HT204075: If you can’t send or receive email on your Mac

Learn about If you can’t send or receive email on your Mac
itucakeov
Level 1 (4 points)
iTunes

Q: Mail not working properly since I sent an email bigger than 20mb

Hello

 

About a week ago I accidentally attempted to send an imap email through Mail that is bigger than 20mb.

 

At first it was reporting an error that it is unable to send the email. But after that the message stopped (I think the application froze so I had to force quit it).

 

The Outbox never appeared with the unsent message in it. I even found the Outbox (through reading forums) and there seems to be nothing in there either.

 

I logged online to my godaddy account (I have the email account with them) and I couldn't find the email in the browser either and even called them and they said this was a Mail problem.

 

Basically, the email that I attempted to send is "lost" somewhere in transition and ever since then, the Mail program has been glitchy, not loading messages, sometimes not sending emails, I have to force quit it often because it is unresponsive.

 

Anyone have ideas how I can resolve this?

Thanks!

Posted on Apr 27, 2015 11:21 AM

by Eric Root,Solvedanswer
Eric Root Eric Root
Level 9 (70,250 points)
iTunes
A:

Do a backup.

 

Quit Mail.

 

Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J.  When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Go to Library/Containers/com.apple.mail.  Move the folder com.apple.mail to your desktop. You must move the entire folder, not just the contents.

 

Restart, re-launch Mail and test. If the problem is solved, recreate any required Mail settings and import any emails you want to save from the folder on the desktop. You can then put the folder in the Trash. If the problem remains, return the folder to where you got it replacing the one that is there. 

 

Information learned from Linc Davis. Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.

 

Crashes/quits unexpectedly

Posted on Apr 28, 2015 10:36 PM

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itucakeov

Q: Mail not working properly since I sent an email bigger than 20mb

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Eric Root,Solvedanswer

    Eric Root Eric Root Apr 28, 2015 10:36 PM in response to itucakeov
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    Apr 28, 2015 10:36 PM in response to itucakeov

    Do a backup.

     

    Quit Mail.

     

    Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J.  When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Go to Library/Containers/com.apple.mail.  Move the folder com.apple.mail to your desktop. You must move the entire folder, not just the contents.

     

    Restart, re-launch Mail and test. If the problem is solved, recreate any required Mail settings and import any emails you want to save from the folder on the desktop. You can then put the folder in the Trash. If the problem remains, return the folder to where you got it replacing the one that is there. 

     

    Information learned from Linc Davis. Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.

     

    Crashes/quits unexpectedly

  • by itucakeov,

    itucakeov itucakeov Apr 28, 2015 10:39 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iTunes
    Apr 28, 2015 10:39 PM in response to Eric Root

    Thanks so much for your response Eric

    It looks like it worked. At first when I opened Mail after restarting, it seemed to freeze again, so I had to force quit it. After opening it for the second time it seems to work fine.

    I am guessing that through imap, Mail will retrieve everything from the server and the folder on my desktop will have the email that was causing the problem, which I can erase once all seems to work.

    I'll give it a few hours and then come back and check-mark that the issue has been solved.

    Thanks again.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Apr 29, 2015 6:40 AM in response to itucakeov
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    Apr 29, 2015 6:40 AM in response to itucakeov

    You are welcome.

  • by itucakeov,

    itucakeov itucakeov May 1, 2015 10:58 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iTunes
    May 1, 2015 10:58 AM in response to Eric Root

    Unfortunately, the Mail keeps freezing every so often and I have to force quit it and then it starts fine and works fine for a while.