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Mavericks Mail not sync'ing IMAP act. (Not GMail)

I have been waiting silently to see if a fix would come on its own, but none yet. Ever since upgrading to Mavericks, Mail.app does NOT sync my IMAP accounts correctly. I have gone so far as to remove and re-add the accounts numerous times... no change. The recent "update" that was supposed to address Gmail issues had no affect on my sync'ing issues either. As others have posted, I basically have to quit and re-launch mail for it to correctly show what is on the mail server. All of my iDevices are working just fine - I can read or move an email, and all my iDevices show it correctly... but when I return to my Mac - some show as unread - some messages that I moved or deleted are still THERE (unread), etc.


Once I quit and relaunch, the inbox displays correctly - but there is no way (that I can find) to force the inbox to "refresh" correctly while the app is open. "Getting new" messages does nothing to help. Has anyone found a solution or work-around...? or is this just a "sit back and wait for Apple to fix" kind of problem...?


Thanks,

SF

Posted on Nov 13, 2013 5:16 AM

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Posted on Nov 13, 2013 5:27 AM

Mail is not connecting to the server after OS X Mavericks update. Meanwhile the same setting is working from Ipad, Iphone and even in windows mail. We have an exclusive mail server in our office. Connecting to mail server is easy only on the same server network with the same setting only by changing the server local address, but not working by the server IP from the internet.

404 replies

Mar 28, 2014 7:28 AM in response to Csound1

Those may be factual statements, but to bring it back around to focus - this thread in particular was created to hilight IMAP accounts in GENERAL having issues sync'ing in the new Mavericks OS... and explicitly excluded GMAIL problems (pre or post Mavericks)


My only point was, any time an issue was encountered by Steve himself - you can be sure it was dealt with immediately. 🙂 I meant nothing more than THAT. Not that everything was rosey with all-things-Mail.app before Mavericks.


There is a correlation here that is too massive to ignore. Not saying the PROBLEM is massive - just the evidence pointing to something that Apple must fix in order for things to go back to "normal" (good).

Mar 28, 2014 7:36 AM in response to Scott Finlayson

I agree with you, there is a problem here, but it needs to be identified before it can be fixed.


Read this (and other threads on the same subject) a percentage of posters had the issue fixed by various rather basic configuration changes, not always the same changes and sometimes the changes did not work. This tells me that there are several (probably installation specific) problems with differing requirements to resolve. That does not suggest a system wide 'bug' that has one 'fix'


Sadly many here seem to have come to complain rather than take the steps to properly troubleshoot the issue.


Disclosure: I have no problem getting Godaddy, Gmail or Google Apps email accounts working correctly. Fortunately I do not have to use either, I just use them as test installations.

Mar 28, 2014 7:40 AM in response to Csound1

The GoDaddy and Gmail problems extend back a long way, and are not limited to Mail on a Mac. Gmail has been flaky since its inception many years ago. Both of these accounts were problematic long before Steve died.


Like others have commented, this problem is brand new with OS X 10.9 and I don't use the two email providers that keep coming up here as known problem children. In fact, I've used Fastmail for many years and it's integration with Apple Mail IMAP was perfect until the day Apple released Mavericks. And Fastmail is not the problem, either, as iOS operation with it is faultless.

Mar 28, 2014 8:06 AM in response to James Merwin

James Merwin wrote:


The GoDaddy and Gmail problems extend back a long way, and are not limited to Mail on a Mac. Gmail has been flaky since its inception many years ago. Both of these accounts were problematic long before Steve died.


Like others have commented, this problem is brand new with OS X 10.9 and I don't use the two email providers that keep coming up here as known problem children. In fact, I've used Fastmail for many years and it's integration with Apple Mail IMAP was perfect until the day Apple released Mavericks. And Fastmail is not the problem, either, as iOS operation with it is faultless.

As I said before, you have a choice, do nothing and wait in the assumption that someone will fix it.


Or do something,


You will decide what you choose to do.

Mar 28, 2014 8:34 AM in response to Scott Finlayson

Scott Finlayson wrote:


mumbles2701 wrote:


The same compnay and same set up on 10.8 worked perfectly.


This is a key thing to remember - the same with me. I have had my email addy since around 1998... it has passed along from OS to OS... computer to computer. Never have I had this issue before. Granted, I have only been IMAP for maybe 6-7 years, but still flawless for years until 10.9 - seems pretty cut-n-dry to me. 🙂


+1

Mar 30, 2014 7:45 AM in response to i did not inhale

i did not inhale wrote:


1) Quit Mail

2) Delete Google Mail Account from "Internet Accounts" in System Preferences

2) Delete Mail folder in ~/Library

3) Restart and then empty trash.

4) Open Mail, go to Mail-->Preferences-->Accounts-->+ to add a new account, select Google, type your info in, but then go to the account in the list and change your username to your FULL email address.


I followed your instructions -- very simple.

Since re-adding my Mail account settings about 3 hours ago, everything has been working correctly.

Will check back tomorrow.


Thanks!


