Level 1

39 points

Mac Mail Constantly "Downloading Messages"

Running macOS High Sierra (10.13.2). An odd issue has arisen wherein my Mac Mail is constantly displays a "Downloading Messages" message when no new emails are being downloaded. It often displays that several 1000 messages are being downloaded. Appears to be some sort of sync issue but it is using a lot of memory and causing the computer to run slower. Did a bit of internet searching and have noted the same problem stated by others but the limited fixes either don't work or the prescribed steps are not available to me (?). Any help is appreciated.

MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID, macOS High Sierra (10.13.2)

Posted on Jan 9, 2018 3:31 PM

Top-ranking reply

AaronA36

Level 1

21 points

Posted on Mar 13, 2018 10:01 AM

I was experiencing this issue as well across four machines in my office. Over 30GB were unnecessarily being downloaded daily. Neither Apple nor G Suite (email provider) support was able to offer any meaningful solution.

What I eventually discovered was the issue is linked to the setting under mailbox behaviors to store drafts on the server. Changing this to store drafts "on my mac" and restarting Mail resolved the issue for me. I hope this is useful to others suffering from this issue, of which there seems to be many.

I'm not sure if this is an issue with G Suite or with Mail, or maybe a combination of both. Interestingly personal gmail accounts don't seem to be affected. Regardless it was incredibly frustrating to deal with considering email working properly is one of my most basic expectations from my computer/email provider.

View in context

29 replies

drah123

Level 1

4 points

Feb 11, 2018 5:19 PM in response to dougcampb

MacBook Pro. Since High Sierra 10.13.2 and now 10.13.3. Mac Mail is constantly “Downloading Messages” often 30,000 or more, each time.

Constantly taking up more of my 1TB flash drive. And exceeding my monthly 50GB of internet allocation.

Actual mail size 35GB.

Gmail Drafts size: 214GB

These Mail Drafts folders are the ones being constantly changed/added to, during the “Downloading Messages” operation:

eqs_x

Level 1

9 points

Feb 17, 2018 5:36 PM in response to drah123

Also having this problem with Yahoo Account in Mail with my Macbook Pro 10.13.3, High Sierra.

I was actually installing the yahoo account when this started, then I went to check my other Mac and there was with the same problem, always downloading emails, thousands of emails non stop. I thought it could be because of iCloud but the Mail program was not included in iCloud, I didn't do it because it would take too much space on the server and I didn't have that space. No extra storage.

Conclusion, I have been busy for about 3 days for many, many hours doing research on google to find a solution, so far nothing worked, it was messy I can say! I managed to stop the downloading but then it wouldn't receive email, only send. Also had the situation that it would stay offline giving Authentication Failed, had Login Failed, etc...........

Now back to the start. Mail still downloading...........

I wish I had an answer for this problem.

eqs_x

Level 1

9 points

Feb 22, 2018 7:23 AM in response to garywi

On my old MacBook Pro from mid 2010, with the Mail Program off, I could find the file MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded3 and delete from the folder Mail in Library. Exact location was in the Home folder: Library/Mail/V5/MailData/MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded3.

Now on my new MacBook Pro I don't find this file to delete, not in V2, neither in V5..... 😟

drah123

Level 1

4 points

Mar 13, 2018 6:56 PM in response to AaronA36

Thanks AaronA36. It appears that my issue is the reverse of yours. The drafts are on my Mac (>200GB of drafts).

This started happening immediately after upgrading to High Sierra.

My actual Mail size is 35GB.

The gMail drafts on my Mac are located here:

Mar 28, 2018 12:55 AM in response to drah123

I wish someone at Apple would pay attention to this. Just downloaded Airmail which at least manages messages and sends and receives without drama. Sad that Apple can't get this simple program right, nor is motivated to.

Feb 6, 2018 8:55 PM in response to ElevatorNed

Just wanted to say I have the same thing. Noticed it just recently, some days after upgrading to High Sierra. Checked CPU usage by Mail, it is low so that is not a concern here. But baffling.

garywi

Level 1

77 points

Feb 22, 2018 6:55 AM in response to eqs_x

I have this issue. I have Yahoo and Gmail accounts. Always downloading 1000s of email. Never stops even when I don't have new mail. Looking for solution..

Mar 1, 2018 10:59 PM in response to ElevatorNed

Sorry all... I spoke too soon... It started again about 2 or 3 hours after writing my last post 😟

Mar 7, 2018 3:48 PM in response to dougcampb

Has any solution been made to this? I am having the exact same problem and am going WAY over my data allowance as a result. I am downloading 70,000 continuously every day.

drah123

Level 1

4 points

Mar 7, 2018 7:44 PM in response to colinfromthorold

Still not resolved.

I’m now down to 20GB out of 1TB on my MacBook. Should have 200GB free.

It’s also chewing up Time Machine space.

Mar 13, 2018 2:32 PM in response to ohne22

Thank you for sharing this ohne22. For whatever strange reason it did resolve the problem for me as well!

May 1, 2018 4:03 AM in response to ohne22

Thank you so much! This fixed everything.

May 5, 2018 7:54 AM in response to AaronA36

Thanks!! It worked for me too!!

May 10, 2018 12:50 AM in response to berlindavedsg

did you have any success finding a solution Ber?

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Mac Mail Constantly "Downloading Messages"