Email messages disappear from Mail.

This just happened to me using SierraOS. This "disappearing inbox" now has happened about 3 times over the past

5 years.

I use Thunderbird as a desktop mail organizer ("mailbox client") and can suggest a "work-around":

Thunderbird allows you to set up "filters," which are fancy methods of deleting, forwarding or copying

emails within any mailbox. I set up a new filter to "COPY" all incoming emails (i.e.,those which included my last name within the "to" address) to a local folder. The local folder is not "synch" in any way, so it is like a solid back-up. All emails in my inbox are now copied into this back-up file.

This is not a "fix" for the disappearing in-box problem, but it should work as an emergency back-up (I hope)

for the future.

I solved the problem setting "mail days to sync" to "no limit" in the relevant mail account settings in the mail section settings.

Doing so they immediately appear in your mail folders.

I also noticed that gmail accounts do not have any settings like that and for this reason I have never experienced a mail loss in my gmail account.

For several years I've had to dump Mail and use Gmail. Emails arrive and if you're on the spot you can catch them before the go. They just disappear, usually after about 10 minutes.

And when I say disappear I mean it, they're gone without a trace. It's the same on the iMac and the iPad. And my wife's Macs as well. I fiddled, looked in forums, and talked to people and there was no help, just like here. Evidently the problem doesn't exist. I can send mail I just can't get it and keep it.

I don't particularly like Gmail but it always works.

I lost all of my emails 2 days in a row!!! I read my emails but didn't move or delete them and when I opened my email the next time they were all gone!!! So this is happening to more than just 1 person!!!

HEY APPLE...ARE YOU READING THIS???

No.

Apple - Feedback

I've used iCloud email, MobileMe email, and .Mac email for 10 years, and don't recall a SINGLE incident in that entire time of emails just "disappearing."

Furthermore, I don't recall seeing any posts here to a similar effect.

So:

1) I suspect "it's just you."

2) Apple isn't reading this. These are user-to-user forums. If you want support, contact AppleCare.

Sorry, but it's not "just him".

It has happened to me, and for the past 24 hours I have not received any email to iCloud.

I tested it - sent a message to my icloud address from another address and monitored the iCloud webmail.

The message I sent appeared in the inbox for about 0.5 seconds, then immediately disappeared, not to be found in Junk, Trash or any other folder.

This has been happening a lot lately.

Not just him. Me too. I've been having this problem for several months. I can see them come in the top corner and then they are not in my email or if I'm in imail they are there and then bam they are gone before I can open them. I can't find them on the server, junk, trash, or anywhere. Where are they going??

This is a huge problem that needs to be addressed. I've used Imail for over 10 years now and never had any issues at all until the last 6 months.

If anyone has found a solution please post.

Let me see if I can recap William Lloyd's, um, "logic":

"That has never happened to me. Therefore, it couldn't possibly happen to you, which means that clearly, you must have done something wrong."

Wow. Just wow.

William, in the 10 years that you've used Apple Mail (and trust me, I'm a die-hard Apple fan), has ANY of that software changed in ANY way? Because with ANY changes in software, bugs could be introduced.

Furthermore, as one uses his computer and bits are copied and pasted and moved around, something called "corruption" can, and does, occur -- which can cause unexpected behavior to appear.

Furthermore, new files that are introduced to one's computer can (intentionally -- as in malware, or unintentionally) cause problems on one's computer.

Furthermore, applications that one runs can cause data to become corrupted, resulting in odd or unexpected behavior.

We're so pleased that in 10 years, none of the software on YOUR computer has changed, you haven't interacted with your computer in any way, you've not installed any new software, nor have you ever downloaded any files -- or email -- on your computer. And because of this, you've never experience ANY problems with it! How lucky you are!

And how wise of you to inform us that each of the tens of millions of computers out there contain the EXACT same data that YOUR computer does -- which certainly must mean that since you've never experienced this problem, no one else on the planet ever could.

Thanks for enlightening us!

< end sarcasm >

Wow, this just happened to me also! My mail folders (system and those I set up for e-filing) are there but no messages within, no messages being received. This problem is on my brand new laptop only. Webmail is fine and iPhone (new IOS 7) is fine. I've been Apple fan too for years but this is intolerable! I join the shouts, HEY APPLE, fix us!

I got to the root of this issue on my Mac -- but my solution will not apply to everyone. Still, I'm posting this for the benefit of anyone who's in the same boat.

