Stop Mail prompting at startup

[Pietje]

Hi there,

I am sure this isn't a coincidence. Since I recently added calendars of our internet mail accounts to iCal, the Mail app on my snow leopard macbook pro is prompting for access to those mail accounts. This is really annoying because we do not use mail from those accounts and logically do not need to use Mail either.

Does anybody know how to stop this?
For the record:
- we do not even try to open Mail, it does of its own accord after startup.
- once in that prompted window, options like "preferences" are not accessible.
- for the reason above and any other, the option for us is to choose "cancel". But this option hangs the app and force quit is needed in the end, unless I quit iCal before canceling Mail.

Thank you,
Pietje

[Zarkizon]

Originally Posted by Pietje

Hi there,

I am sure this isn't a coincidence. Since I recently added calendars of our internet mail accounts to iCal, the Mail app on my snow leopard macbook pro is prompting for access to those mail accounts. This is really annoying because we do not use mail from those accounts and logically do not need to use Mail either.

Does anybody know how to stop this?
For the record:
- we do not even try to open Mail, it does of its own accord after startup.
- once in that prompted window, options like "preferences" are not accessible.
- for the reason above and any other, the option for us is to choose "cancel". But this option hangs the app and force quit is needed in the end, unless I quit iCal before canceling Mail.

Thank you,
Pietje

Right-click the Mail icon in the Dock and hover the cursor over 'Options' then uncheck 'Open at Login'.

[Pietje]

Thank you Zarkizon. The option "Open at Login" was already unchecked, so I checked and unchecked the option, just to give it a go. The problem appeared to be solved but it seems it doesn't (and didn't) accur at every startup.

I read a lot about this prompting issue when the mac doesn't get a connection with the internet. Could that be the problem?

Anyway, I still believe there is a connection between iCal and Mail and I'd like it to be undone or at least Mail not to activate on it's own. Anyone?

[BrianBaughn]

The checkbox in Login Items is for hiding the application and not for keeping it from starting up at login.

To remove it from Login Items you must select it then delete it by clicking the box below the list with the minus sign.

Also, there is an new setting in Lion (in General, I believe) that, when your start up your computer, restarts all of your apps that were open when you shut down or restarted. It is annoying that it is ON by default on a new system.

And yes, when an app that's looking for internet access gets started before internet access is achieved you will sometimes get an error message or alert.

[Pietje]

Thank you for your reply.

Mail is not in 'Login items' because I never wanted to use Mail at the first place and not in startup feature of Lion because I still have Snow leopard

Could anybody tell me if I may be able to switch off any settings that could be the origin of the problem in the Mail app once I made an account? I simply do not want to take the risk.

Thank you

[samh]

Originally Posted by Pietje

Thank you for your reply.

Mail is not in 'Login items' because I never wanted to use Mail at the first place and not in startup feature of Lion because I still have Snow leopard

Could anybody tell me if I may be able to switch off any settings that could be the origin of the problem in the Mail app once I made an account? I simply do not want to take the risk.

Thank you

Have you gone into Preferences => Mail, Contacts & Calendars and unchecked "mail" for the accounts you only want Calendar access to?

[BrianBaughn]

I think your trouble might be from iCal trying to send event reminders, which it does through Mail. Turn off email reminders for all present, past and future events.

[samh]

Originally Posted by BrianBaughn

I think your trouble might be from iCal trying to send event reminders, which it does through Mail. Turn off email reminders for all present, past and future events.

Oh yeah, that could be it, too.

[Cohomojo]

BTW, I'm experiencieng the exact same problems. Wonder if it is iCal that is causing the problem? So am I supposed to uncheck the "enable this account" under General/Account Information....???

[Pietje]

Originally Posted by samh

Have you gone into Preferences => Mail, Contacts & Calendars and unchecked "mail" for the accounts you only want Calendar access to?

I cannot find this checkboxes in iCal. Should it be in the preferences of the Mail app?
The biggest problem (and bug if you ask me) is that I cannot access any option of Mail except the one called "cancel" followed by the "force quit" one.

Originally Posted by BrianBaughn

I think your trouble might be from iCal trying to send event reminders, which it does through Mail. Turn off email reminders for all present, past and future events.

I tested this and it looks like Mail is prompting at exact the time I set the mail-alarms on. It still doesn't explain the prompting at startups the moment iCal wasn't opened yet.
So, if I stay away of the alarm I should be okay. Although it is taking away this really annoying problem, I get a new one in return "no possible use of calendar alarms". But this is good enough for me as most of the alarms are pop-ups anyway. I really thank you all and especially for helping me out: BrianBaughn.

Weird that "cancel" is not enough to quit Mail in this situation and the only way has to be "force quit".

ciao,
Pietje

erratums:
1. the prompting didn't occur right after startup only
2.

Originally Posted by Pietje

...choose "cancel". But this option hangs the app and force quit is needed in the end, unless I quit iCal before canceling Mail.

It just seemed like that at that moment but in the end this is not true: it doesn't really matter if I quit iCal first.

[3000ways]

Originally Posted by BrianBaughn

I think your trouble might be from iCal trying to send event reminders, which it does through Mail. Turn off email reminders for all present, past and future events.

I think you may be right. I'm having the same problem. whenever the mail app opens there is a reminder email that is waiting to be sent (from iCal), but do you have any idea as to how I can turn off these reminders without going to every single calendar event?

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Originally Posted by samh

Have you gone into Preferences => Mail, Contacts & Calendars and unchecked "mail" for the accounts you only want Calendar access to?

I think you may be referring to an iphone or an ipad (iOS) and the original question was referring to a mac running OSx.