Mac Mail no longer syncing with other devices (i.e. messages read on iMac no longer show as read on other devices)

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Mac Mail no longer syncing with other devices (i.e. messages read on iMac no longer show as read on other devices)

On Feb 20th, I installed the latest update to High Sierra. Immediately following, mail I read on my iMac now no longer is synced with any other device, including the cloud mail server. That is: I read a message on my desktop computer. Or I delete a message. Either way, those modifications no longer appear on my other devices (both Apple and Android) nor do they show as read or deleted on the server (Compuserve, Icloud, private mail server).

Any suggestions? This has worked perfectly well for years until just a week ago. Only thing that changed was a IOS update.

All reasonable suggestions are greatly appreciated.

David

iMac with Retina 5K display, macOS High Sierra (10.13.3)

Posted on Mar 1, 2018 10:54 AM

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Answer 1

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

Mar 2, 2018 7:34 AM in response to dlfeldman

Hey there, David.

I see that, after updating your iMac to macOS High Sierra (10.13.3) your email isn't syncing between your Mac and other devices you own. I'm happy to help.

Mail Settings Lookup -- Verify that Mail settings for your email addresses haven't changed.

Use Mail Connection Doctor -- Make sure that the Mail application is able to communicate with the mail server(s).

Set up mail on your Mac with email accounts -- If the issue persists, remove your email accounts and add them back again.

Remove an account

When you remove an email account from Mail, the account’s messages are deleted and no longer available on your Mac. Copies of messages remain on the account’s mail server and are still available (from webmail, for example).

Important: If you’re unsure whether messages you want to keep are still on the mail server, move or copy them to a mailbox stored on your Mac (the mailbox appears in the On My Mac section in the Mail sidebar) before you delete the account in Mail.

Choose Mail > Preferences, then click Accounts.

Select an account, then click the Remove button "-".
Note: If the account is used by other apps on your Mac, you’re asked to remove the account in Internet Accounts System Preferences. Click the button to open Internet Accounts, then deselect the Mail checkbox for the account. To stop using the account in all apps, make sure the account is selected, then click the Remove button "-".

And

Add an account

The first time you open Mail, it may prompt you to add an email account (if you haven’t yet done so). Select an account type, then enter your account information.
If you don’t see your account type, select Other Mail Account.

To add another account, choose Mail > Add Account, select an account type, then enter your account information. Make sure the Mail checkbox is selected for the account.

If you already use an account on your Mac with other apps, such as Contacts or Messages, you can also use the account with Mail. Choose Mail > Accounts to open Internet Accounts preferences, select the account on the left, then select the Mail checkbox on the right.

Let me know how that goes.

Take care!

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Answer 2

dlfeldman Author

Level 1

14 points

Apr 9, 2018 9:54 AM in response to Teddy_B

Hey. Thanks for the reply.

So here's the problem with deleting/adding the account: Since using Mail on my Mac fails to update the status of a given email on the mail server (in this case, Compuserve/AOL) if I delete and add that account, because none of the "READ MESSAGE" message flags have been tripped on the server side, re-adding that account will still leave all of those messages UNREAD.

Further complicating the matter, I will now have to go back on my Mac and "READ" or delete all 4000+ messages that now appear in MAIL as unread.

The problem lies in that whatever info that used to be sent by MAIL to the AOL server regarding the read-status of an email is no longer getting there.

If I use any other device (my Android phone, my iPhone, a tablet, etc.) the correct READ status flag is sent and registered by the mail server.

Does that clarify the issue? Believe me, if it were as simple as deleting and re-adding the account in question, I'd have done it weeks ago.

Thanks for helping. If you have more suggestions, I am open to them

David

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Mac Mail no longer syncing with other devices (i.e. messages read on iMac no longer show as read on other devices)

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