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Mac Mail corrupt?--setting up new computer, problems...

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I set up my new Macbook Pro Retina using Migration Assistant to get my data and settings from my old computer and the strangest thing is happening with the Mail App on the new computer. I am signed into iCloud on my new computer and everything works except the Mail App. In system preferences, iCloud shows signed in and Mail is checked. When I click on the Mail icon, Mail opens and the set up a new account dialogue window jumps up and requests that I pick an email account type to set up (ie. iCloud, Yahoo, AOL, etc.) It does not recognize that I am already signed into iCloud and have Mail checked in iCloud system prefs. If I click Cancel in the dialogue box, the Mail App quits so I can't get into mail prefs. If I try to pick iCloud, it asks for my iCloud Apple ID and password and then it does nothing and Mail freezes. The strange thing is that I can see behind the dialogue box and I can see the Mail favorites bar and my iCloud personalized mail folders with their proper names are there. How do I fix this issue? Do I throw away a pref file or something? Open to any advice, thanks.

Posted on Nov 13, 2013 11:10 AM

Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Nov 13, 2013 6:31 PM

Please follow these directions to delete the Mail "sandbox" folder.

Back up all data.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail

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

Services Reveal

from the contextual menu.* A Finder window should open with a folder named "com.apple.mail" selected. If it does, move the selected foldernot just its contents — to the Desktop. Leave the Finder window open for now.

Log out and log back in. Launch Mail and test. If the problem is resolved, you may have to recreate some of your Mail settings. You can then delete the folder you moved and close the Finder window. If you still have the problem, quit Mail again and put the folder back where it was, overwriting the one that may have been created in its place. Post your results.

Caution: If you change any of the contents of the sandbox, but leave the folder itself in place, Mail may crash or not launch at all. Deleting the whole sandbox will cause it to be rebuilt automatically.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combinationcommand-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.

6 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Nov 13, 2013 6:31 PM in response to Community User

Please follow these directions to delete the Mail "sandbox" folder.

Back up all data.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail

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

Services Reveal

from the contextual menu.* A Finder window should open with a folder named "com.apple.mail" selected. If it does, move the selected foldernot just its contents — to the Desktop. Leave the Finder window open for now.

Log out and log back in. Launch Mail and test. If the problem is resolved, you may have to recreate some of your Mail settings. You can then delete the folder you moved and close the Finder window. If you still have the problem, quit Mail again and put the folder back where it was, overwriting the one that may have been created in its place. Post your results.

Caution: If you change any of the contents of the sandbox, but leave the folder itself in place, Mail may crash or not launch at all. Deleting the whole sandbox will cause it to be rebuilt automatically.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combinationcommand-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.

Nov 14, 2013 10:19 AM in response to Linc Davis

Linc Davis....thank you thank you thank you!!! Your suggestion and clear instructions absolutely solved my problem and everything works perfectly now. I really appreciate it. Hope you have a nice day! 🙂

Mac Mail corrupt?--setting up new computer, problems...

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