Follow up:


After 1.5 days of syncing properly, everything in Mail reverted back to its old behaviour of not syncing with iOS or gmail web in all 3 mail accounts. 😟

Mar 30, 2014 7:45 AM in response to larryfromsantarosa

larryfromsantarosa wrote:


If you have Little Snitch or HandsOff or another firewall, make sure that you haven't blocked apps that you don't understand. After clearing all those I didn't actually know I wanted blocked, Mail started working properly...finally.


Good suggestion, larry.

Tried turning off Little Snitch for a while, but that didn't change the Mail.app syncing problems.

Thanks.

Mar 30, 2014 7:57 AM in response to Csound1

Csound1 wrote:


Then clearly the best course of action for you is to do nothing while you wait for the fix.


Many of the posters who did have the problem and took remedial action now no longer have the problem so (as the target keeps moving) it may take a while.


A couple of things: By no means am I "doing nothing while I wait for the fix". You clearly have not been a part of every reply in this thread. Before even POSTING this thread, I had tried on my own to delete accounts and re-add them in various manners. I have tried some of the suggested methods of CIRCUMVENTING (not solving) the problem. I have compiled my findings and composed feedback to Apple and have had discussions with them regarding this issue. To make a blanket statement of "doing nothing" is inaccurate.


I also challenge you to show a single example of any (non-GMAIL) reply on here where ANY of the remedies have been permanent, or lasting more than a couple of days before returning to problematic.


I would tend to think that anyone who is no-longer having the issue I am having never had the same cause of the problem.


There is no need to talk-down to people here and be condecending just because YOU wish to continue to dig-deeper and spend time coming-up with workarounds for something Apple needs to fix internally. More power to you - but stop acting as if that is the only appropriate respones. It's not.


The onus is on the software developer to fix submitted bugs - and as an end user, I have provided them with more than adequate details of the issue, they have acknowledged the issue, and all attempts to apply workarounds have failed. You really think users need to do MORE than that...?

Mar 30, 2014 11:41 AM in response to sadsadasdas

Thanks to everyone for all the informative posts about the different solutions being attempted. I was the initial person on this thread to suggest "Uncheck All Mail" in Gmail settings. Like all other solutions, this seemed to work for a period of time, but then erratically thereafter. I became a Mac user in 2009 after amy years of frustrated use of PCs "blue-screening", not booting, getting viruses, etc. This switch to Mac has been an incredible experience as Mac simply does everything welll that a PC does not. My Mac's never blue-screened, failed for any reason. The use of Time Machine has saved me time and time again when I inadvertently delete files. I migrated my family of 5 to Mac products, and transitions from one Mac to the next are seemless as well. I have never experienced an issue where the Apple team came up short finding an update that would eventually correct an issue cause by an upgrade to OSX, or just about any other software related issue....that is until the upgrade to OSX 10.9 and the loss of functionality to Mail w IMAP accounts.


IMAP has been around as an email protocol forever and as other users have posted, Mail is one of the most used programs on a Mac. Howver the break down with Gmail renders Mail useless...no sync functionality w iPads or iPhones, let alone the Gmail web app. I am power Gmail user for personal email and simply cannot organize my life without Gmail. Today, I gave up. A user earlier posted that Thunderbird works perfectly w Gmail on OSX 10.9.2...and it does!!! Instant email retrieval when received. eMails filed to a folder instantly are filed on the iPhone, iPad and Gmail Web app. It is not as pretty as Mail, but it works, which is the bottom line.


So my recommendation to all the frustrated Gmail users who have posted on this thread is to switch to Thunderbird and keep Mail closed. Maybe check in again on Mail after 1 or 2 updates, but otherwise keep it closed. As Scott Finlayson said well, the non-sync issue of Mail/IMAP on 10.9.2 is a Mac development issue. Until Apple figures out why Gmail is broken, don't sweat it. Use Thunderbird and live a stress free life 😀

Mar 30, 2014 11:59 AM in response to amblue

Hello amblue,


I fully endorse your views/comments. I too have migrated form Windows environment 18 months ago, and Apple is a huge improvement. But Apple Mail with Mavericks is indeed broken...


I have taken a similar route, but not with Thurderbird (which I haven't tried) but with Airmail. It too works exactly as it should with my 3 gmail IMAP accounts. I love it - and there are some aspects of it that are much better than Apple Mail (apart from the fact that it functions correctly).


I am still monitoring Apple Mail in the background... out of interest. It works fine for long periods of time, but then has a 'bad day'. Just for fun I set one of my gmail accounts with 'all-mail' checked recently, and left the other 2 accounts with it 'unchecked'. The changed account did some verty strange things for a few hours in Apple Mail, but then settled down to perform ok. And one of the other accounts, left with all-mail 'unchecked' is now losing count of opened emails! It clearly isn't a simple problem.


But Airmail is correct, on all accounts, all of the time, whatever the 'all-mail' setting. (Much as your Thunderbird seems to be). So I can rely on it.


This clearly isn't a simple problem for Apple, but I hope they get to the bottom of it soon, or even eventually.

Mavericks Mail not sync'ing IMAP act. (Not GMail)

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