Constant stream of sandboxd Mail error messages in Console

Erasing the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist did the trick for me. My entire (old) computer had become useless because of that problem.

When I went there, there were two similar sounding files. The .com.apple.mail.plist is there with 36KB of stuff (looks like gobbledygook to me), but there is also .com.apple.mail.plist.JZ1lzuG with zero bytes, and an alias named .com.apple.mail.LSSharedFileList.plist with 64 bytes.

My mail problem has mostly been in the Preference area, any changes I try to make take forever to save, close, especially in Accounts. Otherwise, my Mail is more or less OK, although sometimes it takes a little while for Mail to quit.

Hi,

Just to chime in: I had exactly the same problem, and the same remedy solved it.

Clearly, however, this is BUG and Apple must solve it: both remove the deprecated file (which, after all, is NOT supposed to be tended by the User) and update Mail.app, so it does not ever so dumbly (and so persistently) try to read a file that sandbox daemon won't let it read! Voice your complaint at <http://www.apple.com/feedback/mail.html>.

Cheers, Tristan

Could you or someone else please tell me which of the .com.apple.mail.plist files I should delete? As I explained above, I have three files with very similar names.

And also, since I've set up a whole bunch of mail accounts, rules,etc. will deleting this file also delete all of those, or what exactly might it delete? Or will it all be transparent?

Thank you!!!!

Hi Larry:

I deleted the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist file, and do not have anything similar to the other two. To be sure, before deleing it, I checked (Finder: File/Get Info, or Cmd-I) its "modified" date: it was last modified many moons ago. I'd recomment you do the same. Do not drag it out of on the Desktop (that will merely create a copy elsewhere), but straight to the Trash (or Ctrl-click/Move to Trash); OS X will prompt you for authorization. I'd check the other files if they have been accessed recently; if not, it is probably safe to delete them. Then again, they take up so little space that it probably does not matter.

By the way, the ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Date/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.pli st is clearly the new (Mountain Lion?) proper location of the file, and it is currently accessed on my system; I would not delete that, unless you want to start from scratch, setting up your e-mail preferences.

I just looked at the file. Its modified date and time was about 10 minutes ago.

Hi,

Seems like Mail (or some other program) then is accessing it. That's different than on my MBP (OS X 10.8.1).

Are you rinning OS X 10.8.x (Mountain Lion)?

Do you also have a "com.apple.mail.plist" file in the ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Date/Library/Preferences/ folder (sorry: the forum margins seem to gobble the loooong path+file name)?

If yes, does that also get accessed/modified?

If your answers are "yes" to all of the above questions, I'd guess that this is what Mail really needs. Then, I'd recommend (after quitting Mail.app): duplicate the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist file for backup (just in case, but change the name so you remember it's a backup), then delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist, and re-launch Mail.app.

Hopefully, the sandboxd error messages will stop. You can now go back and delete the backup file you've left in the /Library/Preferences/ folder.🙂

If your answers were not all "yes" to the above questions, your Mail.app probably really does need that /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist file (and it has accessed/modified it recently). You can still delete it, but may well have to re-configure all of Mail.app preferences (including the various e-mail accounts) from scratch.😟 But, the sandboxd problem should be gone...

Cheers, Tristan

I've just done a Finder search and a (useless) Spotlight search, and my machine has no such file contained on it as "/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist". Not that either of those two search functions is able to find.

And my Mail is still running slightly faster than a tortise in Antarctica.

Jennings Heilig wrote:

I've just done a Finder search and a (useless) Spotlight search, and my machine has no such file contained on it as "/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist". Not that either of those two search functions is able to find.

And my Mail is still running slightly faster than a tortise in Antarctica.

You won't find it that way. Easiest way is to do the finder search. It will come up dry but then click on the little + sign below the search window. That open up a new choice below with a drop down menu that says "Kind" is "Any". Select the "Kind" menu and choose "System Files" from the dropdown menu. Then the adjacent dropdown will say "aren't included" but you can change it to "are included." Voila, you can search for any system file including plists.

See image:

I, too, did NOT find the file Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist

BUT when I used the search described for finding the com.apple.mail.plist, I found several of them. Should I delete them all?

They are in System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ScreenReader.framework/Versions/A/Resources/ar .lproj/ExceptionsDatabases

Do I need this folder at all? "PrivateFrameworks"

All the com.apple.mail.plist are old EXCEPT for the one in the ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Date/Library/Preferences/ folder

Please help! My Apple Mail is so slow and unreliable all of a sudden. I thought it was because of cyber Monday.

- Jane