Gmail Users Bring Renewed Attention to Issue With Apple's Mail App Popping Open Sporadically on Mac

[now i see it]

Obviously they don't know how to fix it.
As the OS and its depent apps get more and more bloated and intertwined, the code becomes so complex that nobody really understands fully what's going on.

Issues like this are only going to multiply & spread throughout the system as year's goby as the OS gets more and more and more bloated and complicated.

 

[Quu]

Thought it was just me, very annoying issue I've been dealing with for years now.

 

[kavantr]

Go to Mail Preferences --- General --- untick "prefer opening messages in split view when in full screen" -- and the problem will be solved.

 

[chrono1081]

I really hope everyone in this thread complaining went to http://www.apple.com/feedback and reported this. I have, many times.

 

[Brian Y]

Happens constantly here. It's freaking annoying.

 

[greveteam32]

I switched to Spark over this very issue. I'm happy with the switch, I can post to Things and create calendar events right from a Spark email which is enough for me. My only gripe with Spark is that I can't create automatic filters to send emails directly to folders. Otherwise its a great app.

 

[Tofupunch]

haha, I am one of those people who just have the app minimized so i don't get the pop-up! C'mon Apple!

 

[Mizouse]

this happens to me all the time while im in full screen mode accessing and working off my work computer. pretty annoying.

 

[iHack13]

I thought its because of the gmail calendar.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/7d81ak

I am trying this out first.

update: didnt work. welp

 

[uller6]

I really hope everyone in this thread complaining went to http://www.apple.com/feedback and reported this. I have, many times.

I’m pretty sure all feedback goes into a black hole at Apple.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

I literally had no idea this bug existed. It’s never happened to me.
[automerge]1591025980[/automerge]

One of the many reasons I moved on from Apple Mail. The app is pretty antiquated and rarely gets updated. For Gmail, I just have a pinned tab in the web browser.

Am I the only one who thinks the Gmail web client looks ugly? (Especially the list of messages)

 

[Charles50]

This bug has been really pissing me off for a long rtime. Mail pops up, the little disconnected icon appears next to my GMail account in the Mail window, and then it reconnects. I am starting to think this is a deliberate effort by Google to screw Apple. I hate hate HATE it.

 

[dwaite]

Go to Mail Preferences --- General --- untick "prefer opening messages in split view when in full screen" -- and the problem will be solved.

Nope.

 

[derekamoss]

I thought its because of the gmail calendar.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/7d81ak

I am trying this out first.

Did it work?

 

[tha_man]

Yeah this is extremely annoying. The only solution is to quit mail app, but then it doesn't check for emails.

 

[coolbeep]

Finally! Ive been so tired of this. I changed my behavior to only minimize the window instead of closing it as my "fix" on my $4000 machine

 

[PJL500]

In a blog post shared on Reddit, software engineer Philipp Defner has brought renewed attention to a years-old issue that results in Apple's Mail app randomly popping open as the frontmost application on the Mac.

"If you are in full screen mode -- like when you are giving a talk or watching a movie -- it opens itself up in split view mode where it takes up half the screen while your other main window is being resized," wrote Defner, in line with similar comments shared across the MacRumors Forums, Apple Support Communities, and elsewhere.

The issue appears to be related to a potential connectivity or syncing issue with certain Gmail accounts, with some users noting that creating an app-specific password for your Gmail account is an effective workaround. Other users simply keep the Mail app minimized in the Dock instead of closed entirely to avoid it from popping open sporadically.

Defner notes that the issue has been occurring since at least macOS Sierra and continues in macOS Catalina. Affected users are hopeful that Apple can implement a fix, although it is unclear if there is anything it can do on its end.

Article Link: Gmail Users Bring Renewed Attention to Issue With Apple's Mail App Popping Open Sporadically on Mac

When watching a video on an external display (55" LG) this happens out of the blue to me. It fills the right half of the screen with the Mail app. Annoying.

 

[Morod]

Add me to the list. Been going on for a very long time now.

 

[hronists]

The fix that worked for me - delete gmail account and add it again, but not as gmail, but regular mail account. Nothing else worked and I tried several solutions.

 

[Blu-ray1972]

Ohhhhhh That's what is going on!

 

[MauiPa]

Hey I feel your pain, except it has never happened to me, nor can I duplicate it. The closest I can come is to close the Mail window, but not close the app. then when I am in an app full screen, I open mail and it opens in split screen. If mail is already open, or if it is completely closed it does not happen. I tried using rules to no effect, but did not set up an AppleScript rule. I set notifications on/off - nada.

Perhaps the difficulty in "fixing" this issue, is that no one seems able to isolate the conditions under which it happens

 

[tosbsas]

I understand that there is a workaround using a app specific password - can I do that for macOS only or will that change the password for this account on all my other devices too?

 

[Smoothie]

I never saw this bug in Sierra or High Sierra. For me, it began with Mojave. (I haven't installed Catalina.) I eventually stopped using Apple Mail and have been using Microsoft Outlook, which has been working fine.

 

[mattaaron]

Oh man, I’ve been getting this daily for years.

Around 2013 I switched my entire life to Apple (iPhone, iPad, Mac, AppleTV, etc)... and this was the very first bug I ever encountered... and it never stopped in the last 7 years, got it today a few times already. Periodically once every few years I’ll get frustrated and google for hours/days a fix, but nothing ever works. And the “minimize the program” work around isn’t ideal.

Luckily no regrets with Apple, and this is the only but that bugs me, glad to see it go viral now though!! Yay

Look forward to the fix

 

[R10k]

I hate this bug. It started for me about six months ago, and none of the suggested fixes seem to fix it. I might be missing something, but I think Apple needs to find a way to fix it.