Apple Acknowledges Continuing Issues with OS X Mail, Offers Manual Workaround

[mryingster]

Really? Which Apple did you once know that's different than the Apple of today?

Oh you mean you miss THAT Apple when the iMac G4 had a tilting screen that never stood straight...until they stopped creating it?

Oh you mean you miss THAT Apple when Snow Leopard was a train wreak from the start?

I have to say, I disagree with almost everything you list. Yes, Apple has had some missteps and flops, but you can't seriously think that Snow Leopard was one of them!? I was positive everyone was in agreement that it was the best OS that Apple has released! Certainly better than Lion! I never had any issues with it in any way.

And the iMac G4 was by far the most utilitarian, different, and useful iMac design they ever had (in my view). I wish they would have pursued that form factor for longer.

 

[shabbasuraj]

I think this is a simpler fix. I have had a few employees run into this issue.

In Mail.app in 10.9, Apple implemented a new option under Mail Preferences/General/Check for new messages. There is an "Automatically" option which, I believe, doesn't work right.

Simply switch that to "Every minute" and (at least in my experience) the problem is solved.

I have tried the 'check every minute settings' and the problem persists.

 

[Mark Booth]

I've got a friend who has had problems with every Mac device/computer and every Apple OS released. If something can go wrong, it's going to go wrong for him.

I'm the opposite. I've RARELY had problems with Mac hardware or software. And I've never been concerned about upgrading to the latest OS. That is, until the last couple of years.

I've stayed away from Mavericks like it's a plague. And I wish I had stayed away from iOS 7 as far as my iPad is concerned.

And I firmly believe the tired cliche applies here… If Steve Jobs was still around we would NOT be waiting this long for Mavericks (and iOS 7) issues to be resolved.

My biggest concern is that this is the new "norm" for Apple. At least one recent consumer poll shows that customer satisfaction with Apple is slipping. There are stories that Apple has to pull engineers from one project to complete another. Other companies are constantly trying to lure away talented engineers. Does Apple have the people horsepower to maintain the high standards of customer satisfaction that have been the bedrock of Apple's growth?

Mark

 

[indychris]

I've got a friend who has had problems with every Mac device/computer and every Apple OS released. If something can go wrong, it's going to go wrong for him.

I'm the opposite. I've RARELY had problems with Mac hardware or software. And I've never been concerned about upgrading to the latest OS. That is, until the last couple of years.

I've stayed away from Mavericks like it's a plague. And I wish I had stayed away from iOS 7 as far as my iPad is concerned.

And I firmly believe the tired cliche applies here… If Steve Jobs was still around we would NOT be waiting this long for Mavericks (and iOS 7) issues to be resolved.

My biggest concern is that this is the new "norm" for Apple. At least one recent consumer poll shows that customer satisfaction with Apple is slipping. There are stories that Apple has to pull engineers from one project to complete another. Other companies are constantly trying to lure away talented engineers. Does Apple have the people horsepower to maintain the high standards of customer satisfaction that have been the bedrock of Apple's growth?

Mark

I'm not one who is much for looking backward and lamenting "If only we still had...", but I can't help but think you are correct here. I've first started using macs in our computer lab in college in 1990. Bought my own Mac in '92. I bought the first gen iPod, iPhone and iPad and have had most iterations since. I have two minis as HTPC's, two MBP's and to MacBooks and an iMac in our household. I have been unhesitant to upgrade new OS's as they were released. Aside from some rare headaches with some PowerPC stuff in years past and being a bit ticked when Apple dropped support for Clarisworks, I've never really had a period where I wondered if I would stay with Apple. The problems with the discreet graphics cards in the 2011 MBP's, terrible problems with Mail, the total dropping of the ball with the new de-proved version of iWork, the constant crashing of Safari on my iPad Air, the instability of iOS 7 with a number of apps on my iPhone...all of this has me wondering where I'll be 2-3 years from now.

