High Sierra Mail Repeatedly Crashing

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Level 1

12 points

High Sierra Mail Repeatedly Crashing

I recently upgraded my MacBook Pro (15-inch, Retina, Late 2013, 16GB) to High Sierra, and upgraded to the 10.13.2 patch. Since doing the initial High Sierra upgrade (from Sierra) the mail application has been basically unusable. After a reboot the mail app works for a short period of time - in that, it is able to receive and send mails, and I am able to move mails to my local folder.

However, after a brief period the application becomes unresponsive. I'll frequently see a message in the bottom left-hand status bar saying "Preparing to move messages" after either deleting mails, or attempting to move to my local folder. Once this starts, new mail will not be recieved and mails will not send. The mail app will also become unresponsive/freeze/crash after a short period of time by not sending mails. The status bar will claim that the mail is sending, then freeze. I've left the mail app running for days to see whether it would time-out, but alas no. Once the "preparing to move messages" freeze happens, or the "sending mails" (or, whatever the actual message is) - the mail app becomes unresponsive and will need a force quit to start over. Sometimes the app will allo be to start it afterwards, sometime a reboot is needed.

My mail version is 11.2 (3445.5.20). I have four mail servers configured (Google, Yahoo, a Corporate IMAP and iCloud). I've removed the accounts, and reconfigured them with no change. I've toggled the server setting to have mail automatically manage settings. I've rebuilt (or at least attempted to rebuild) the mailbox.

On the same machine Outlook is operating with the same mail server settings fine. I would switch, but I've been filing mails to the local store and would like to continue to do so.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013), macOS High Sierra (10.13.2)

Posted on Dec 12, 2017 1:01 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ahanda007

Level 1

4 points

Feb 5, 2018 12:25 PM in response to avfc1874

Do we have a fix from mcafee for this?

I have seen the same where Mcafee causes the mail to hang. when this happens, I just open terminal and run the below command -

sudo /usr/local/McAfee/AntiMalware/VSControl stopoas

This causes email to start working. I can then start Mcafee again using below

sudo /usr/local/McAfee/AntiMalware/VSControl startoas

The issue I have is Mcafee is part of the corporate software so I cannot deinstall.

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Answer 2

Jan 17, 2018 8:18 AM in response to avfc1874

Hi, do you have a Mcafee antivirus installed? Or perhaps any anti-virus? Try removing it. Mcafee AV may have been our problem, even though it was the most recent McAfee version.

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Answer 3

Feb 1, 2018 1:04 AM in response to MacColes

Seems like McAfee is the problem for me. My problem was that mail gets configured and then suddenly stops sending and receiving emails. I was using Apple Mail connected to O365 server.

After reading the thread - i have disabled McAfee and configured it - so far the issue has not occurred. Usually the issues comes after about couple of hours of usage and then it stays. So far it is looking good. Will post an update if the problem gets solved for me.

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Answer 4

avfc1874 Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 4, 2018 2:26 PM in response to salvatore3107

So, after uninstalling McAfee High Sierra mail application is working again...

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Answer 5

Feb 1, 2018 8:36 AM in response to avfc1874

Ok then not sure about your end. It is confirmed that Mcafee is the culprit on my end. My organization has a policy of pushing AV definitions and when they do it it enables Antivirus automatically. I saw a message getting stuck on the outbox and once i disabled Mcafee - the message got sent successfully. Also one other thing which i have changed this time is that - i have prevented the loading of remote messages as well (in my settings).

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Answer 6

tygb

Level 9

65,004 points

Mar 3, 2018 10:59 AM in response to avfc1874

Use https://etrecheck.com/

And post the results .

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Answer 7

avfc1874 Author

Level 1

12 points

Jan 31, 2018 4:13 PM in response to MacColes

Just for curiousities sake - do you have McAfee anti-virus installed? Are you seeing the issue where mail works for a while then dies after some operation like moving a mail to local or deleting or sending? Did you upgrade from 10.13.2 to 10.13.3?

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Answer 8

avfc1874 Author

Level 1

12 points

Jan 29, 2018 4:41 PM in response to ahanda007

I am still having this issue. I upgraded to 10.3.3 hoping it would be resolved. The version of mail didn’t change, and the release notes only mentioned security and some messages fix. Someone above mentioned that McAfee may be the reason. I do have McAfee Anti-Virus (the Corporate/Enterprise edition) installed, and thought about uninstalling to see whether it made a difference - but haven’t done it yet, as it seems mad. It’s made the mail app unusable, which is challenging. Do you have McAfee anti-virus/spam installed?

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Answer 9

John Galt

Level 10

155,222 points

Jan 29, 2018 4:48 PM in response to avfc1874

I do have McAfee Anti-Virus (the Corporate/Enterprise edition) installed, ...

That would have been valuable information to include in your initial post. Rule 1 of Macs is don't install junk.

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Answer 10

Jan 29, 2018 11:05 PM in response to avfc1874

I have mcafee too.... comes as part of the corporate installation. So, I can't remove it.

Could that be the reason? I have someone else complain about it at work too ... he has mcafee too.

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Answer 11

Jan 2, 2018 2:10 PM in response to avfc1874

Hey, it's a few weeks after you reported this but my group here uses Office 365/Exchange and is seeing the same thing on a brand new MacBook Pro Retina on 10.13.2.

Seems to freeze while sending e-mails, etc. Almost exactly as you reported. We also have 3 accounts setup on this computer.

This client also has another computer with 10.13.2 with no problems.

I wonder if you had any luck getting it fixed?

My hope is 10.13.3 will come out this month and may fix some of these bugs. it could be Office 365 and Mac Mail not playing nice with each other again.

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Answer 12

avfc1874 Author

Level 1

12 points

Jan 3, 2018 8:05 AM in response to ryanwt123

No change on my computer. I'm too an hoping the 10.13.3 update fixes whatever ails my computer. I've moved over to using Outlook, but still have a store of local mails that I have on the Mail app. I've occasionally started the app up to see whether it fixed itself (I know that is crazy) - it is responsive for a few actions (send/receive) but as soon as I move mails (well, after moving a few mails), or delete mails, or send mails it basically freezes then needs to be forced to quit. If anything changes I'll post again.

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Answer 13

Jan 29, 2018 3:23 PM in response to ryanwt123

I am running into same issue with apple main hanging periodically with only option is to restart. Force quit and re-start of application does not help.

I have tried the options above about resetting the account with no success.

Has anyone figured out a solution to it?

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Answer 14

MacColes

Level 1

8 points

Jan 31, 2018 2:02 PM in response to avfc1874

I am having issues since installing 10.13.3 never had an issue before, but now Apple Mail crashes every time I open it. I have had to switch to Outlook as well. I'd rather be using Apple Mail.

Any help here Apple?

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Answer 15

Mar 3, 2018 10:52 AM in response to MacColes

I am having exactly the same problem. Open mail & 2 seconds later it crashes. No chance to change preferences or rebuild anything. Any suggestions on where to go next? No McAfee, no antivirus software at all on this system.

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