Apple mail makes tons of drafts and saves them even when the email is sent

Since updating to Sierra, now when I'm typing an email it will continue to make a new draft every time it saves it. At the end of a long email I could have 30 drafts and they do not go away when I send the email. The sit in all mail until I delete them.

In Gmail, that is also making multiple drafts and they stay there to.

I spoke to Apple and we tried in settings taking draft off iMap however that removed all the drafts I wanted an was working on disappear so I unclicked it.

I posted on Google and someone suggested deleted Gmail and then adding it but I dont see how that will help in gmail. Someone else posted that she has the same problem as me and has no idea whats up.

I remember having multiple drafts with el capitan in gmail but this in apple mail is new with sierra. Oh and they had me reload sierra, sure that would work. Nothing.

Any ideas?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Jul 29, 2017 9:36 AM

18 replies

Jul 30, 2017 10:09 AM in response to mewkiss

The drafts remain on the gmail server for a period of time, then will be deleted. When it syncs with Mail, they will be deleted there also. That is what you just experienced.

If you store drafts on the server and create a message in Mail, Mail will save that draft constantly until sent. Gmail interprets that as a new draft each time is saved, therefore creating multiple copies. Those copies won't delete immediately and gets synced back to Mail. The only copy that is truly removed after that is the actual draft Mail is using at the time it's sent. That is a gmail problem and is what it is.

You were given the solution as to store drafts locally instead of the server. That way the only draft will be local and not be duplicated by the server.

That would have solved your problem, but you chose not to go with that.

Jul 30, 2017 10:23 AM in response to mewkiss

Gmail is always an on and off problem with Mail. I've explained to you what happened. If you choose to believe something different, then so be it.

If you set Mail's draft mailbox setting to store drafts locally and delete whatever remains on the server at the gmail site, you will not have that problem again.

You haven't mentioned All Mail folder either. That folder in gmail will reflect all messages on the gmail server no matter what label it has, including drafts. The Gmail All Mail label now shows up in the Archived Mailbox of Apple Mail. Best thing to do with that useless folder is to go into gmail's label section and hide it in IMAP so that it doesn't show in Mail.

mewkiss Author

Level 1

56 points

Jul 29, 2017 10:46 AM in response to John Galt

No G questions but Cloud questions. I dont use the cloud. For anything. Don't understand it. Worry about hacks. So can you explain like I'm 10 how it works?

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Apple mail makes tons of drafts and saves them even when the email is sent