Mail app takes really long to load

[abza]

Lately, the Mail app on my Macbook Pro M1 has started taking a long time to load (around 1 minute). Whenever I launch it, the spinning ball appears and when I right-click on the app it says Application Not Responding until it loads. The Mac also becomes slow for a couple of seconds after starting the Mail app.

I have reset SMC, deleted all the Mail accounts, and deleted the folders in ~/Library/Mail but nothing works. I do not want to restore the Mac, but if that's the only solution then I'll do that.

Does anyone have any tips? I'm running the latest macOS, (Monterey 12.3.1)

 

[satcomer]

Depends are you on speedy connection to your ISP? Plus in Mail Preference there is section foe Privacy check marked if you do uncheck and see if it speeds up!

 

[hobowankenobi]

Have you used the rebuild feature yet? It can take a while...but it has solved loading issues in the past.


Also...it could depend on the size of the mailbox. Years ago, many mail clients would choke at between 30K and 50K total messages. I don't know what current limits are...but doubtful it is infinite.

 

[odysseus]

This slow launch issue is a problem with Mail, not with the internet connection or the email service provider. I solved it once in the past by deleting some files, but I don't remember which ones and I'm seeing the problem again.

Rebuilding does **not** fix the problem.

My guess is that Mail is waiting for something to become available and it eventually times out, but I really have no clue.

 

[hobowankenobi]

One could also check the Connection Doctor to verify there is not a long pause connecting with either the send or receive server protocols.

 

[odysseus]

This slow launch issue is a problem with Mail, not with the internet connection or the email service provider. I solved it once in the past by deleting some files, but I don't remember which ones and I'm seeing the problem again.

Rebuilding does **not** fix the problem.

My guess is that Mail is waiting for something to become available and it eventually times out, but I really have no clue.

This is what worked for me and others:

rm -f ~/Library/Application\ Support/Mail/Plug-ins/Bundles/Library/Mail/Bundles/Properties.plist

Networking is not involved.

 

[sassansh]

This is what worked for me and others:

rm -f ~/Library/Application\ Support/Mail/Plug-ins/Bundles/Library/Mail/Bundles/Properties.plist

Networking is not involved.

This 100% worked for me! Thank you 🙏🏼

 

[shasen1235]

This is what worked for me and others:

rm -f ~/Library/Application\ Support/Mail/Plug-ins/Bundles/Library/Mail/Bundles/Properties.plist

Networking is not involved.

Thank you man, this solves my issue too.
M1 Pro 16' MacBook Pro

 

[BrianBaughn]

M1 Mac Studio here. Monterey. I didn't use Migration Assistant when I set it up.

I don't even have a Mail folder in ~/Library/Application Support.

Is that some sort of legacy folder?

 

[IntrepidToad]

M1 Mac Studio here. Monterey. I didn't use Migration Assistant when I set it up.

I don't even have a Mail folder in ~/Library/Application Support.

Is that some sort of legacy folder?

If you're still having this problem, it's the hidden Library folder within within your user folder, not the main Library folder. I was able to find a Mail folder there and delete the properties.plist file, which did fix the slow loading.

 

[ventmore]

Mail was taking around 20s to open for me last week. Rebooting made no difference. Had a search around, and came across the suggestion to hold shift when opening.

I didn't try it at first because all it does is load without reopening windows from the last session. Anyway...decided to give it a go, and now mail opens instantly for me every time. Not sure what it fixed exactly, but whatever the issue was...it survived reboots.

 

[BrianBaughn]

If you're still having this problem, it's the hidden Library folder within within your user folder, not the main Library folder. I was able to find a Mail folder there and delete the properties.plist file, which did fix the slow loading.

I was responding to the OP. My Mail folder is at ~/Library/Mail.

I don't have a problem with Mail.

 

[kevinb0ss]

This 100% worked for me! Thank you 🙏🏼

Solved my problem on Montery 12.6

 

[santa]

This is what worked for me and others:

rm -f ~/Library/Application\ Support/Mail/Plug-ins/Bundles/Library/Mail/Bundles/Properties.plist

Networking is not involved.

Arriving here in June 2023 and this tip worked for me after months of not bothering with a 10sec load every launch. Now it is instant again on my Mac Studio. Many thanks for the little travel in time.