I personally don't care for the new 'flat' look of iOS, but I can live with looks that don't appeal to me so long as the product works like Apple stuff usually does. The problem now is that too many things simply don't work and Apple's moniker has always been about great looking stuff that simply works...

 

[Skandalous]

Under Mountain Lion, Mail would, several times a day, show me messages without nay content whatsoever.

Under Mavericks, that problem is gone. However, Mail refuses to allow any message to be sent via Exchange sever with an attachment. Which I need to do multiple times a day.

How has this app have been this problematic for so long?

 

[Rad99004]

All I can say is Apple must have cut and pasted the bad IMAP code for IOS too.

Same problems for both.

How could Apple let this major BUG !!! Go for this long? Just fix it.

I do believe part of this was introduced in Lion or Mountain Lion.

My 2009 iMac didn't have the problem tell maverick. My wife's newer model iMac has had the problem since lion.

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Why are we not calling Mavericks what it is: the lesser Windows Vista of the OS X world.

I'm starting to see why it was Free.

If I pay extra can I get a copy where my email works?

 

[itsamacthing]

Tired of all the problems with Mail.app. Didn't even know it was such a wide spread issue. Switched to Outlook 2011 last week, actually like it better. Tired of mail.app KP'ing upon quit. Tired of lots of little quirks. Looking forward to seeing Outlook 2014. And push mail from Exchange works great btw. Outlook also closes very gracefully.

 

[Tech198]

This looks promising...

"There is no indication of when the bugs with Mail.app will be fixed"



Apple's known this since 10.9, they've had more than enough time to get a fix for this out ... A proper one, no just a patch up job.

 

[RobertoCravallo]

I forgot another "bug" I once encountered back in Leopard and perhaps Snow Leopard but has reared its ugly head once again. Since upgrading to XBMC 12.3, it asks me every single time I run it if I want to accept incoming connections for XBMC and that I can adjust this setting in the Firewall. The problem is that it's already in the Firewall and Mavericks just IGNORES the setting there and asks every single time anyway.

I have that same problem on my systems. For instance with Jbidwatcher. It is in the list, MAVERICKS ("lame horse" in spanish?) chooses to ignore the setting and asks me everytime!! Same for a couple of other apps!
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I'm not part of this "Mavericks sucks Pity Party". Mail has been great for me. I don't use Gmail, I just use iCloud and Yahoo Mail with the Mail client.

So by your reasoning MAVERICKS is great, because you happend to not have problems with it? What about the hundreds / thousands that do? They don't count? You must be heavely invested in APPLE.....

 

[LV426]

"For some email providers, new email messages in Mail may only appear to arrive when Mail is first opened"

I suspect that this mostly would apply to mail accounts that are using IMAP (e.g.iCloud).

Push e-mail relies on the mail server broadcasting update notifications to the client, as opposed to using POP, where the client must periodically ask the mail server what is going on.

If the push notification fails (or the client fails to act correctly on the notification) you won't get new mail.

I imagine that most mail providers implement push correctly, since that's their business, but it's not a given. However, since I've noticed this issue occasionally with my IMAP mail provider using OS Mail, but seen no such issue when using iOS Mail, my hunch is that there's a bug in OS X and/or Mail.

Since Apple have posted an advisory about this, one hopes they'll take mitigating steps in a software update.

 

[MacbookSwitcher]

As a heavy user of Mail.app, I'm so glad I haven't upgraded to Mavericks! And will not be doing so any time soon

 

[hudson1]

If that's true, why is it when I tell it to check for mail manually with the "get new messages for all accounts" envelope button, it comes up with the no new mail messages even though I can plainly see the new messages with Thunderbird or logging into mail from my browser? Wouldn't checking it every x minutes be the same difference as manually clicking to check mail? If so, it won't make a bit of difference. Exiting mail and restarting finds the mail like it says. Manually checking it does no good at all here.

