disable mail.app message "cannot send message"

Question

Level 1

14 points

disable mail.app message "cannot send message"

Hi,

I'm working offline from time to time, but Mail.app keeps generating these annoying messages saying that he "cannot send message" and that "the server cannot be contacted", after trying to send alert messages (generated by Calendar.app)

Well I know that the server cannot be contacted.. that's because I'm not connected, because I don't have an internet connection.

How can I disable these messages when I'm working offline? Quitting the Calendar and Mail.app does not work. Processes are working in the background I suppose. And choosing the "Try Later" option just suppresses the message for a while.

What can I do?

Thanks,

Kris

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on May 28, 2013 3:45 AM

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Answer 1

Imp68

Level 4

2,672 points

May 28, 2013 4:03 AM in response to kvdv

With mail open, click the Mailbox menu at the top of your screen, then Take All Accounts Offline. Use the same Mailbox menu to take the account back online when you want to.

If you actually quit mail, though, that should work. I'm guessing you're hitting the little red x instead of actually quitting mail. Try Command + Q to actually quit it, or quit it from the mail menu.

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Answer 2

kvdv Author

Level 1

14 points

May 28, 2013 4:07 AM in response to Imp68

No, I'm actually quitting Mail.app, but I'm under the impression that it's Calendar.app (or background processes related to Calendar) which are triggering the message. So I clicked the "solved my problem" maybe too soon 🙂 ? I'll know later this afternoon if the "take offline" trick did it... Thanks anyway!

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Answer 3

kvdv Author

Level 1

14 points

May 28, 2013 4:59 AM in response to Imp68

I was right I'm afraid : Calendar.app still triggers Mail.app to send an alert e-mail, but this fails because I'm offline and then Mail.app complains and shows the "cannot send message" message.

So it's not solved yet...

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Answer 4

Imp68

Level 4

2,672 points

May 28, 2013 5:30 AM in response to kvdv

Open Activity Monitor, located in /Applications/Utilities. Make sure you have All Processes showing in the drop down in the upper right. Locate CalendarAgent (this is likely the one doing it) and Calendar (this one is the actual calendar app, so leave this one if you still want to view your calendars). Select them and click Quit Process in the upper left. That may do the trick. Opening your Calendar will reopen both processes.

If that doesn't help, you may want to repost this. Some users may not look at the thread since it was marked as solved.

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Answer 5

kvdv Author

Level 1

14 points

May 28, 2013 6:08 AM in response to Imp68

Weird that you cannot switch Calendar offline or make it supress those e-mail alerts.

Anyway that I can put this (run Calendar Agent / quit Calendar Agent) in a script? How can I do this?

Thanks for the help guys.

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