messages in Mail 5.2 do not load

B

bonaparte

Registered
Hello! I hope someone here can help me.

I'm using Mail 5.2 on an iMac running OS 10.7.4.

In Mail, I've got eleven mailboxes. One specific mailbox has developed a glitch: the messages are there, and new messages download but the messages themselves will not display. I just get a LOADING message and spinning wheel that never goes away.

It did this last week and I made the mistake of hitting REBUILD. The problem stopped for a few days, but the REBUILD deleted all the massages that were in that mailbox. Unacceptable! I need guidance on how to get this mailbox working again without trashing the contents.

Again, this is (currently) only happening with 1 out of 11 mailboxes.

Can you suggest anything?
 
Satcomer

Satcomer

In Geostationary Orbit
Is this Gmail or Hotmail setup that's not working or is it an ISP email server?

Also in Mail go to Mail's menu item 'Window' and use the drop-down 'Connection Doctor'. In 'Connection Doctor' use the print out to see what the servers are replying to the affected client. This way you trace down why it stopped instead of blindly packing.
 
B

bonaparte

Registered
It's an ISP server.

But I don't think the problem is the connection. Messages that were previously downloaded and that I was able to read before are now no longer loading. Just in the one mailbox.
 
Satcomer

Satcomer

In Geostationary Orbit
What did Connection doctor (in Mail's menu item 'Window') say when trying to connect to the ISP email server?
 
Whitehill

Whitehill

Registered
Is this account IMAP? Click Accounts in Mail Preferences. If it is IMAP, click the Advanced tab. What is the setting for Keep copies of messages for offline viewing? Perhaps it is set to Don't keep copies of any messages, in which case Mail will (try to) reload a message when you try to read it.

However it's set, with IMAP the messages are still on the server. After backing up your system, delete the offending account and then create it again.
 
B

bonaparte

Registered
No, it's POP and I had it set to delete the message from my DNS server after download.

"After backing up my system"? You lost me with that. You mean my whole system folder? Doesn't having two system folders cause problems?
 
B

bonaparte

Registered
New information.

I woke up today and downloaded new emails to that mailbox. Those emails loaded fine! But the previous emails that were cached just keep loading, loading, loading.

I can always just delete the mailbox and make a new one but that doesn't address the issue. Does anyone know what would cause a single mailbox to be corrupted like this? I'm really starting to worry that Lion might be less stable than Mac's previous offerings.
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

Tech
Seems worthwhile to remove the envelope index file for that mailbox. Find it in your user/Library/Mail/V2/MailData folder. Envelope index to the trash. Start up Mail, and you will be asked to import your mail for that account, which you simply agree to. That 'import' is just creating a new envelope index file. A large mailbox may take some time for that import.
 
B

bonaparte

Registered
DeltaMac, that sounds like great advice and I'm going to sound like a TOTAL noob when I ask this but I don't know where my Library folder is anymore. In fact, I haven't known since I got my new iMac running 10.7.4. I did a search for Library folder and MailData folder and I came up empty. Where should I look? Thanks!
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

Tech
It's in your own user library folder - which is now hidden in Lion.
Click on the Go menu in the Finder, then press your Option key. You'll see your Library folder as a choice (under the Home folder), so click Library to open, then to the Mail folder, and then the V2/MailData folder, and then you'll see the Envelope Index file. I think there's normally 3 files that are part of that envelope index in Lion Mail.
 
B

bonaparte

Registered
Thanks! I thought I was crazy when I couldn't find it but now that I see where they hid it I feel vindicated.

So there's an Envelope Index file, but also an Envelope Index-shm file and an Envelope Index-wal file. Is it just the Envelope Index file that I move to the trash or all three?
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

Tech
Be sure to quit Mail first, then - trash all three index files...

Remember, at next launch, Mail will ask to import your mail, and you would do that import - that's normal as part of the index creation.
 
B

bonaparte

Registered
And just to double check (I'm paranoid after stupidly hitting REBUILD), trashing those Index files will not erase all the emails I have cached on my computer right now, right? Nothing lives on my ISP's mail server.
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

Tech
Those are just index files, and not the actual mail messages.
Remove the files, start up Mail, and Mail should ask if you want to import some messages, and you would choose to do that.
However, you likely have other problems with your Mail, if the Rebuild caused an apparent loss of mail messages. The "Rebuild" is not a 'stupid' thing, but is a normal part of your mail account maintenance that you should be safe doing every few months or so. You may even find that the 'missing' messages are back in your mailbox, after the re-import.
 
Doctor X

Doctor X

Registered
The Reason You Clone Your DRive:

1. Chicks dig it.
2. You will be popular.
3. Profit.

You want to be popular . . . yes?

IF you clone your drive to an external drive [Ex-HD--Ed.] you have a number of options. First, you have everything saved. If you frell up your main drive, or if it turns out your main drive is frelled, you have everything saved.

Second--which I prefer--you can boot from the clone and do whatever foul, stupid idea you want. "Hmm . . . I read I should try deleting that file from library/main/essential/donot[CENSORED--Ed.]withthisstupid . . . okay, let me try that!"

So you can try the recommendation of Delta above and confirm it works. If it is t3h FAIL, you have lost nothing. You can just go back to your primary drive and create a new clone.

I use this to test updates to Firefox, for example. New update . . . yay . . . OH NOES!!11!!NOTHING WORKS!!!1!

--J.D.
 
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