Use the Synchronize command, instead.

 

[micha10589]

Fix this, Apple

I hope Apple is reading this - it is my intention to let them know how I feel about the serious issues reported here.

I have been a loyal and enthusiastic user since 1991. The Mac, the iPhone and the iPad are terrific devices. But recently a number of things indicated that Apple quality control and product decisions lose sight of users' interest:

1. iMac losing the internal CD/DVD drive
2. The fiasco with Final Cut Pro X
3. iPhoto - on the Mac as well as on iOS (the iOS version is THE worst Apple application I have ever used)
4. iOS 7 with 64 bit (iPhone 5s)
5. iPhone 5c colors and pricing
6. Now Mavericks Mail

Luckily I am still on Snow Leopard (iMac 2010) and on an iPhone 4S with iOS 5, so I do not have any issues. But I read reports and make informed buying decisions when upgrading.

Apple as a company probably thinks that longtime customers will not switch to Windows. I think they are wrong here. Windows 7 (at my job) is working fine and while Outlook is not ideal it is quite stable. Also, I would consider switching to Android if Apple doesn't fix the crashing issues with iOS 7 and the 5s.

So far I have NO intention of getting a new Mac until Mail works with Gmail. (I was thinking of getting a Macbook Air.)

I have decided against upgrading my iPad 2 because of iOS 7.

And I have just opted to not renew my 2yr contract with my mobile service provider and go with a prepaid plan. Usually I renew and get the latest iPhone. But not this time - my 4s on iOS 5 is working great and why get a device that crashes almost daily? I have seen the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) and other apps crashing personally while playing around with a 5s at the Apple store. I will hold on to my 4S and wait for the iPhone 6. So this is definitely a lost sale of a 5s for Apple (and also a lost contract sale for my MSP).

And if the iPhone 6 doesn't fix the stability issues, I will go with Android. The only thing I need is the iPod functionality for music listening because I want my play counts synced, but if needed, I will go with a secondary device.

So Apple, make no mistake. You are going to lose business either by sales postponed or by customers giving up on you. Fix the quality issues.

 

[dansix]

Apple Mail won't show any of my Sent box sub-folders.

I have to use Outlook or some other client to access them.

Unfortunately, Microsoft products are still more reliable than Apple products... Apple just looks fancy. I've had so many freezes on Macs, including other software and hardware issues. I sold all of my Apple products and went back to Dell... no freezes, no crashes. I'm a happy camper. Never going back to the reality distortion field.

 

[roadbloc]

The Apple mail client hasn't been good since Tiger. Every version beyond that simply made the app worse. I use Outlook on my Macs.

 

[pondosinatra]

Mail is the poster child for the abysmal QA which dominates Apple's Mac division these days. It's been painfully obvious this is the end result of focusing their engineers on their iToys.

 

[scottwaugh]

...I have strange behavior with web browsing since switching to Mavericks (randomly "stalling" of page loads), which makes me think it's the latter...

Still on Mountain Lion and have been seeing this occasionally as well, so it maybe a Safari update thing…JMHO…

Still the point sticks, IMHO OS X releases shouldn't be yearly (it takes a year just to iron out the bugs from a new release in such a complex OS), stick with 3 years as far as I'm concerned and fix bugs in the meantime. Apple should have enough software engineering resources not to need to actively pull people from one project to another (which seems to be a norm from what we've heard). While I like the current CEO - he doesn't personally pound on new development work prior to release and go storming down to the offices to get stuff fixed before rollout (admittedly when they had fewer products and they were more simple) - Apple probably needs a new QA process plan to cover for the number and complexity of new software releases as well.

 

[PrsnSingh]

Go into Mail > Preference > General and where it says "Check for new messages" you can chose the interval for how often Mail will check for new emails. I have it set at automatically.

