Mail won't start up after 10.11.1 and freezes my iMac

Hey Paul.

Your method works, now my mac mail opens but my "sents mail" and "inbox mails" untill yesterday does not appears.

What can i do to rever this data??

This worked for me. I had seven Envelope Index files (i.e., Envelope Index, Envelope Index 1, Envelope Index 2, etc.) in my MailData folder because Mail wanted to index so many times to no availe. I moved them to the trash and started Mail. One thing I had done earlier was to disable all mail accounts. Not sure this helped. I had done it trying another fix the day before. Thanks!

Ironically, the only reason I upgraded at this time was to fix a problem with Mail where it kept forgetting which mail server to send from. This update was meant to fix that. Instead it freezes Mail during the upgrade process.

Thanks for that Paul, I appreciate you sharing the solution. Just dragging the 3 envelope files to a temporary folder worked for me. 🙂

Now I'm waiting something like 4-7 hours (according to the estimates) for Mail to re-index.

I have tried your suggestion. I trashed 3 envelope indexes in MailData. I had many emails to import as i save most of them. My Mac went to sleep - probably before it finished importing and when i finally got the Mac to wake up, it began all over to import the emails. Not finished importing the second time and i have 6 envelope indexes in MailData. I have a feeling this is not working - but it was a good idea.

Use Disk Utility or About the Mac to see how much free space you have. It's possible you have run out of room with the imports.

I tried your solution but the folder you list can't be found. No MailData folder anywhere

Go to your User's Library. The User's Library folder is hidden by default. To unhide: Select the Finder in the Dock. Under Go in the Menu bar > hold down the Option key and you’ll see the Library.

Scroll down to Mail folder.

You should see MailData folder listed.

Thanks, I found the folder and deleted the files Paul suggested but I still get the message that my username and password aren't recognized on my mail server. I have reentered them and they are correct.

I checked with my ISP just to make sure there was no problem there. If I use Firefox I can access my mail on my ISP with no problem so my user name and password are fine. I can use the Mail app to send mail through my ISP but when I try to read mail is when I get the message that it doesn't recognize my user name and password.

Your username and password for incoming messages is entered on the main account window under the Account Information tab.

Make sure incoming Mail server is correct.

Make sure the User Name includes your full domain. E.g. Larry@xxxx.com

If the password field is blank, enter password. If you see the dots, remove and add password.

After making changes, click out to SAVE.

Open Connection Doctor under Window in the Menu bar.

Click on Check Again.

Do you see green indicators for your incoming server?

It's possible you will have to edit the entries in Keychain Access for the account.

Thanks, I have tried all your suggestions. Under Connection Doctor it says trying to log into this POP account failed. Verify that the user name and password are correct. Which they are.

How do I edit the Keychain Access for the account

It's possible you need to check Allow insecure authentication under the Advanced tab. Try this before tackling the Keychain.

What Email Provider? Comcast, Earthlink, Cox, ATT, Yahoo, iCloud, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail (other) this might help us with your settings.

Keychain Access

Open Keychain Access in Applications/Utilities.

Search on your email. You can enter your account name in the top filter on right to help find all the entries. You'll be looking for a blue @. There should be two entries for each account.

The Keychain doesn't delete old or duplicate entries. Sometimes it's best to delete all for the and start fresh.

You can open each entry to verify the info.

Click on Show Password to verify password is entered correctly. Enter your login password to view.

Next in the keychain entry click on Access Control tab. Do you see Apple or Mail listed?

Note: you can create a new test User to see if starting over in a new Keychain would help.

CREATE A NEW USER

Go to System Preferences --> Create a New User in Users & Groups.

Switch to the New User by logging out under the Apple in the Menu Bar.

Log into the new User.

You can skip logging in with an Apple ID. Hit continue then skip.

Add the problem account to Mail.

Do you have the same connection issues?

If no, then you might want to start over with a new Keychain in your regular User. This would require entering passwords again. You would need to know your passwords.

Create a new keychain by going to the "File" menu, then "New" and selecting "New Keychain"

You can now make this keychain your default if you desire by selecting it, then going to the "File" menu and selecting "Make '(name of keychain)' Default"

The password shown in the Keychain is correct and one shows mail.app and the other shows appleaccount.

There is one other thing I have to check but I can't do it until Tuesday as we have a 4 day weekend here in the Cook Islands. My ISP is called Oyster run by BlueSky. I actually have two accounts with them but I have to verify how they work. One account is oyster.net.ck the other is for my island and is aitutaki.net.ck. My mail app uses aitutaki.net.ck which then grabs the mail from the mail server oyster.net.ck. When I use Firefox to directly access oyster.net.ck everything is fine. When I use the mail app to access aitutaki.net.ck is when it won't login to get mail. I can still send mail through the app. I am going to the local office on Tuesday to have them check if the login and password for the aitutaki.net.ck may be corrupt. I will get back to you then with the results.

Happy New Year

One thing I should have mentioned if it matters or not. In the one that had appleaccount, the entry greyed out.