Manage Plug Ins missing in Mail

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Level 2

159 points

Manage Plug Ins missing in Mail

Manage Plug Ins is missing in Mail Preferences. I tried the Terminal solution found elsewhere in Support (sudo defaults write “/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail” EnableBundles 1), etc. I get the Password icon, put in my administrator password, and it looks like terminal is starting a new command. I type defaults write com.apple.mail EnableBundles -bool true and restart Mail and still Manage Plug Ins does not appear in General Preferences. I repeat in Terminal and restart computer. Still no joy. Anyone got the answer? Mac OS Catalina 10.15.7.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 17, 2021 2:49 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Peter A. Author

Level 2

159 points

Aug 20, 2021 8:54 AM in response to Peter A.

This solution came from BusyMac. The second step was what actually resolved the problem. See the portion near the end for OS 10.15 Catalina.

https://support.busymac.com/help/47350-activity-list#troubleshooting

macOS 10.15 Catalina

The Mail application should be able to reset its DataVaults folder:

Quit the Apple Mail application
Open the Terminal app from the /Applications/Utilities folder
Paste in this command (without the quotes): "defaults delete com.apple.mail EnableBundles"
and press Return
Open the Apple Mail application and quit it again
Paste in this command (without the quotes): "defaults write com.apple.mail EnableBundles -bool YES"
and press Return
Open the Apple Mail application
In Mail > Preferences > General > Manage Plug-ins… enable the plug-ins you want to use

If asking Mail to reset the folder DOES NOT work, you need to delete the DataVaults folder manually. Mail will recreate it once you enable a new plug-in. You will need to temporarily turn off System Integrity Protection (SIP) so that you get permission to delete the protected DataVaults folder.

You may want to print these instructions or open them on a second device
Click on the Apple menu and choose Restart…
Hold down the Command and R keys so that your Mac will reboot in Recovery Mode
From the Utilities menu at the top of the screen, choose Terminal
Type (without the quotes): "csrutil disable"
and press Return. This command turns off SIP
Click on the Apple menu and choose Restart…
In Finder, hold the Option/Alt key as you click the Go menu
Select Library from the Go menu
From your Library folder navigate to ~/Library/Containers/ com.apple.mail/Data
Drag the ~/Library/Containers/ com.apple.mail/Data/DataVaults/ folder to the Trash
Open the Apple Mail application
In Mail > Preferences > General > Manage Plug-ins… enable the plug-ins you want to use
Repeat steps 2. - 7. typing "csrutil enable" instead to turn SIP back on

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,758 points

Aug 17, 2021 4:42 PM in response to Peter A.

From where did you get those instructions?

Mail doesn't have any global preferences, so I can't imagine writing the /Library preferences would do anything at all.

You could try writing it to Mail's preferences, instead.

defaults write -app Mail EnableBundles -bool true

I have no idea if that will do anything, though.

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Answer 3

Peter A. Author

Level 2

159 points

Aug 18, 2021 10:34 AM in response to Barney-15E

I'm sure it is. It's just released by BusyMac for their app BusyContacts. I'm e mailing them now to be sure.

But most importantly, "Manage Plug Ins" does not appear in Mail preferences at all. Nor can I find anything within the Bundles folder labeled BusyContacts, just old ODMailBundle from 2008.

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