 

[Tech198]

Unfortunately, Microsoft products are still more reliable than Apple products... Apple just looks fancy. I've had so many freezes on Macs, including other software and hardware issues. I sold all of my Apple products and went back to Dell... no freezes, no crashes. I'm a happy camper. Never going back to the reality distortion field.

Makes sense... So what your saying is Apple just likes to show off with their fancy GUI's, but no features work as expected, where as Microsoft doesn't look too good, but less trouble.

I agree, ever since upgrading to Mavericks, i've has soo many beach balls, which still continue in 10.9.1..

I have to really have to ask myself what the hell did Apple break to make it this bad ?

My bets are this will not get any better going forward, it can only get worse..

People may like to think it will, but all the beach balls in the world can't help Apple. Clean, fresh installed on new HD, and thats not the issue..

Its the OS that's the issue.

 

[3282868]

I'm surprised how common this seems. I've had my share of hardware issues over the past 5 years since being a Mac/OS X user and developer for well over a decade. Faulty LED LCD panels and power supplies in their 24" then 27" displays plagued me since I had to replace my 2 first gen Apple 23" CCFL LCD's that were rock solid. Luckily, I have good fortune with OS X app's (knock on wood).

I use Mail as my personal and business mail client (literally have 200+ mailboxes and rules that make my head ache). Gmail, .Mac, iCloud and Yahoo accounts on my Mac Pro have worked well. Contacts, Reminders and Calendar were the only app's that gave me trouble, with work arounds requiring me to configure/add my iCloud account directly in each app and not through iCloud system preferences. This worked, but Contacts still had syncing issues (that's one OS X app that needs a lot of work).

On 10.9.2 latest beta, everything seems solid. Makes me wonder what is going on behind the scenes. Is this iCloud/server related? OS X changes in network protocols (layer 5-7)? Apple has/had numerous issues since shifting to SMB2 from AFP in 10.9.

For OS X 10.7 Lion, Apple wrote its own software for Windows File Sharing under the name "SMBX" to replace Samba, adding initial support for Microsoft's SMB2 at the same time.

Rather than maintaining both AFP and SMBX in parallel, Apple is now consolidating its future efforts in its own implementation of Microsoft's SMB2 protocol. Macs running OS X 10.9 Mavericks will use SMB2 as their default file sharing protocol when connecting to each other or to PCs running Windows Vista, 7 or 8.

Couple this with the well documented wireless networking issues plaguing many Mac's, with tests comparing 10.6 to 10.7+ providing evidence it is OS X related, I wonder if Apple is rushing out OS X releases with changes that require more beta releases and debugging (before 10.7, we would beta test dozens of bi-weekly builds released as dmg's requiring clean installs each time for major OS X releases from 1.5 - 2 years before release). Since Federighi took over OS X development from Bertrand Serlet, releases seem rushed with 4-5 DP's and a lot of in-house release we do not test. This new model isn't working well.

 

[cmwade77]

I think this is a simpler fix. I have had a few employees run into this issue.

In Mail.app in 10.9, Apple implemented a new option under Mail Preferences/General/Check for new messages. There is an "Automatically" option which, I believe, doesn't work right.

Simply switch that to "Every minute" and (at least in my experience) the problem is solved.

This has worked for me as well.

----------

Makes sense... So what your saying is Apple just likes to show off with their fancy GUI's, but no features work as expected, where as Microsoft doesn't look too good, but less trouble.

I agree, ever since upgrading to Mavericks, i've has soo many beach balls, which still continue in 10.9.1..

I have to really have to ask myself what the hell did Apple break to make it this bad ?

My bets are this will not get any better going forward, it can only get worse..

People may like to think it will, but all the beach balls in the world can't help Apple. Clean, fresh installed on new HD, and thats not the issue..

Its the OS that's the issue.

I just did an upgrade over Mountain Lion, which was an upgrade over Lion and I have fewer beach balls than I have ever had with any Mac.

So, I disagree with this premise.

