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Mail says "Downloading" an attachment, but it doesn't download anything

I frequently have a problem with mail showing an attachment, giving the filename, and saying "Downloading…", but it never downloads.
There does not seem to be an option to force it to download, and I cannot find any solution.

This does not happen will all attachments, and I have been unable to figure out why only some have this problem.

Has anyone else had this problem?

iMac, macOS High Sierra (10.13.2), iPhone 5, Powerbook G4 17"

Posted on Aug 27, 2018 11:15 PM

Reply
21 replies

Nov 14, 2018 2:06 AM in response to Apophis

I have this problem as well on my 2013 iMac with Mojave - but it also occurred with High Sierra.


The attachments appear to be there when I look at my Gmail account online but I get an error trying to open it from there with the message - 'Failed to load PDF document'.


The attachment is downloaded when I use my iPhone and the iOS Gmail app. From there I can 'share' it with myself using Message which allows me save the file to 'Downloads' on my iMac. Not very elegant but it is a workaround.


It's about time Apple sorted this out.

Nov 14, 2018 7:00 AM in response to Apophis

Same here...

Upgraded to Mojave. Mail attachments sent to me in a batch at the end of a single email. Some fine, the others "downloading". And since upgrading some emails are deleting themselves although I managed to catch one and send it it my iCloud address before it self-destructed.

I use a filtering service within MacAce which separates the spam and I frequently log in to their Web Mail to check whether emails have been received.

MacAceTech guys suggested that in view of the bizarre behaviour it's worth deleting and re-creating my mailbox (no emails will be lost). Re add the account and Apple Mail will sync with the mail server and fetch all of the mail and sub folders associated with the account. Unfortunately so far I haven't remedied this so think this is a technical issue with Apple Mail when OS is updated to Mojave.

Over to you Apple...

Nov 15, 2018 12:59 AM in response to Apophis

I have this problem too.. using mac book pro 2017 year. but same also happened on other mac os laptops and desktops in the past while mail app on ios (iphone/ipad) performed and keeps on doing perfect. the only way to get the file downloaded immediately on laptop or desktop mail app is to restart the very mail app, I mean to quit and to start this again. but this is not normal !!! you don't expect this problem to happen on apple devices for this amount of your money.

For some reasons I have installed ms outlook for mac. that works excellent with attachments, no problems with pending download, etc..


Apple, tell me! what is that? why does MS app performs better than yours on your own platform and why cannot you fix this issue for that long time? 🙂

Mail says "Downloading" an attachment, but it doesn't download anything

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