acarternl

Q: Message flashing in Apple Mail after Sierra upgrade

I upgraded my Macbook Air recently to macOS Sierra and since then my Archived messages in the preview pane of Apple Mail start flashing when viewing them. After 15s or so they stop flashing. I need to wait till the flashing stops before I can reply to or forward the message. Or I need to open the message itself first.

 

Anyone aware of this issue? What can I do about it? I do need to say that I have around 4,500 messages stored in Archive. But before the upgrade I had a lot more messages stored in Archive and didn't have this issue.

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2012), macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Sep 30, 2016 5:26 AM

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Q: Message flashing in Apple Mail after Sierra upgrade

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  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Sep 30, 2016 3:29 PM in response to acarternl
    Level 5 (5,753 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 30, 2016 3:29 PM in response to acarternl

    Spotlight could still be indexing your mail data. Open Activity Monitor in Applications/Utilities. Do you see mdworker processes?

     

    Try restarting in safe boot mode then test.

    Safe boot

    * shutdown

    * start the Mac and *wait* for the startup chime to sound

    * after the sound, press and hold down the shift key

    * keep holding and *wait* until the grey  Apple logo appears

    * now release the shift key and just wait (it could take a few minutes)

    * eventually the login screen appears with the words SAFE BOOT in the top right of the window

    * continue to login to see if the problem goes away.

     

    Open Disk Utility and run First Aid on your Macintosh HD.

  • by 19roger45,

    19roger45 19roger45 Oct 4, 2016 5:06 AM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 4, 2016 5:06 AM in response to dianeoforegon

    Have tried all the above made no difference still flashing did see mdworker process. Lets hope it gets fixed.

  • by acarternl,

    acarternl acarternl Oct 4, 2016 11:45 AM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 4, 2016 11:45 AM in response to dianeoforegon

    I also tried the above, but it didn't make any difference. There was an mdworker process (spotlight) running at 0.1% percent.

  • by OnTheEdge1,

    OnTheEdge1 OnTheEdge1 Oct 5, 2016 1:34 AM in response to acarternl
    Level 1 (31 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 5, 2016 1:34 AM in response to acarternl

    Maybe can this solution/topic help you: Re: Spotlight doesnt work after Sierra upgrade

  • by 19roger45,

    19roger45 19roger45 Oct 6, 2016 2:00 AM in response to acarternl
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 6, 2016 2:00 AM in response to acarternl

    Found if you put cursor over message from archived email then move page down slightly with track pad message stops flashing.

  • by acarternl,

    acarternl acarternl Oct 6, 2016 7:38 AM in response to 19roger45
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 6, 2016 7:38 AM in response to 19roger45

    That doesn't work for me. After every 'flash' (in fact a reload of the message thread), Apple Mail shows me the first message. So, I scroll down to let's say the third message within a thread, and after 1 or 2 seconds I am taken back to the first message.

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Oct 6, 2016 9:54 AM in response to acarternl
    Level 5 (5,753 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 6, 2016 9:54 AM in response to acarternl

    Troubleshooting is a process of elimination.

     

    How many messages in your Inbox?

     

    Have you tried creating a smart folder to read your new unread messages? This would eliminate the too many messages in Inbox.

     

    Unread-recent.png

    Try disabling download attachments. I've seen flickering in Safari when it was trying to load a graphic.

    Select None for this test

     

    attachments-download.png

     

    It's easy to prune your Inbox.The attachment issue will most likely be addressed by Apple in an update.

  • by acarternl,

    acarternl acarternl Oct 6, 2016 11:56 PM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 6, 2016 11:56 PM in response to dianeoforegon

    The issue occurs only in the Archive, not in the Inbox. I usually have less than 5 emails in my Inbox. The Archive consists of 4,500 emails now. When the issue occurred, I reduced the number of archived emails from 20,000. I also removed every attachment from the archived emails.

  • by OnTheEdge1,

    OnTheEdge1 OnTheEdge1 Oct 7, 2016 1:35 AM in response to acarternl
    Level 1 (31 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 7, 2016 1:35 AM in response to acarternl

    Did you already rebuild your mailbox manually? Or with the rebuild option?

