Mail stuck on "Preparing to Import"

Question

Level 1

8 points

Mail stuck on "Preparing to Import"

Yesterday, seemingly out of the blue, the mail program shot me an error message saying something to the effect of "mail app had been corrupted"...I didn't think much of it but tried to restart it and it took me to a welcome screen and prompted me to "click to import messages or hit cancel to do it later." Well, if I hit continue the app just hangs indefinitely and if I hit cancel the app just closes. I've tried to work through some of the solutions presented in the forums, namely, moving my com.apple.mail.plist file to the desktop--there was a similar solution offered that instead involved moving a file from the cache folder but for some reason I don't seem to have that particular file. I'm uber frustrated and about to pull the rest of my hair out...please help 😟

10.10.1 Yosemite

2.7 i5 iMac

iMac, iOS 6.1.4

Posted on Jan 9, 2015 8:40 AM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Jan 9, 2015 3:11 PM in response to Volstick

Quit Mail. Force quit if necessary.

Back up all data before proceeding.

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

~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder

from the menu bar. Paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V, then press return.

A folder window will open. Inside it there should be files with names as follows:

Envelope Index

ExternalUpdates.storedata

Move those files to the Desktop, leaving the window open. Other files in the folder may have longer names that begin as above. Move those files, if any, to the Trash.

Relaunch Mail. It should prompt you to re-import your messages. You may get a warning that the index is damaged and that Mail has to quit. Click OK. Typically, the process takes a few minutes, but it may take hours if you have gigantic mailboxes. In that case, you may be able to speed things up by temporarily adding your home folder to the Privacy list in the Spotlight preference pane. Remove it when Mail has finished importing.

Test. If Mail now works as expected, you can delete the files you moved to the Desktop. Otherwise, post your results.

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Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Jan 13, 2015 6:45 PM in response to Volstick

Yosemite Mail freezes when importing mailboxes

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Answer 3

Jan 9, 2017 9:24 PM in response to Linc Davis

Hi Linc - I am having the same problem as above where my Mail is stuck on the Window Preparing to Import Messages. Could you help? Thank you!

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Answer 4

Volstick Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 11, 2015 8:55 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hey Linc!

Thank you so much for the help--unfortunately the prescribed method above didn't remedy the problem...The behavior hasn't changed at all...I click Mail and then it brings me to the welcome screen and then it asks me to hit continue to import and once I do it just hangs and does nothing.

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Jan 13, 2015 2:34 PM in response to Volstick

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Launch Mail. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

Some private information, such as your name or email address, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

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Answer 6

Volstick Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 13, 2015 6:30 PM in response to Linc Davis

1/13/15 9:23:22.353 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent) The _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit key is not available on this platform.

1/13/15 9:23:22.409 PM bird[300]: Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]

1/13/15 9:23:22.417 PM bird[300]: Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]

1/13/15 9:23:26.949 PM networkd[145]: -[NETProxyLookup pacLookupComplete:proxies:error:] PAC evaluation error: Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=2 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork error 2.)" UserInfo=0x7ff8ebf1a470 {kCFGetAddrInfoFailureKey=8}

1/13/15 9:23:59.418 PM networkd[145]: -[NETProxyLookup pacLookupComplete:proxies:error:] PAC evaluation error: Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=2 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork error 2.)" UserInfo=0x7ff8ebf1a470 {kCFGetAddrInfoFailureKey=8}

1/13/15 9:24:35.242 PM Mail[1658]: Error reading table of contents file from /Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Deleted Messages (N******).mbox/table_of_contents: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “table_of_contents” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo=0x600000275080 {NSFilePath=/Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Deleted Messages (N******).mbox/table_of_contents, NSUnderlyingError=0x60000044d5f0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"}

1/13/15 9:24:36.421 PM Mail[1658]: Error reading table of contents file from /Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/ToDos.mbox (N******).mbox/table_of_contents: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “table_of_contents” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo=0x600000477540 {NSFilePath=/Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/ToDos.mbox (N******).mbox/table_of_contents, NSUnderlyingError=0x600000253050 "The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"}

1/13/15 9:24:36.429 PM Mail[1658]: Error reading table of contents file from /Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/ToDos.mbox (N****** (aol)).mbox/table_of_contents: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “table_of_contents” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo=0x6000004636c0 {NSFilePath=/Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/ToDos.mbox (N******(aol)).mbox/table_of_contents, NSUnderlyingError=0x600000252330 "The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"}

1/13/15 9:24:37.421 PM Mail[1658]: Error reading table of contents file from /Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Drafts (N******)).mbox/table_of_contents: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “table_of_contents” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo=0x608000076100 {NSFilePath=/Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Drafts (N******)).mbox/table_of_contents, NSUnderlyingError=0x6080010450d0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"}

1/13/15 9:24:37.429 PM Mail[1658]: Error reading table of contents file from /Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Drafts (N******).mbox/table_of_contents: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “table_of_contents” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo=0x608000076100 {NSFilePath=/Users/N******/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/Drafts (N******).mbox/table_of_contents, NSUnderlyingError=0x608001042df0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"}

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Answer 7

mgundred

Level 1

0 points

Jan 15, 2015 9:37 PM in response to Volstick

Hi! I had this problem on the same day that you made your original post and have been following developments on this thread to decide how to fix my Mail problem. I ended up restoring the Mail folder located in Library through Time Machine and everything is now back to normal, running fine. I have several email accounts, not all are IMAP, so I was hesitant to do the prescribed fix that someone posted in response to you. Restoring from Time Machine ensured that all my Mailboxes were put back as they were. Hope yours is back soon too!

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Answer 8

Volstick Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 11, 2015 9:06 AM in response to Csound1

Forever...Perhaps hang isn't the best descriptor...It says preparing to import with full status bar and then that's it--that window just stays and nothing happens.

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Answer 9

Csound1

Level 9

60,015 points

Jan 11, 2015 9:00 AM in response to Volstick

How long does it 'hang' for.

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Answer 10

Csound1

Level 9

60,015 points

Jan 11, 2015 9:08 AM in response to Volstick

I was hoping you would say how long, I very much doubt that it is forever.

Good luck.

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Answer 11

Volstick Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 11, 2015 9:10 AM in response to Csound1

My apologies...I have had the window up for a couple hours just to see if there would be any progress but there was none...So a couple of hours is the most most accurate I can be.

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Answer 12

Volstick Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 13, 2015 5:46 AM in response to Csound1

Update: I have no left the program open for over 24 hours and still no response.

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Answer 13

Volstick Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 13, 2015 7:12 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you Linc--that appears to have solved the problem...I am a little disappointed that I've lost some old school mail--memories--but prob for the best anyway...Again, thank you so much!!

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