Level 1

25 points

Mail constantly downloading messages

Hi all,

I've recently performed a clean install of OS X El Capitan on my mid 2102 Macbook Pro (Non Retina) and restored on to it my user folder and settings from before the installation (I was running the latest update of OS X Yosemite).

Since then, I have experienced an issue where Mail constantly lists in its activity that it's downloading messages.

The amount of message varies from time to time and would range between 1,000 to 100,000 messages.

This issue occurs several times every hour.

Obviously, I don't get more than a 1,000 messages every few minutes and the size of the files on my disk stays the same, so these are definitely the same messages Mail had already downloaded when I initially performed the account setup.

The reason this bothers me is that it slows down the performance of my Mac, especially when working in Mail (which is one of my top 3 apps in OS X).

In addition, it severely drains the battery.

I've seen several posts with no solution that helped me fixed the issue.

I tried to disable and enable the account and I've also tried to recreate the account.

I tried to follow the steps provided at http://www.needhelp4mac.com/2015/10/troubleshooting-apple-mail-in-os-x-10-11-el- capitan/ which I saw posted in a similar thread - Mail constantly downloading messages | How to reset Mail?

However, all of these steps did not solve my issue.

My account type is an Exchange account and I'm running the latest 10.11.1 update.

If anyone has any other idea of something I could try, please let me know.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Yair.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Nov 17, 2015 2:50 AM

Top-ranking reply

peterfromistanbul

Level 1

8 points

Posted on Jan 3, 2018 2:45 AM

This is a method which I used after reading it on another blog and it worked very well. You end up with some emails downloaded again but after you threw them away the problem does no longer exist

Pimiento

abfackeln Jan 26, 2017 at 10:47 AM

1ST POST

I was able to fix this problem using a variation of the info suggested by @Dataless.

the file MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded3 does exist, apparently, in the user/Library/Mail/V3/MailData folder, along with two other similarly named files MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded3-shm and MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded3-wal

i deleted all three just to be sure.

i restarted mail and this time it had many more mails to download but they all seemed to count off without problems -- and i no longer have the downloading message.

View in context

121 replies

Nov 26, 2017 10:54 AM in response to ea711

Same was happening for me - I had changed from IMAP to POP account and it just kept saying it was downloading - number 2 on this list sorted for me. Thanks

Dec 4, 2017 4:41 PM in response to yairz

It is now two years after your original post. I'm having the same issue on my iMac. Constantly downloading emails. Irritating.

Dec 21, 2017 8:22 AM in response to yairz

I have this problem too.

Dec 23, 2017 6:16 PM in response to yairz

I have the same question except that Mail is constantly Downloading Messages (xxx of yyy) where xxx and yyy are in the range of 0 to 300 or so.

Jan 3, 2018 2:47 AM in response to yairz

Jan 4, 2018 12:24 PM in response to peterfromistanbul

Sorry to be dense but I am not sure how to find this on my MAC....

also the previous link has nothing in it!

Hate computers.....

Jan 11, 2017 9:58 AM in response to yairz

I had this problem. New iMac began using 15 Gb daily download. I used Little Snitch to trace the source to the Mail app and within mail to my GoDaddy mail account. I had been thinking of removing the GoDaddy account anyway since it was from my business and I am retired. When I removed the account, the continual downloading activity immediately ceased. In one day I went from 15 Gb to 1 Gb download including all the other activity on the network.

It would appear Apple tweaked the mail app on or about December 13 2016 and something about it now does not play well with certain IMAP servers aside from its own @icloud.com server.

Jan 18, 2017 4:57 AM in response to yairz

I'm hoping kschweickhardt's solution will work for me. Meanwhile is there a way to set up a push notification so that I get an email whenever someone else posts on this topic? I have 6 email accounts, some exchange, some IMAP, gmail etc and this problem is DRIVING ME & my computer CRAZY. I agree, no 'care' in apple care any more. 😟

WGAdmin

Level 1

4 points

Feb 2, 2017 9:16 AM in response to yairz

I know this was posted a while ago... I just had this happen to a business email account that we have through GoDaddy.com. I called them and apparently this issue happens a lot, they say that it is a problem with their server and not apples. Their tech support was aware of it and said that they would fix it as soon as possible. Unfortunatley (based on previous comments) this happens a lot to accounts that are set-up through GoDaddy.

Guess we just have to wait it out until they fix the issue!

Feb 2, 2017 9:27 AM in response to WGAdmin

Actually it happens with more than just the GoDaddy accounts so I don't think it's a GoDaddy problem. I have 6 email addresses - yahoo, sbcglobal, exchange, aol and 3 at gmail I'm not sure of the origin of the issue but it certainly is frustrating!!!!

Feb 2, 2017 2:13 PM in response to peggypmcl

My problem was specifically with a GoDaddy account, but it sounds as though other non-Apple Mail based IMAP servers cause the same behaviour. It looks like there is something about Apple's OS X Mail client that does not play well with other IMAP servers. Certainly there have been comments that other mail clients (ie non-Apple third party mail apps) running under OS X do not have this problem, and iOS mail apps on iPad and iPhone don't have the problem. If there are compatibility issues between Apple's Mail client and third party IMAP servers I wish they would collectively sort it out. Apple, are you listening?

Grimaldi

Level 1

4 points

Mar 21, 2017 6:13 AM in response to yairz

Hi, I am having very much the same issue but with the added twist that my hard drive is filling up ridiculously quickly. I identified a large portion of my memory going to mail logs. I have deleted these, freeing up about 60gbs of space but memory continues to disappear. I think the two issues are related but instead of deleting the mail logs I would rather find a solution to mail constantly downloading. Are you facing the same issue? Any help will be appreciated and if I find a solution I will post it.

Thanks,

Duncan

Mar 27, 2017 1:01 PM in response to Grimaldi

Add me to the list of people who have this problem. I'm IMAP with Google, several accounts. I've had Apple support on the phone several months ago, and they literally gave up trying to find the problem (they stopped returning my emails, even though I'm on AppleCare). If someone can solve this they'll be my new hero.

Apr 25, 2017 6:21 PM in response to figante

i thought i was an advanced user until i read these responses. i've been on the phone with apple support multiple times and it appears they have no idea what is going on.

if someone can explain how to fix this to a beginning user, i'd appreciate it!

Apr 28, 2017 11:43 AM in response to peggypmcl

Same problem:

I use go daddy for the domain name and Gmail Imap to manage my emails and almost every days Mail decide to download around 2000 messages, but I don't have new messages.. I used to take my phone to have an internet access when I am on the road, but with that issue I can't because it takes around 1gig for nothing every time!

Please help apple!

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Mail constantly downloading messages