Mail 11 (High Sierra): mail attachments "downloading" but never actually download

Any emails with attachments that come into a smart mailbox will exhibit the "downloading" problem. If I access the same email in its regular inbox, the attachment downloads without issue. So add "smart mailboxes" to the bug pile. Are you listening Apple?

Have been affected by this issue, as you can read in my previous posts in this thread. My problems had to do with viewing attachments in an iCloud mail account stretching back many years. And had less problems with recent message attachments.

Tried most of the suggested remedies to no avail. Now I decided to download a fresh copy of all my messages from iCloud. I roughly followed the (Yosemite) procedure outlined in:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7144486

I updated the instructions for High Sierra and made a few additional tweaks.

This procedure seems to have worked for me. Am sharing it, in case others will benefit from this approach as well. But try at your own risk. And back up all your data before proceeding!

1) Make certain all attachments get downloaded. Go to:

Mail settings -> icon Accounts -> tab Account Information -> select iCloud (or another IMAP account)

set if this is not already the case:

- Download attachments: all

2) close Apple Mail

3) go to this folder the user Library in Finder

~/Library/Mail/V5/MailData

( /Users/YourAccountName/Library/Mail/V5/MailData )

And move (= backup!) to the desktop the following,

any file beginning with:

- Envelope Index

any file beginning with:

- ExternalUpdates.storedata

- MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded3

and if present a preference file:

- OpenedAttachmentsV2.plist

4) launch Apple Mail and confirm you want to import your messages. Then be patient as the import might take quite some time.

Hope this helps.

Hello !

Mark _ B1

Please see this article Mail Account Information preferences on Mac - Apple Support

And switch the settings from none to All in mail preferences .

I had the same problem but wasn't using any rules. What did the trick was disabling the only plugin I used, namely Herald. I used it constantly but I do prefer being able to see the attachments without restarting Mail.

I found the solution by reading the posts on this page, so many thanks!

I have found a fix by changing the "download attachments" check-box in Apple Mail Preferences from "Recent" to "All"

The logo that was "downloading" since yesterday now shows up in the same email, as follows:

My fix was this: while in mail app click Mail/Quit Mail and then click on Mail to restart Mail. For some reason the downloading... was gone and the pdfs were ready to open.

LOL the previous poster just answered the same. Oh well at least I second the so called fix.

I had this problem and I think I've found a fix.

Basically, trash your current mail folder and let apple rebuild it. So:

Backup

Finder, Go, Go to folder "~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail"

Move the folder to your desktop.

Restart.

I lost a lot of settings but download now works and "Reply-From" works properly with "Message->Send Again".

I use Gmail Imap. Don't know if that makes a difference. I'll try and find the original message of the fix.

Same as Mojave in High Sierra ("Manage" is a "Manage..." button in the top-right). As counterintuitive as it may seem, as soon as I clicked the "Don't automatically download..." button and switched back to Mail (did not even have to quit/relaunch), all of my images and PDFs displayed inline (bottom of the email) and could be opened/saved, as opposed to being uselessly "Downloading" forever! One scare I had was that after I clicked that "Don't automatically download..." button it just totally disappears. Instead of maybe flipping to "Automatically download...", there is just no button at all and no clear way to revert back to the default, although clearly I don't want that back at this point!

I'm just glad that actually worked.

I work for a MSP who supports a number of business clients using apple devices. And have been following this issue for the better part of a year. I've seen the issue occur on completely different computers, email providers (including gmail), and networks. They where all running High Sierra or Mojave. None of them were using rules and the emails where not being detected as having a virus.

Attachments would be stuck showing as "Downloading" indefinitely and would not be accessible. However, upon simply restarting apple mail the attachments immediately show up as downloaded and available.

The only thing that is common between occurrences is that the user is running High Sierra and above and is accessing emails in Apple Mail via the IMAP protocol. Attachment download setting is always set to "All"

This is definitely a bug in the latest versions of Apple mail with regards to downloading attachments from IMAP accounts. It may be exasperated by mailboxes using rules but is not exclusive to mailboxes to them.

Apple needs to acknowledge this issue and address this. It is painfully clear that there is a bug in the Apple mail client.

You can also drag attachments out of the email message window, or choose File > Save Attachments.

For me, I managed to fix this issue by turning off any rule that automatically put a message with an attachment into a sub-inbox OTHER THAN THE MAIN INBOX.

When left in the main inbox, the images are available.

It seems that the rules are the problem.

I really hope this helps everyone!

I spent the last two hours trying to figure out this same problem. After figuring it out I found this thread where someone else came up with the same solution. The attachment won't download when it goes to a filtered mailbox but will download when it goes to the main inbox. I hope this gets fixed because I use several filters.

Yep Rules IS the issue - !! turn off the rule and OR change rule to copy from the mail box to a sub folder ( as your rule stated )

- the copy versions all show the downloading Icon but NEVER do -

But they are showing just fine and downloaded in the unfiltered main in box.

However - if you drag the mail out of the main in box into the subfolder - the attachment follow it perfectly !

Most annoying

On my home Mac, I have same problem re attachments not downloading even though I do not use mail filtering. Try changing the "Download Attachment" to 'None' This can be found in Mail Preference/Accounts/Account Information. That got attachments to download, go figure.

BTW, my attachments do download automatically in my office Mac even though for the longest time, Download Attachment was set to "none". I have never had any trouble downloading attachments on this office Mac.

When I changed the setting on the Hotmail account (the account that was not downloading) from “Recent” to “All” , the issue disappeared and had not recurred. On the other hand, certain older messages still hang on the same way!