 

[dysamoria]

What about the bug where Mail shows duplicate copies of every email I receive from only one person? Thunderbird doesn't do it. No prior version of Mail did it.

Why does Apple have such a damn problem with email software?? Every version of Mail has some new insane problem with IMAP that no other product has (even my experience with iOS Mail has been superior; isn't it the same damn basic code and programmers???).

 

[Mark Booth]

I personally don't care for the new 'flat' look of iOS, but I can live with looks that don't appeal to me so long as the product works like Apple stuff usually does. The problem now is that too many things simply don't work and Apple's moniker has always been about great looking stuff that simply works...

Exactly!

Remember the "Get a Mac" ad campaign with John Hodgman (PC) and Justin Long (Mac)? Long's spiel was all about how everything on a Mac "just worked".

Back then, I totally felt like those ads were factual and truthful. Running those ads today would feel a bit dishonorable.

One thing is for sure, reading everyone's comments about Mavericks Mail has me more convinced than ever that I should avoid Mavericks like the plague.

Mark

 

[HenryDJP]

I had ZERO issues with my iPhone 4.

Never owned an iMac G4 because it was BUTT UGLY!

Never had a problem with Snow Leopard.

Never owned a 12" PowerBook.

Never owned a PowerBook 5300.

Never had issues with Jaguar.

Owned a PowerMac DP and never felt the fan was too noisy.

Never owned an iPod Nano.

Never had problems with OS 9.

Never owned a PowerMac G4 Cube.

And I was talking about SOFTWARE, not hardware. And I'm feeling particularly annoyed with Apple right now because of this:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1701375/

Which is 100% a SOFTWARE issue.

Mark

Well I've never had problems with iOS7 or Mavericks. Does that make your points less relevant as you've suggested mine were? You didn't say anything about software, you just said you missed the old Apple and I pointed out they weren't any more perfect back in the day.

 

[HenryDJP]

I have to say, I disagree with almost everything you list. Yes, Apple has had some missteps and flops, but you can't seriously think that Snow Leopard was one of them!? I was positive everyone was in agreement that it was the best OS that Apple has released! Certainly better than Lion! I never had any issues with it in any way.

And the iMac G4 was by far the most utilitarian, different, and useful iMac design they ever had (in my view). I wish they would have pursued that form factor for longer.

Uh WHAT??? Everyone is in agreement that SL was the best OS? And where did you get that idea? Maybe you should try and find the threads on MR when SL was first released. Personally I was fine with it but even Apple admitted there were issues. People had massive blue screens during installs. Corrupt files after installs and Apple had to rush out 10.6.1 and then soon after 10.6.2 to quiet down the uproar of complaints. It didn't even get good and rock stable until 10.6.5.

Truthfully to this day (at least IMO) Tiger was the best and most stable version of OS X out of the box without updates.

And where did I suggest that the iMac G4 was a crappy design. I merely stated that it had troubles with the screen tilting which is 100% fact.

And I really like how you just stated that you disagreed with just about everything I said without pointing many of them out with a rebuttal.

----------

Exactly!

Remember the "Get a Mac" ad campaign with John Hodgman (PC) and Justin Long (Mac)? Long's spiel was all about how everything on a Mac "just worked".

Back then, I totally felt like those ads were factual and truthful. Running those ads today would feel a bit dishonorable.

One thing is for sure, reading everyone's comments about Mavericks Mail has me more convinced than ever that I should avoid Mavericks like the plague.

Mark

Yes, you should. I mean, you certainly don't want to spend all that money on an OS with faulty mail.

----------

Unfortunately, Microsoft products are still more reliable than Apple products... Apple just looks fancy. I've had so many freezes on Macs, including other software and hardware issues. I sold all of my Apple products and went back to Dell... no freezes, no crashes. I'm a happy camper. Never going back to the reality distortion field.

And you're here posting on an Apple enthusiasts forum because???