kingsley.bruce

Q: Apple Mail "From Field" addresses are wrong, and cached

I couldn't find the "Mail" community in the list of communities - Safari, and other standard apps were listed, just not Mail. If this is problem is in the incorrect location, please let me know where to place it - Ta

 

Here is the problem . . .

 

When creating a new email in the "Mail" App, the drop down box for the "From:" field displays a lot of address - some of them are wrong, some of them are obsolete, and some I would like to edit (or delete and re-enter the information).

 

The menu item "Window -> Previous Recepients" does not have any of the offending addresses listed in the cache.

 

If I create a new mail account using "Mail -> Preferences...", the email address and other details from the new account show up in the "From:" field drop down box when composing a new email. If I delete that new account, and restart the Mail App, the "From:" field drop down box still contains the information from the now defunct account.

 

If I pick a different account, and edit the information contained therein - say the "Full Name:" field, that new information does not necessarily change - specifically, if a double quote - " - has been accidentally inserted, or the "Full Name:" field used double quotes in the style "My Name" <my.name@email.address.com> then the double quotes stay stuck around the Full Name, even after being removed from the account details in Mail Preferences.

 

My guess . . . a file stored somewhere on the disc is keeping track of this information similar to the Window -> Previous Recepients information. This information I know how to prune (delete undesired records).

 

How do I do the same thing for the "From:" field?

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), Mail Application - "From:" field

Posted on Jul 1, 2013 5:05 AM

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Q: Apple Mail "From Field" addresses are wrong, and cached

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  • Helpful answers

  • by kingsley.bruce,

    kingsley.bruce kingsley.bruce Jul 1, 2013 6:51 AM in response to kingsley.bruce
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 1, 2013 6:51 AM in response to kingsley.bruce

    It's a caching problem alright . . . my deleted account finally disappeared from the "From:" list - However, the double quotes - " - issue has not gone away. I haven't tried deleting the offending account and re-creating it though.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jul 1, 2013 10:35 AM in response to kingsley.bruce
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Jul 1, 2013 10:35 AM in response to kingsley.bruce

    Back up all data.

    Triple-click the line below to select it:

    ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/MailRecents-v4.abcdmr

    Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

    Services Reveal

    from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Quit the application if it's running. Move the selected item to the Desktop, leaving the window open. Relaunch the application and test. If there's no change, quit again and put the item you moved back where it was, overwriting the one that may have been created in its place. Otherwise, delete the item you moved.

    *If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C). In the Finder, select

    Go Go to Folder...

    from the menu bar, paste into the box that opens (command-V). You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

  • by KPK21,

    KPK21 KPK21 Apr 16, 2014 12:15 PM in response to kingsley.bruce
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 16, 2014 12:15 PM in response to kingsley.bruce

    Linc Davis's reply solved my problem that was identical to the one by kingsley.bruce.

    Thank you very much.

  • by hkannapell,

    hkannapell hkannapell Aug 17, 2015 5:12 PM in response to KPK21
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 17, 2015 5:12 PM in response to KPK21

    This also solved my problem. I had an incorrect email in one of my contacts for me - not sure how it got there. After fixing the contacts, the incorrect email kept coming up in my "to" field of received emails. Thanks Linc Davis!

  • by hugothebear,

    hugothebear hugothebear Jun 25, 2016 10:00 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 25, 2016 10:00 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Once again Linc Davis comes to the rescue