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

Unfortunately, I am another user who has been on the Mac bandwagon since 1985, paying too much because we believed in the reputation of Apple. Having been involved in IT since the late 60s, I had the opportunity to have hands-on trials of a number of early personal computers. I wasn't overly impressed by the Apple II. A friend bought one of the original Macs in 1984, and when I got a change to try using it, I said to myself, "Finally, a home computer I would actually want to own!"

I was looking forward to going through all the attachments (in the last few years) in Mail to extract all the photos I've not taken the time to store in Photos. I felt no need to hurry, just wanted to wait for a time when job and family stresses were lessened. Unfortunately, they are not accessible, since I used a large number of Rules to automatically sort and file incoming mail into various mailboxes. As first, I thought it was an anomaly, when the attachments would not open and just showed "Downloading..." indefinitely. Can't describe how I felt when I realized the truth.

In the last few years, in my opinion, Apple has morphed into, "just another computer maker", with the exception that their hardware and software are still priced too high. And now, considering the persistent lack of response to known issues, the over-pricing is no longer warranted. I've owned a Fat Mac, Mac Plus, Mac Classic, Mac Classic II, Mac IIvx, Mac Centris 650, original iMac (68000-series one-piece), G3 laptop, G3 tower, G4 laptop, G4 tower, G5 tower, Mini iPad, iPhone 4s, 12.9" iPad Pro, iPhone 6, and an iMac 26".

I just bought a Dell laptop (for less than 20% of what my iMac 26" price) and I am working my way through transferring everything. Enough is enough. I am sad, but the reality is that Apple is no longer Apple.

It's really saddening, isn't it? I can't imagine why I keep hanging on. I've got an iPhone, an iPad I never use, a MacBook Pro, etc etc. I guess it's normal for the creative industry but I wish Apple were really on my side... my new MacBook Pro has NEVER worked properly for wifi, and I don't have time to ship it to a Genius Bar someplace!

I am having the same problem, except I am on Mojave. Never had this issue before upgrading.

Restarting the application has no effect. In all cases, I have needed to have the sender re-send the email and attached file.

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.

well that is a crappy solution. Apple, let's see some QA here. Why do i feel Steve would not let this have happened?

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 don't have any rules enabled whatsoever and I have the exact problem mentioned above. Here is an image file from an email received yesterday, still purportedly "downloading".

Attachments are lost when a rule is applied to move the mail to a mailbox on your Mac.

I solved this without disabling all of my rules by adding this as the first rule:

Hello Linc's answer to another thread

Re: Mail attachments not downloading (shows download arrow icon only)

solved the problem for me. Try it out (with proper backups before)

l.

I started a new topic https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250210516?answerId=250390498022&page=1

I'm kinda really mad here!

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250017426?answerId=250287998022&page=1

Irritating but here is an answer

I think you might be on to something I use rules a lot in mail. I have turned the majority off, and it does seem to work. I’d like to know why, maybe next update?

Yes, this is the exact solution for me.

This is exactly my problem, too.

Have same problem re attachments downloading. Try changing the "Download Attachment" to 'None' This can be found in Mail Preference/Accounts/Account Information. That worked for me.