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new mail window too wide

Odd thing today. In Mail, if I click on the icon for a new mail window to come up (or use command-N) the window that opens is too wide, twice what it used to be. I cannot make it less wide though if I go to the right border, the cursor changes to an arrow pointing right and I can drag the window even more wide.

If, in the In Box, if I open a message by double-clicking it, it retains the former width, that is not this wide.

I have no idea why this has happened. I have not changed any Mail settings or added accounts or anything like that.

Ideas?

OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), 16 GB

Posted on Mar 18, 2017 7:26 PM

Top-ranking reply

Reyes Point

Level 1

24 points

Posted on Jan 30, 2018 12:58 PM

So, I know it's been a million years since you first posted this, but I think I know what the problem is. Had the same thing myself for a client of mine and used all the solutions here with no success.

I found this quite by accident.

It's your signature.

There's some weird bug in Apple Mail that makes it so your signature is extending well beyond the end of the Mail window.

Open up Mail's preferences. Delete all your existing signatures. Quit and reopen Mail. That should do it. You can add your signatures back in.

I think that somehow some update corrupted the signature file. Wasn't possible to edit the existing file, but deleting and recreating worked fine.

I'll be curious to know if this works.

-Jeff

View in context

36 replies

Feb 1, 2018 7:47 AM in response to Richard Pitcairn

I'm not sure if we are talking about the same thing here but my 'too wide' problem related to the width of the 'Inbox'. It was huge and only showed 'From' and 'Subject'.

However...after many months of fiddling, I have found a cure so simple I can't believe it will last! In the 'Inbox' with 'From' 'Subject' 'Date Received', put the mouse just to the left of 'Subject' and 'Date Received' and drag the small bar to the left to a position more acceptable and that's it! So far my windows have stayed the same size.

ap54315z

Level 1

4 points

Mar 21, 2018 5:46 AM in response to Richard Pitcairn

Hi Richard,

Have you had any luck with this? This just started happening to me and I tried following all the suggestions on here but none seem to have worked. I did notice that this started happening when I added a new signature...

Didn't think such a little thing would annoy me so much.

Mar 21, 2018 3:14 PM in response to Richard Pitcairn

Removing the signature by selecting "None" solved the issue for me. All new mail message windows were OK after that.

Mar 18, 2017 7:27 PM in response to Richard Pitcairn

Restart your Mac and see if that makes a difference.

BDAqua

Level 10

245,651 points

Mar 18, 2017 7:44 PM in response to Richard Pitcairn

Does hitting the green button once or twice or 3 times have any effect?

Mar 18, 2017 8:53 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

It is the same after restart.

Mar 18, 2017 8:54 PM in response to BDAqua

Hitting the green button makes the new message window full screen. Hitting it a second time, it comes back to the same too wide condition.

BDAqua

Level 10

245,651 points

Mar 19, 2017 12:02 PM in response to Richard Pitcairn

Hmmm, & the new Message window was open & foremost?

I ran it in 10.10.5 & it worked perfectly?

Mar 19, 2017 2:26 PM in response to BDAqua

Maybe I did not do it right. I left the words as you had them. Put the script into Script Editor, then with the New Message window open I ran the script from the Editor. Is that right?

Mar 19, 2017 4:27 PM in response to BDAqua

Tried that. Made no difference.

BDAqua

Level 10

245,651 points

Mar 20, 2017 11:13 AM in response to Richard Pitcairn

Used TextWrangler — used the open file option and get MacOS Error code -43.

And Mail wasn't running???

If it wasn't do a Get Info on that file & see if you have or can add R/W rights.

Mar 20, 2017 11:19 AM in response to BDAqua

Mail was not running. Just tried it again.

Then went to the file, did Get Info and found that I have R/W rights already.

BDAqua

Level 10

245,651 points

Mar 20, 2017 11:48 AM in response to Richard Pitcairn

Hmmm, Duplicate the file, drag the duplicate out to Desktop or such, see if TW can then open the Dupe.

Mar 20, 2017 12:40 PM in response to BDAqua

OK, I was able to do that, to open the copy from the desktop. Should I next try to alter the settings as you first described and put back in the folder?

Mar 20, 2017 4:38 PM in response to Richard Pitcairn

OK, I went ahead and did it. Put the edited copy into the folder with Mail closed. Opened Mail and situation exactly the same.

Must be unsolvable.

new mail window too wide