How to get rid of the small message windows in Apple Mail?

[desertman]

Since a while I see often small windows of other messages at the bottom of the screen in Mail. I know I can swipe them away. However, a little later they appear again.

Is there a way to get rid of these thumbnails for good? I'd prefer not to see such thumbnails ever again.

 

[Gregg2]

This solution was offered in the Apple discussion forums:

"Those windows can be eliminated. Open the mail app. The small windows are on the bottom. Begin on the left side and flick them upward to erase them. You’ll eventually get down to two windows that you cannot delete. Close the mail app and reopen it. Those small windows will be gone."

 

[desertman]

Thanks, but this is what I described already in the first paragraph above - and some time later the thumbnails appear again.

What I'm looking for is a permanent solution.

 

[BigBlur]

I don't think there's much you can do other than not get or leave them there in the first place. There's no way to disable that feature. It sounds like you're doing something that's causing a new window to open. You'll need to figure out what that is. Are you opening the emails in a new window, and then not closing them when you're done, before closing Mail?

 

[01cowherd]

Is there a way to get rid of these thumbnails for good? I'd prefer not to see such thumbnails ever again.

Unfortunately, you cannot disable this functionality. I wish you could, because in my experience, it either confuses or annoys people who accidentally trigger it.

Are you double tapping the emails, such that they pop up in a window in the center of the screen (vs on the side, like the normal preview)? That's where the extra windows come from. You have to tap "Done" to close it. If you tap off the pop-up, then it minimizes but doesn't close. An animation displays when the window minimizes to the shelf.

 

[Gregg2]

This solution was offered in the Apple discussion forums:

"Those windows can be eliminated. Open the mail app. The small windows are on the bottom. Begin on the left side and flick them upward to erase them. You’ll eventually get down to two windows that you cannot delete. Close the mail app and reopen it. Those small windows will be gone."

Well, I tried this yesterday, and today the thumbnails did not appear when I opened Mail. Yes, you can swipe them all away with one motion. This solution says to swipe them individually. Four thumbnails appear. The two on the left can be swiped away individually, the two on the right cannot. Once you have swiped away those two on the right with two motions, then close Mail.

 

[Gregg2]

And now, more than 10 days later, the thumbnails have not made an appearance.