Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

106 points

Password-protected PDFs making mail blank view of messages?

Surreal problem that seems to have started about the same time as my 10.8.4 update (from 10.8.3):

Viewing the standard Mail view, with mailboxes on the left, message list for the selected mailbox in the middle, and message text in the largest pane on the right of the window; when moving through the list of messages, moving down and seeing the message texts to the right, all of a sudden, the preview pane to the right go BLANK. And I've narrowed it down to several suspect messages that came from a regular group of business contacts who send me reports as password-protected PDFs. I prepared a test PDF with Preview, encrypted, and used that to test the proposition that password-protected PDFs are what is 'breaking' the view of message contents in the right hand window, and it is clearly the problem.

After I view a message with the gray password-protected preview image showing in the preview pane, switching to another message in the message list, that next message shows a normal header but the text/body of the message shows blank. And then the next messages keep showing blank until I either: hide and unhide the main mail window OR quit and reopen mail. But double-clicking on any message in the list to open it properly in its own window shows it normally.

Rebuilding my mailboxes did not help. Rebooting did not help.

Any ideas about what the heck might be going on?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Jun 14, 2013 7:16 PM

45 replies

lasaisy

Level 1

0 points

Jun 21, 2013 7:28 PM in response to Donot Haveone

I just updated to 10.8.4 and I am also having problems with Mail. I'm having problems sending attachments (pictures) to people. I usually send myself the set of pictures from iPhoto and then forward it along to a group using Mail. But it's not working. Nobody receives the pictures (just a big X where the picture should be). And the Mail program is extremely slow and won't allow me to do simple tasks like type in the message window of the pictures that I am trying to forward. I cannot even close the message window at this point. I have to quit the program completely. Then when I open the program back up, I am able to close the message window. But still cannot forward any attachments. This totally happened when I installed the 10.8.4 update. I do this type of thing all the time and have never had a problem. I have no partitions. Really hope Apple can come up with a fix for this soon. Hope this helps.

hemi9673

Level 1

0 points

Jun 22, 2013 11:57 AM in response to Donot Haveone

My wife bought me and her two brand new 13 inch MBP's and she is having this same problem on her MBP but I am not. We are running 10.8.4 with mail version 6.5. I can get it to go away by deleting the Envelope files for mail except for the main one but it always comes back. After reading this post I noticed she has a password protected PDF e-mail that always comes up first in her list and then after that you cannot see her mail in the window to the right. I can also get it to go away by opening a new window in mail by pressing command,option, and N. We also do not have partitioned hard drives. You can add us to your list of people with this problem. I would definitely say it has something to do with the password protected PDF e-mails.

Donot Haveone Author

Level 1

106 points

Jun 23, 2013 7:53 PM in response to hemi9673

Still waiting for response from the engineering group--did a data capture yesterday to demonstrate that a fresh hard drive, fresh ML install, fresh user account, and fresh e-mail (tester on my own domain used only for this) reproduce the problem reliably.

Sonavis

Level 1

0 points

Jun 25, 2013 7:37 AM in response to Donot Haveone

Hello,

I'm from Germany and I have the same problems with password-protected PDFs. I've tried a lot but without any success. I always get password-protected PDFs from my company and it is really not aceptable that 10.8.4 respectively Mail 6.5 has a problem in the preview window. On a machine with snow leopard everything looks fine. I'm working with Apple computers since 2002. I'm really disappointed that this problem with password-protected PDFs exists in the year 2013. Apple, please go on and fix this problem.

Donot Haveone Author

Level 1

106 points

Jun 25, 2013 9:05 PM in response to Sonavis

Reply back from the engineers, via support advisor

"I received an update from our Engineering Team. They advised me that this is a reoccurring known issue with the version of Adobe Reader installed on your device. There are troubleshooting steps they are suggesting we take."

and a little later

"Apple Engineering has informed me that they have received reports of this symptom and are investigating. Further updates, if any, may come by way of a software update, knowledge base article or software release. They also informed me that further troubleshooting would not be necessary."

