MacOS mail app doesn't open routinely, unresponsive

[sta1210]

For the past several weeks, the apple mail app in Monterey simply will not open when quit or after a restart. Occasionally the mail app will open but it takes several tries and often a few restarts. I am unclear what changed but it is very erratic. When it does open eventually it seems to behave for some time?

Any thoughts on what may be the issue and how to address it? I have thought that it may be best to try to reinstall Monterey and go from there but that will take some time...


Many thanks.

 

[TriciaMacMillan]

This sounds like the mail index might have a a defect. To fix that, the index must be rebuilt from scratch.

But try the easier approaches first:

Quit the Mail app, then start it by clicking on the Dock icon while holding the shift key down. Let it start, then quit, and do again. If that fixes the problem, fine.

Next attempt would be to rebuild the mailbox. Open Mail, select the mailbox, then go to the menu Mailbox > Rebuild. If you have multiple mailboxes, do it for each of them. This is what Apple proposes, however, I've never seen that this actually cures any problems...

Last approach is to rebuild the index. Quit Mail, then open Finder, select from the menu Go > Go to folder and enter ~/Library/Mail. Go into the V9/MailData folder. Select and delete all files that start with Envelope Index or - better - move them out of this folder, for example to your desktop. Then launch Mail and be patient for Mail to rebuild the index which might take quite a while, but after that, it should be back to normal.

 

[sta1210]

Thank you for the suggestions, that is really helpful. Unfortunately, it seems that I am unable to open the mail program at all anymore after multiple restarts and attempts at opening. I tried the "last approach" listed above and the rebuilding of the index seemed to go smoothly but then the program would simply hang at the end. I believe that I am left with a fresh install of the macOS. That seems to be a dreadful solution overall but see no other option at this point.

 

[TriciaMacMillan]

Once I’ve had an issue with a specific message in my account. I’ve never found out what exactly it was, but I was able to identify and delete the message. After that, everything worked smoothly again.

If you’re also having an issue with a message, a reinstall will probably not help.

I suppose you have an IMAP account. If you delete the account, start freshly, then recreate it, this might help. If it begins to repopulate the mailbox and then hangs at a certain message, that might be the same issue I’ve described above.

If those issues started to occur only a few days ago, chances are that the Problem message is one of the last message you received before that happened. Maybe you can use a Webmail client to check them and perhaps delete (or move) them?

Please let us know what you’re trying.

 

[sta1210]

Unfortunately, I am unable to open MacOS mail at all, just the infamous beachball and then a face quit is required. May need to adopt another email client until I can find time and configure a reinstall - I have a University MacBook so I am unable to clean install without removing all of the proprietary programs necessary to connect to the network.

 

[TriciaMacMillan]

You can delete the account by deleting or moving away the Mail folder in ~/Library (see my other answer). After that, Mail should launch with no account like in a fresh install.