     

    If you did the rebuild, you can try the manual indexation by following the next steps:

    Finder choose Go > Library.

    In ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData, delete any file that begins with “Envelope Index,” such as Envelope Index or Envelope Index-shm. (Before you actually delete the files, it makes sense to copy them to a folder on your desktop.)

    Launch Mail and the app will build new Envelope Index files -- this can take a long time if there are numerous messages to go through.

    If everything seems to be working correctly, you can now delete the copies of the "Envelope Index" files from your desktop.

    I hope this will help you!

  • by acarternl,

    acarternl acarternl Oct 11, 2016 2:21 AM in response to OnTheEdge1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 11, 2016 2:21 AM in response to OnTheEdge1

    Hi OnTheEdg1, I did the rebuild and the manual indexation as per your instructions, but I am still having the same issue.

  • by OnTheEdge1,

    OnTheEdge1 OnTheEdge1 Oct 11, 2016 11:16 AM in response to acarternl
    Level 1 (31 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 11, 2016 11:16 AM in response to acarternl

    Rethinking the problem to find a solution. Can you check a few things for me?

     

    • Do you see an indexation bar when you open spotlight (cmd+space)?
    • In you activity monitor: is the mdd-store script active? If yes: does it consume an abnormal amount of your memory? (you can see this also visual in the graphic)
    • Do you use an iCloud account?
  • by OnTheEdge1,

    OnTheEdge1 OnTheEdge1 Oct 11, 2016 11:26 AM in response to acarternl
    Level 1 (31 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 11, 2016 11:26 AM in response to acarternl

    Maybe a very simple and easy solution when your work with an iCloud account ( and when the fault is just in your mail app and not in by example your spotlight indexation) is to log out (first, and maybe synchronize before doing this) and delete (second!) your mail account on your mac... Your mails and your archive will stay on the iCloud.
    Afterwards you install an app like onyx, clean your mail cache files and restart your mac.
    When restarted: reopen mail, add your mail account and start syncing!

     

    When you use other mail providers: check first if your mails are saved on their "cloud" or make a backup!

  • by acarternl,

    acarternl acarternl Oct 12, 2016 1:44 AM in response to OnTheEdge1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 12, 2016 1:44 AM in response to OnTheEdge1

    When I open spotlight, I just see the seach bar. I am no sure what an indexation bar is. The search function works properly.

     

    That mdd-store, is it a process? It's not there. I do see a process called mds_stores.

     

    Yes, I do use an iCloud account, though not for mail. I use Gmail and Live/Outlook for mail.

     

    Should I follow the instructions you gave me (the very simple and easy solution)?

     

    PS: Thank you for you help so far, by the way!

  • by OnTheEdge1,

    OnTheEdge1 OnTheEdge1 Oct 15, 2016 4:41 AM in response to acarternl
    Level 1 (31 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 15, 2016 4:41 AM in response to acarternl

    Sorry for the late reaction.

     

     

    I meant indeed the mds_store process... Is that process consuming an abnormal amount of your memory (+30%)?

     

     

    If I were you I would follow the next steps:

     

    1. Install Etrecheck: http://www.etrecheck.com/.Check for faults and if there are faults come back to the forum and stop reading the next steps. If not: continue.
    2. I suppose the archive folder is not synced with your gmail or outlook account? With that I mean: the only copy of the mails is now on your mac? If yes: make a backup of your mail archive folder, and other important stuff in your mailbox. You can use also Time Machine and make a full backup. When you have no external HD you can also make a backup on dropbox, ...
    3. After the backup is ready, and you are certain that you have a copy of all the mails you need or have in the archive folder, you can delete the mail accounts you use on your mac. (mail > accounts)
    4. Afterwards I would suggest to install an app like Onyx and clean out all your mail caches.
    5. Restart your mac.
    6. Add your mail accounts back and import your archived mails again.

     

    Good luck!