So, if you use SpamSieve, read on:

For anyone who doesn't know, SpamSieve is a very robust, reliable spam filter that works as a plug-in for Mail.app. I've used it for years, and I'm very happy with it. In short, it works like so:

A rule is created in Mail.app that directs all email to SpamSieve. Using complex algorithms that "learn" over time, SpamSieve analyzes each message, puts spam in a folder called Spam, then passes all "good" messages to your inbox.

The day my email disappeared, there were updates to both Apple Mail and SpamSieve.

Bottom line: Somehow, all of the good mail in my inbox (but just on 1 of my 4 email addresses) got moved to the SpamSieve's Spam folder, giving the impression that my mail had disappeared. I'm not accustomed to getting many "false positives" for spam, so I don't regularly look in the Spam folder. But later that day, I did -- and lo and behold, all of the "missing" mail was sitting there, intact.

I also noticed that after the update to Mail.app (and in fact after installing Mavericks, a couple of weeks prior), some of my Mail rules were either missing or had been disabled.

In all these years, I've never had one problem with SpamSieve, so I'm chalking this up to an anomaly -- likely the fault of Mail.app mucking around with my mail rules. I can't say for sure, but to be clear, I've lost no faith in SpamSieve (nor am I affiliated with its developer, for the record). I just want to make it clear that I'm not disparaging SpamSieve in any way.

I simply moved the good messages out of the Spam folder and back to the inbox, and have not had one problem since. Both Mail and SpamSieve are working normally and happily.

I'm posting this because I spent hours online, that day, seeking a solution -- only to discover that my problem had a fairly simple explanation. In the panic of dealing with "disappearing email," it never occurred to me to look in the Spam folder. So if anyone else has SpamSieve, this may point them in the right direction. :-)

I have also had a problem with emails suddenly disappearing from my inbox (all my history for about 9 months) on one of my accounts (it's an account I have only had for 9 months). Every week I get left with just the last week's emails. Extremely frustrating. The mails have disappeared from 2 computers - one Snow Leopard and one Mountain Lion. They are 30 miles apart. The account in question is an iMap account. I have been trawling around these forums looking to see who has similar problems.

I think that I may have found a reason - a few weeks ago I looked at the RSS Apple Hot News - there were a lot - all unread - not very interesting to me, so I deleted them.

My trouble with deleted inbox emails seems to have started after that.

I have three email accounts. Two are OK - one of which is a POP account and the other a google/gmail iMap account.

I'm just hoping that I don't lose emails from the two "good" accounts. But I have taken precautions of copying to a "duplicate" mailbox - which is starting to get tedious and confusing - especially on 2 computers.

If this diagnosis is correct, can anyone tell me how I/we can get in touch with Apple in a serious way?

And, does anyone out there think I may be correct?

I too use Mail and SpamSieve – on Mavericks. Today I had the unnerving experience of seeing an email which I knew had two large PDFs attached, from a profesional address that has sent me dozens of similar emails, drop into my inbox and then disappear within a couple of seconds. It is nowhere to be found, neither the SpamSieve spam box nor the regular mail spam folder, not via a very thorough global search of the engtire computer and linked strorage. When I asked for the mail to be sent again, to a differne t email address coming into the same Mail installation, exactly the same thing happened. Thank heaven for WeTransfer.

I doubt very much that this is an "Apple problem" as it involves British Telecom; SpamSieve; Apple and dozens of other programs/factors etc. But it does happen; and I have seen it happen.

editionperiodicals wrote:

I too use Mail and SpamSieve – on Mavericks. Today I had the unnerving experience of seeing an email which I knew had two large PDFs attached, from a profesional address that has sent me dozens of similar emails, drop into my inbox and then disappear within a couple of seconds. It is nowhere to be found, neither the SpamSieve spam box nor the regular mail spam folder, not via a very thorough global search of the engtire computer and linked strorage. When I asked for the mail to be sent again, to a differne t email address coming into the same Mail installation, exactly the same thing happened. Thank heaven for WeTransfer.

I doubt very much that this is an "Apple problem" as it involves British Telecom; SpamSieve; Apple and dozens of other programs/factors etc. But it does happen; and I have seen it happen.

I don't represent SpamSieve, but I'm 99% sure that SpamSieve is not even capable of deleting messages. All SpamSieve can do is move messages from one location to another. So, if a message has literally disappeared, it's almost certainly not the fault of SpamSieve. :-)

Be sure to try Mail.app's search box (making sure it's searching "All" mailboxes), and also try a Spotlight search, for good measure.

Also, Apple has acknowledged issues with Mail.app in Mavericks (which may or may not be related to your issue, but is worth noting):

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/02/03/apple-addresses-os-x-mail-problems-off ers-stopgap-workaround

Its not just him. Ive been having this same problem, my mail is disapearing right before my eyes.