Mail Opening on start up, how to minimise automatically

[Bobbins20]

I had figured upgrading to Monterey that the issue of the Mail opening at login and not minimising or sitting there in the Dock until I am ready to deal with the Mail would be resolved.
Alas no is there somthing I am missing here?
Basically is there a way for Mail to open up at start up and check for Mail but stay minimised reliably?
I have the Mail enabled at start up and the hidden box selected, but still it pops up. Strangely the first couple of restarts, after selecting, it did just that then after 2 x reboots and one shutdown it was back to opening up again at start.
It was the same on my 2011 Mac Mini under Mojave, Catalina and on my my 2020 imac under Big Sur and now Monterey and its the same.
What little I can find searching around Google etc and these forums seems it was the same on High Sierra (i.e. ongoing problem)
Thanks in anticipation.

 

[mat1696]

I think it has been the same VERY annoying behavior since at least Mavericks (2013), even though I report it to Apple almost every year…

I’m not aware of a workaround, so I would be interested if somebody knows one, but for me the only solution is Apple to fix this bug (by adding a longer delay before executing the hide feature)

 

[n-evo]

If I remember correctly Mail not responding to hide on login has been around since Mac OS X Tiger. It gets fixed in one release and breaks again in the next.

 

[Artiste212]

I believe there are three places that Mail is being told to open on startup.
1. In the System Preferences under User, you've already told Mail to open at startup and hide.
2. You also need to uncheck the preference to "Reopen all windows on startup" when you click Shut Down or Restart - this means that none of your other open apps will reopen, either.
3. I think you may need a 3rd place in System Preferences > General, then uncheck "Close windows when quitting an app" near the bottom of the General section.

Please let us know if doing all this helps, or if it's still broken.

 

[Bobbins20]

I believe there are three places that Mail is being told to open on startup.
1. In the System Preferences under User, you've already told Mail to open at startup and hide.
2. You also need to uncheck the preference to "Reopen all windows on startup" when you click Shut Down or Restart - this means that none of your other open apps will reopen, either.
3. I think you may need a 3rd place in System Preferences > General, then uncheck "Close windows when quitting an app" near the bottom of the General section.

Please let us know if doing all this helps, or if it's still broken.

Many thx for the suggestion alas yes I already have the above done, ahh well unfortunately back to Outlook and just add the Mail in there pity though a change of pace from "hum drum" MicroSnooze" offerings would have been good.

 

[BrianBaughn]

You can launch the Mail app hidden (-j) with a Terminal command:

open -j /System/Applications/Mail.app

An application can be created with Automator that will run that Terminal command (Run Shell Script). This new application can then be added to System Preferences>Users & Groups>Login Items. Very simple.

I tried it and it works. I'd upload the simple app here but you shouldn't trust such uploaded apps!

 

[BrianBaughn]

I should have tested it more than once. Apparently, whatever causes the User Account>Login Items checkbox "Hide" fail is also affecting the Terminal command.

Adding a bit of Applescript in the Automator app gets it working properly.

 

[Bobbins20]

I should have tested it more than once. Apparently, whatever causes the User Account>Login Items checkbox "Hide" fail is also affecting the Terminal command.

Adding a bit of Applescript in the Automator app gets it working properly.

View attachment 1946628

Many thanks for your help Brian much appreciated here, spent quite a few happy hours last night tinkering with the script. It works well does as I wanted it to but alas an emphirric victory, the Mail does indeed stay hidden and checking Mail, alas now the Automator window Pops up instead, so just looking to find a line of code to add to make it run in silent back ground mode. Seem to recall tackling something similar in OS 8x and 9x so I have forgot all the fun and games that goes with it and it is quite fun when it goes right eventually, but the many years in "Microsnooze Windoze" mode has dulled the old thought process over the years

 

[BrianBaughn]

Did you save the process as an "Application" in Automator?

 

[Bobbins20]

Did you save the process as an "Application" in Automator?

Well really this is about as far as I got, sorry to be a pest, you wont believe how much fancy language is involved with changing a battery in a MacBook Pro, anyway got a couple of simple scripts to save both work alas both cant seem to run "silently" just need that last line of code, in Win's " /silent /verysilent" used to do it or /norestart for installs in Win's.

 

[bluecoast]

This behaviour feels like a bug.

I always restart or shut down with 'Reopen windows when logging back in' checked but with Mail having no open windows i.e. it's just running as an icon in the dock.

However, on logging back in, Mail opens up a brand new Inbox window on the desktop.

And maybe this is something that I've just noticed but preview windows will also start on the desktop, even if I've shut down my machine with them minimised to the Dock.

It's not the most frustrating thing in the world but it really breaks the paradigm of the promise of being able to shut down your Mac and then on start-up, find all of your windows and documents etc. just how you left them.