Barbara Passman3
Level 2 (180 points)

Q: My Smart Mailboxes  have stopped working.

I find recently my Apple Mail Smart Mailboxes do not populate

Instead of seeing the # of messages in them, there is no number .When I click on the mailbox, it is empty

Messages are in the real, main mailbox. They simply are not reflected into the smart mailboxes

 

I read somewhere that Spotlight needs to be reindexed  to fix this .

Have any of you experienced same issue with Smart Mailboxes?

Is Spotlight  part of the issue?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Sep 29, 2015 7:04 PM

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Barbara Passman3

Q: My Smart Mailboxes  have stopped working.

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  • by alex_h1,

    alex_h1 alex_h1 Sep 30, 2015 7:09 AM in response to Barbara Passman3
    Community Specialists
    Sep 30, 2015 7:09 AM in response to Barbara Passman3

    Hi Barbara,

    If your Smart Mailboxes are empty, then reindexing Spotlight and/or forcing the Mail "mdworker" and "mds" processes to quit and refresh may resolve your issue.  

    Here's how to do this:

    Re-Index Spotlight

    1. From the Apple () menu, choose System Preferences.
    2. Click Spotlight.
    3. Click the Privacy tab.
    4. Drag a folder or an entire volume (your hard drive) to the list.
    5. If prompted for confirmation, click OK.
    6. Remove the item or volume you just added to the list by clicking it and then clicking the minus ("-") button.
    7. Close Spotlight preferences.

    Spotlight will re-index the contents of the folder or volume.

    Use Activity Monitor to quit processes

    1. Open Finder and open the Applications folder
    2. Open the Utilities folder
    3. Open Activity Monitor
    4. From the menu bar, choose View > All Processes
    5. In the search box, type "mds" (without the quotes)
    6. Select and quit (click on the X in the top left) for each process that contains "mds" or "mdserver"
    7. Restart your computer

    Barbara, if this did not resolve your issue, please reply to this thread and we'll delve into this a little further for you.

    Resources:

    Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes - Apple Support
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716 

    Use Activity Monitor on your Mac - Apple Support
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201464

    Have a great day!