end of my /etc/hosts file:

1.2.3.4 mail.company.com

5.6.7.8 mail.company.com

Does this make sense to anyone? Does hosts file resolve ip in a round-robin (try next line if one doesn't resolve) fashion? I can confirm that my Mail.app will stop working correctly (at both locations) if I don't have these lines in my hosts file.

Thanks!

-alex