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Mail does not open after Catalina upgrade.

I upgraded to Catalina last night and now I cannot open the Mail program. Any suggestions.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Oct 9, 2019 10:09 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 2, 2019 8:03 AM

Good news, it’s fixed. First, thank you to all who gave suggestions. I discovered the solution from a response to a similar problem posted back in 2014. Apple discussions.apple.com/thread/5957899Help! Mail crashing with new OSX 10.9.2 update. I found my solution going to folder V7 rather than V2 as suggested in the blog. Here is the solution from Linc Davis


Quit Mail. Force quit if necessary.

 

Back up all data. That means you know you can restore the Mail database, no matter what happens.

 

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData

 

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

 

Go ▹ Go to Folder

 

from the menu bar. Paste into the box that opens (command-V), then press return.

 

A folder window will open. Inside it there should be files with names as follows:

 

·       Envelope Index

·       ExternalUpdates.storedata

 

Move those files to the Desktop, leaving the window open. Other files in the folder may have longer names that begin as above. Move those files, if any, to the Trash.

Log out and log back in. Relaunch Mail. It should prompt you to re-import your messages. You may get a warning that the index is damaged and that Mail has to quit. Click OK. Typically, the process takes a few minutes, but it may take hours if you have gigantic mailboxes. In that case, you may be able to speed things up by temporarily adding your home folder to the Privacy list in the Spotlight preference pane. Remove it when Mail has finished importing.

 

Test. If Mail now works as expected, you can delete the files you moved to the Desktop. Otherwise, post your results.


8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 2, 2019 8:03 AM in response to dallocco

Good news, it’s fixed. First, thank you to all who gave suggestions. I discovered the solution from a response to a similar problem posted back in 2014. Apple discussions.apple.com/thread/5957899Help! Mail crashing with new OSX 10.9.2 update. I found my solution going to folder V7 rather than V2 as suggested in the blog. Here is the solution from Linc Davis


Quit Mail. Force quit if necessary.

 

Back up all data. That means you know you can restore the Mail database, no matter what happens.

 

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData

 

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

 

Go ▹ Go to Folder

 

from the menu bar. Paste into the box that opens (command-V), then press return.

 

A folder window will open. Inside it there should be files with names as follows:

 

·       Envelope Index

·       ExternalUpdates.storedata

 

Move those files to the Desktop, leaving the window open. Other files in the folder may have longer names that begin as above. Move those files, if any, to the Trash.

Log out and log back in. Relaunch Mail. It should prompt you to re-import your messages. You may get a warning that the index is damaged and that Mail has to quit. Click OK. Typically, the process takes a few minutes, but it may take hours if you have gigantic mailboxes. In that case, you may be able to speed things up by temporarily adding your home folder to the Privacy list in the Spotlight preference pane. Remove it when Mail has finished importing.

 

Test. If Mail now works as expected, you can delete the files you moved to the Desktop. Otherwise, post your results.


Oct 12, 2019 12:44 PM in response to dallocco

Hello dallocco,


Thanks for using Apple Support Communities! I see you're having an issue with the Mail app after upgrading to macOS Catalina and I would like to help out.


Have you restarted your Mac since this started happening? If not, go ahead and do that. It's a simple step, but it can resolve unusual issues.


If you try opening Mail while holding the Shift key, does the app open successfully?


If that doesn't allow the Mail app to open, let's try to start your Mac in safe mode. Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac

If you can open Mail successfully while in safe mode, restart your Mac normally and try again. Safe mode does some system checks and can repair issues.


Lastly, if you're still having the same issue, I would suggest trying with a another user on your Mac. You can make test user following these steps: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac


Let me know the results of the testing, an we'll continue from there.


Cheers!

Oct 14, 2019 5:49 AM in response to dallocco

Hi dallocco,


Thanks for trying those steps for us, we appreciate it. Let's see if we can isolate this issue some more, as this indicates the issue is related to the settings or an email account in your user.


Follow the steps in this article to check the Mail app in your user: If you can’t open Mail on your Mac

Can it be opened from the Applications folder?


If not, continue with these steps:

In the test user, add your email accounts one at a time, if you have more than one, and test opening the app.

Add or remove email accounts in Mail on Mac


If you have multiple email accounts, and the Mail app acts up again after adding one, remove that one and try to open Mail again without it. If the Mail app still opens add a different email account.


Thanks!

Oct 13, 2019 9:42 AM in response to Teddy_B

Hi Jameson.h,

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I have good news and bad. The bad news is that all the original suggestions ie: Restart, opening Mail while holding the shift key and Safe Mode had no effect. Good news is that making a second user does work. The mail program does open. What do you suggest next?

Mail does not open after Catalina upgrade.

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