Is OSX Mail Getting Flakier?

[larryleveen]

OSX Mail used to work pretty smoothly for me but in the past couple years I have noticed it doing odd things such as:

1. acting sluggishly in general
2. having a large delay between downloading new messages and displaying a banner notification of said messages
3. (after clicking the send button when the mac removes the message window and shows what was underlying it) again displaying the message I just sent for a brief moment before again removing it from view
4. almost perpetually "downloading messages"
5. taking a long time to quit
6. removing the contents of a message that I delete and then Undo that action (this issue has actually gone away recently but I used to have it and it annoyed me to no end thought I did discover a workaround — find it in the trash and manually move it back to the inbox)
7. I suspect that the find feature is not finding all instances of my search terms — I'm 99% sure that I have sent other messages to certain recipients that do not show up in my searches — anyone happen to know if this is powered by Spotlight because I think Spotlight is acting flaky too and I was thinking of rebuilding that database

Because of security concerns, I am reluctant to abandon Mail in favor of another app (though I'd consider Outlook which I have with Office 365), and I absolutely detest the UI of Gmail so using that is off the table for me (although I have a gmail account).

Anyway, I appreciate constructive thoughts and advice on this.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

I tried to search today and it didn't seem to filter at all. There could be search issues in Mail under Catalina.

 

[adrianlondon]

it's got basic IMAP bugs. I tried to copy a folder between two IMAP accounts and it hangs. The activity can't be stopped as Apple have removed all options to stop an activity in their quest for making things as basic and uncustomisable as possible. It tries, a few times a second, to send the mail and ignores the "IMAP request badly formed" error that comes back continually.

The only way to stop it is to delete the target internet account (in sys prefs, removing it from Mail isn't enough) and re-add it.

I then opened Outlook and did the same copy. Worked a treat.

One-by-one I'm moving from Apple stock apps. I'd like to move back, but these bugs never seem to get fixed.

 

[StellarVixen]

it's got basic IMAP bugs. I tried to copy a folder between two IMAP accounts and it hangs. The activity can't be stopped as Apple have removed all options to stop an activity in their quest for making things as basic and uncustomisable as possible. It tries, a few times a second, to send the mail and ignores the "IMAP request badly formed" error that comes back continually.

The only way to stop it is to delete the target internet account (in sys prefs, removing it from Mail isn't enough) and re-add it.

I then opened Outlook and did the same copy. Worked a treat.

One-by-one I'm moving from Apple stock apps. I'd like to move back, but these bugs never seem to get fixed.

Same here, moved to Outlook, and couldn’t be happier.

I do not know why didn’t I do it earlier, I have had Office365 subscription for a long time.

 

[ignatius345]

I find it works worse and worse with Gmail specifically. I was setting up a new Mac for my mom, and literally couldn't add her Gmail account to Mail because it just kept trying (and failing) to authenticate. Turns out it's a known bug. My guess is that Google and Apple just aren't inclined to play well together these days, which really sucks.

Mail seems rock solid and fast with my iCloud email address, of course.

 

[larryleveen]

Hard to know if it is Google messing with Apple (because why would Outlook work) or Apple simply dedicating resources towards things that are more profitable like payment systems and the like instead of apps like Mail that I envision net them negative dollars because they bundle it with their hardware.

Well, maybe I'll give Outlook a try. I wanted to avoid being tied to an "annual-Microsoft-fund-drive", but at some point it is worth throwing money to make the annoyance (of Mail) go away.

Oh well....

But thanks for the replies — at least I know it's not "just me" having these issues.

"Misery loves company"

 

[StellarVixen]

Hard to know if it is Google messing with Apple (because why would Outlook work) or Apple simply dedicating resources towards things that are more profitable like payment systems and the like instead of apps like Mail that I envision net them negative dollars because they bundle it with their hardware.

Well, maybe I'll give Outlook a try. I wanted to avoid being tied to an "annual-Microsoft-fund-drive", but at some point it is worth throwing money to make the annoyance (of Mail) go away.

Oh well....

But thanks for the replies — at least I know it's not "just me" having these issues.

"Misery loves company"

I didn’t buy Office365 subscription because of Outlook app, but Word and Excel, which, IMHO, are still No. 1 word processor and spreadsheet applications in existence. I tried iWork, and I tried LibreOffice. And, nada.

Now, back to topic, I decided to give Outlook a try, it used to just sit there unused anyway. So far, I am pleasantly surprised.

It is not perfect though. I would like Finder integration, for example.

But, it is ahead of Mail.app by miles. Mail looks like a relic of past. It does job as a basic mail app, and that’s all. For anything else, it is inadequate

 

[larryleveen]

I didn’t buy Office365 subscription because of Outlook app, but Word and Excel, which, IMHO, are still No. 1 word processor and spreadsheet applications in existence. I tried iWork, and I tried LibreOffice. And, nada.

Now, back to topic, I decided to give Outlook a try, it used to just sit there unused anyway. So far, I am pleasantly surprised.

It is not perfect though. I would like Finder integration, for example.

But, it is ahead of Mail.app by miles. Mail looks like a relic of past. It does job as a basic mail app, and that’s all. For anything else, it is inadequate

I'm tempted to agree with you. I just set up Outlook and it seemed to go smoothly, even allowing me to have a more swanky signature that is consistent with others in the nonprofit I work for — come ON, Apple!

Tell me more about the "Finder integration" you mentioned. I would like to know what I should be prepared to miss/not have access to in Outlook.

Thanks.

 

[retta283]

The mail app hasn't been very good since Snow Leopard IMO. I've switched to Outlook and sometimes Gmail.

I do agree that Gmail UI is terrible. Recently it has been extremely buggy, when I delete emails they come back next time I open it, sometimes it does this 5+ times. Lots of lag too.

 

[upandown]

I would agree with most of the OPs issues. Currently on Catalina.

 

[StellarVixen]

I'm tempted to agree with you. I just set up Outlook and it seemed to go smoothly, even allowing me to have a more swanky signature that is consistent with others in the nonprofit I work for — come ON, Apple!

Tell me more about the "Finder integration" you mentioned. I would like to know what I should be prepared to miss/not have access to in Outlook.

Thanks.

You cannot option click on file and share it directly from Finder, like you can with native Mail app.

 

[yellow8]

Mail.app has been messed up for a long time now. Especially for Gmail accounts.