So they blame Reader. I have deleted reader, verified trash emptied, nothing by that name left on the machine per search in finder, and after reboot, no difference in symptoms. I don't think it's reader. I think it's 10.8.4.

Sonavis

Level 1

0 points

Jun 26, 2013 5:17 AM in response to Donot Haveone

It ist definately not a problem of Adobe Reader because it is not installed on my machine. It must be a problem of 10.8.4 or Mail 6.5

LATrapp

Level 1

10 points

Jun 26, 2013 4:35 PM in response to Donot Haveone

Same problem here, very frustrating. Started with 10.8.4 update. Adobe Reader installed but no changes or updates with Reader before issue started.

Anyone try outlook or another mail program?

15" MBP 2.2 GHz i7

f1rad

Level 1

0 points

Jun 28, 2013 11:24 AM in response to Donot Haveone

Same issue here - iMac with 10.8.4. Spoken with Apple Support 4 times now. Done the re-install OS, check/verify disk, and run in safe mode. I believe it is related to the OS update as I did not have a problem for approximately 1 week while I was "downgraded" during the re-install. As soon as it re-updated to 10.8.4, the issue began again. Apple support so far does not have a solution for me.

LATrapp

Level 1

10 points

Jun 28, 2013 1:21 PM in response to LATrapp

Interesting- If I forward or reply to a blank e-mail containing a password protected pdf it will display correctly in the forward or reply. Possible short term work around for those needing to read the pdf. Unfortunately, you still need to relaunch mail or every email will be blank.

f1rad

Level 1

0 points

Jun 28, 2013 1:52 PM in response to f1rad

Spoke again with support today. Tried creating a second test admin account and set mail up. Same problem with preview. Bumped up the chain and senior support had me capture data which was sent to apple support. He agreed that password protected pdf attachments seems to be the trigger.

Donot Haveone Author

Level 1

106 points

Jun 28, 2013 6:00 PM in response to LATrapp

No need to relaunch mail--just close and reopen the message viewer window. That alone does it for me, at least.

Jun 29, 2013 7:08 AM in response to Donot Haveone

Hello everyone, you can add me to the list of people experiencing this frustrating problem with Mail. I've nothing really new to add I'm afraid, but FWIW here's my observations...

Mail preview works just fine until I attempt to view a mail with a password protected PDF attachment - after doing so, all mail appears blank in the preview window until I restart Mail.

I'm using a 2.3Ghz i7 15" MBP using the unpartitioned, out-of-the-box HDD that shipped in the machine, running OS X 10.8.4 and Mail 6.5. - I have not installed Adobe Reader.

I'd say it's definately related to OS X 10.8.4 /Mail 6.5 - the same protected PDF's displayed fine before upgrading to 10.8.4.

Using Quicklook allows me to view the protected PDF's successfully, but sadly does not prevent the subsequent blank preview problem.

Come on Apple!

Jun 29, 2013 7:51 AM in response to Donot Haveone

+1. Same problem on 2013 iMac, OS X 10.8.4/Mail 6.5. Also have password protected PDFs in recent history. Restart often but not always fixes the problem.

FWIW, also seeing Mail CPU usage averaging 95%+, peaking at 135%.

Donot Haveone Author

Level 1

106 points

Jun 29, 2013 10:37 AM in response to cricket484

You do not need to restart or reboot the computer or mail to get a quick fix for the preview pane. After viewing a message with a password protected PDF, select a different message on your list, close the message viewer window and reopen (under the window menu or cmd-0). That's enough to reset the preview pane, until the next password protected PDF comes along.

Jul 12, 2013 2:16 PM in response to Donot Haveone

I have installed "Attachment Tamer" which gives you control over attachment handling in Apple Mail. It can display PDF's as icons. Now I don't have any problems with my passowrd protected pdf's. It is a good solution until Apple comes up with a fix.

You can download it here:

http://lokiware.info/Attachment-Tamer

Password-protected PDFs making mail blank view of messages?