Mail Preference Panel is Blank after updating to High Sierra

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Level 1

30 points

Mail Preference Panel is Blank after updating to High Sierra

I just finished updating to High Sierra from Sierra on my late 2013 iMac.

For some reason both Outlook from Office 2011 opened automatically, but that is another question for later. I did uncheck the option that would make it the default email app, though it does still open automatically when booted up.

When open (Apple) Mail it shows some of my email accounts failing to connect. I opened Connection Doctor and it showed the accounts with the problem. I went to Mail Preferences under the Mail menu, but all that came up was a blank box with Accounts in the title.

Normally there are options for Rules, Junk mail, General, etc. All I get is this

I did the same update with my Mid 2012 15-inch MBP with no problem. Preference panel show up with all options.

Has this happened to anyone else and is there a workaround?

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12), 27" 3.5 GHz Intel core i7, 32gb mem

Posted on Jan 1, 2018 1:13 PM

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Answer 1

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tygb

Level 9

64,588 points

Jan 2, 2018 8:15 AM in response to robec1347

Take back of all mails in V5 folder : Method to copy mails in V5 folder .

Click on Go on top menu bar , hold option key click on > library > select mail folder > right click on mail folder there itself > click on copy mail > right click on extreme right hand side in column B , that is below persistence info.plist > click on paste item .

Entire mails are copied to V5 folder .

For Mac OS High Sierra - the folder will be V5 , For Mac OS Sierra - the folder will be V4 , For El Capitan - the folder will be V3 , and for OSX Yosemite the folder will be V2 .

Go to the corrupted IMAP account > open system preferences > click on internet accounts > select the account that has to be deleted & click on minus sign .

Configure new IMAP account , go to top menu bar , file > import mail boxes > import data from > select apple mail > click on continue > select the back drop folder then choose new .

When new IMAP account is opened , a new folder with all mails will appear in the mail side bar .You can rename the folder .

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Answer 2

robec1347 Author

Level 1

30 points

Jan 1, 2018 7:39 PM in response to robec1347

To clarify and hopefully make the problem a little clearer. I am trying to access both the Account and Rules module from the Mail>Preferences Menu.

This is the group of preferences I am looking for:

This is what I get instead:

What I am getting is a blank box with Accounts as the title. There are no other options such as General, Junk Mail, Fonts and Colors, Rules, etc. I've restarted after zapping pram, I've booted into recovery mode and used the disk utility to repair the drive. Nothing changed, I still don't get any Mail Preferences.

I also created a dummy account to see how Mail Preferences appeared in that account. It was there as it should be. So it appears there is a corrupted file somewhere in my main account, but I have no idea where it is, how to find it or how to fix it.

I decided to reinstall High Sierra a second time thinking maybe the file was corrupted during the initial upgrade. The results were the same.

Do any of you experts have any trouble shooting advice? Thank you in advance.

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Answer 3

robec1347 Author

Level 1

30 points

Jan 2, 2018 8:32 AM in response to tygb

Thank you for your reply. Much appreciated.

I actually found another response that solved the problem of bringing back the Preference pane. It was one that you came up with in one of your replies to another member's problem from 3/10/2017.

tygb wrote:

Go to user library > containers > Find com.apple.mail and drag to the desktop ( don't delete in the trash ) , restart the computer , hope so ....( to enter in user library : click on go to go folder & type ~/Library ) .

If this didn't work , another method :

This did bring back the Preference pane, though I will have to re-create mailboxes again.

I do think I will create a new account using the backup I have that includes the corrupted Mail preference pane. I'll try the new solution which you just provided in this thread. Maybe it will save the mailboxes while fixing the preference pane problem.

I will let you know the result. Either way, if this latest solution doesn't work, you still fixed the main problem with your earlier suggestion.............thank you very much!!

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