Mac Mail delay in syncing Exchange accounts

[antmit]

Hi. I've posted about this (more tried to hijack, oops) on other threads, but nobody really answered.

I have an issue that happened on other OSs, but had been fine until I installed beta 1 onwards. On my exchange accounts I receive email all the time, and these appear as normal via push onto my iPhone and my iPad Pro, but is very much hit and miss on Mac Mail. Sometimes they will deliver on time, at other points it will be a few minutes behind, and sometimes it can be a good 30-45mins before it comes through, with a slew of others that conjures an image of the other emails knocking through the one that's causing the blockage.

I've run connection doctor and it says everything is fine, and I've spoken with our mail provider who confirms that there is not an issue with the settings used. I've also, for unrelated issues, completed a full clean install of BS b4, and connected everything as a fresh setup, but the problem remains. I've also FQ'd Mail (I've also tried just quitting it, but maybe it's only me who finds Mail a difficult app to close quickly at the best of times when it's rebooting or shutting down) and reopened, but the emails did still not come through straight away.

My mail provider advised installing Outlook to see if it had the same issue, and it does not. Emails arrive promptly, and in line with when they appear on my other devices.

Example: I've taken two screenshots at 12:03pm of the top of my inboxes for Mac Mail, and Outlook. Note that the last email in MM is 11:31am, over half an hour ago. The screenshot of Outlook shows another email at 11:52am, which was the last email I'd received up to that point.

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I just hate the look of Outlook, compared to the simplicity of MM...

 

[mj_]

Mail is one of the worst and most unreliable Exchange clients out there. Nor just on Big Sur but in much broader and more general terms. When connecting to an Exchange server or hosted Exchange service I always and without any exceptions recommend using Outlook. It may be horrible in regard to standard mail protocols such as IMAP (although admittedly it has gotten much better over the years) but it always was and always will be an excellent Exchange client. It almost as if it was specifically created for that very purpose

 

[antmit]

I must admit that I've looked at Spark, Airmail and the like over the years, but am always put off by their instability, or in most cases the fact that they store emails on their servers for a period...even after you delete your account. I recognise that Outlook essentially does this, too, but it feels less like they're going to do something shady with your data (at least officially lol).

Other than Outlook, are there any that are recommended?

 

[mj_]

I recognise that Outlook essentially does this, too, but it feels less like they're going to do something shady with your data (at least officially lol).

Umm... no? How would Outlook, an offline Exchange client for Windows and macOS, store external emails on whose servers? Microsofts? Where did you get that from and why would they do that?

Please note that Outlook for macOS and Outlook for iOS are two completely different applications that have absolutely nothing in common. They are both made by Microsoft but that's where the similarities end.

 

[antmit]

I read somewhere that Outlook still essentially transfers your data through to their servers in the same way a third party app like Spark or Airmail does. If that's not the case, then all the better.

I have tried Outlook for iOS and I really disliked it. At least Outlook for macOS feels like a finished product. Anyone had good experiences of Spark, Airmail etc? They look nice, but have found them to be more unreliable than MM most of the time, and very SLOW.

 

[mj_]

I read somewhere that Outlook still essentially transfers your data through to their servers in the same way a third party app like Spark or Airmail does. If that's not the case, then all the better.

Whatever it is that you read was either wrong or referring to the iOS app that did indeed do just that in its early days. Like I said before Outlook for iOS and Outlook for Windows or macOS are two completely different things and not be be confused.

Either way, I'm out. Can't help you with Spark or Airmail or whatever it is that you want to throw at your Exchange server/service.