Mail constantly downloading messages | How to reset Mail?

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Level 1

44 points

Mail constantly downloading messages | How to reset Mail?

Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone could help with this problem.

Since manually migrating my Mail data from one El Capitan system to another, Im having some trouble. Namely, Mail says its downloading up to 800,000 messages every time it checks for new mail, so it's constantly working away. This is an IMAP account BTW, and i don't have anywhere near that amount of messages. My other computers and iOS devices are fine.

I was wondering if anyone knows what it could be?

Or better yet, how the file structure of Mail in El Capitan works, as it seems to have changed. So I can reset the app.

In the past i used to manually migrate my mail between systems by copying over the User / Library - preference file and the User / Library / Mail folder. In the case of manually migrating between my El Capitan systems, this no longer seems to work. Im feeling things are being stored in different locations. Thus I had to export Mbox files on my old system and import them into the new- for the mail i archive locally that is.

Im thinking the best way to try and fix my problem is to trash all the mail files and building it from scratch again, but killing the above files doesn't seem to be enough to fully reset it. Does anyone know what other locations Mail is now saving data too?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Nov 1, 2015 1:36 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 1, 2015 1:40 PM in response to R3kl355

Try deleting this folder in your User's Library:

Containers > com.apple.mail

Log out under the Apple in the Menu bar

Log in

Empty the Trash

Open Mail

It's possible you will need to do further clean up, but this might be enough to solve your current issue.

Quite a bit changed in OS X 10.11 El Capitan Mail. See my post

Troubleshooting Apple Mail in OS X 10.11 El Capitan

(Fair disclosure: Needhelp4Mac is my site. I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from links on my site.)

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Answer 2

R3kl355 Author

Level 1

44 points

Nov 1, 2015 1:51 PM in response to dianeoforegon

Thanks for your reply. The containers solution did not work. I will go through the steps on your website and let you know if this helps. Great resource btw.

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Answer 3

R3kl355 Author

Level 1

44 points

Nov 1, 2015 2:58 PM in response to dianeoforegon

Hi. I followed the instructions on your website, and unfortunately it doesn't seem to have fixed the problem.

However I may have discovered something as I went through the process. It seems like that the redownloading of mail wasn't happening until I changed my path prefix to INBOX under preferences. Once I did, the downloading started. After then, removing the prefix and leaving it blank doesn't fix the problem.

Hmm, i had to change the prefix otherwise all my mail folder are inside my Inbox.

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Answer 4

Nov 1, 2015 3:23 PM in response to R3kl355

I've seen email clients have issues when adding a root folder. When the account is added without a root folder it can have trouble switching over to the correct format when a root folder is added.

Remove the account again in Mail. That should take you to System Preferences > Internet Accounts. Uncheck Mail.

Before adding the account back in Mail, make sure the root folder is selected under advanced in System Preferences > Internet Accounts.

This gets the correct setting when the download starts.

It's possible you will also need to remove that account's data in V3.

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Answer 5

R3kl355 Author

Level 1

44 points

Nov 1, 2015 11:31 PM in response to dianeoforegon

I believe that did the trick. Thank you so much!

However, though the process, I absent and stupidly deleted all my IMAP emails. I was able to get them back via an import from my backup, but you cannot believe the day long bugged out odyssey i went through to get them back onto the IMAP server- crashes, lock ups, weird duplicate mirrored file structures in different locations, error messages, corrupt files, slow processing, seemingly irrational behavior, arghh.

But anyways, its all sorted now apart from the occasional mail crash.

I really appreciate the effort you put into helping me out.

Cheers!

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Answer 6

Nov 2, 2015 9:53 AM in response to R3kl355

I'm glad it's all sorted out in the end. Just think of all the things you have learned in the process. :-)

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Answer 7

R3kl355 Author

Level 1

44 points

Nov 2, 2015 1:38 PM in response to dianeoforegon

Indeed.

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Answer 8

John Strung

Level 6

13,440 points

Jan 16, 2016 7:49 AM in response to dianeoforegon

I am having the same problem in El Capitan. Just to clarify, are you saying that the "path" box should not be blank, but should read "inbox"?

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Answer 9

John Strung

Level 6

13,440 points

Jan 16, 2016 9:59 AM in response to John Strung

Still having the problem with mail re-downloading. This only happens with one of about 10 mail accounts I have. It is a GoDaddy imap account. I have several other GoDaddy accounts where this does not happen.

What I have done:

I have deleted and recreated the account three times.

I have backed up my drive, the erased it, did a fresh install of El Capitan and used migration assistant to copy back my data, apps and settings.

I have deleted the V2 Folder.

I notice that the problem seems to coincide with the following message in my console log:

Mail[2927]: [IMAP] Server sent warning response for command CAPABILITY: * NO Error in IMAP command received by server.

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Answer 10

May 11, 2016 7:12 AM in response to John Strung

I was having this problem (i.e., stuck on "downloading messages") with my Gmail account on my MacBook Pro. Other systems (desktop, iPhone, iPad) weren't having a problem. I tried several things that this or other threads suggested (rebuilding mailbox, re-indexing, delete and re-add the account) and nothing was helping until I followed the following advice from:

Take Control of Apple Mail, Third Edition, version 3.0, published in September 2015 by TidBITS Publishing Inc. This book was written by Joe Kissell and edited by Dan Frakes.

If that doesn’t solve the problem, quit Mail, navigate to ~/Library/ Mail/V3/MailData and drag the files Envelope Index, Envelope Index- shm, and Envelope Index-wal to the Trash. When you launch Mail again, it’ll tell you that you need to “import” all your messages (just as it may have done when you upgraded to El Capitan). Let it do so—it’s recreating your envelope index from scratch, but don’t worry, you won’t lose any messages, labels, message status, or other data—and when it finishes, your mailboxes should behave correctly.

BTW, I highly recommend this and the other eBooks in the Take Control series. I'm not affiliated with them other than being a happy customer.

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Answer 11

May 16, 2016 6:38 PM in response to Millard Taylor

thanks. just stopped my mail program from constantly 'downloading messages'. brilliant. cheers

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Answer 12

Jun 11, 2017 3:24 AM in response to Millard Taylor

I'm on OSX 10.9.5 and have recently had the same problem. My mail folder is V2 (not V3) but the advice above seems to have worked for me. Great. Thanks.

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