Mail App doesn't open on brand new iMac M1

[madeirabhoy]

My colleague has just got a new iMac and is having a few problems. ive suggested he brings it into work so I can have a look at it but he is trying to get it fixed himself.

basically everything works except the Mail app just bounces once on the dock and then stops.

he's restarted. same. I told him to delete all internet accounts. same.

He mentioned he ran migration app but his old Mac was at least a decade old, has it maybe copied something ancient across thats crashing it?

on a less important note, the photos app says it cant open his library and does he want to create a new one. if he creates a new one will it automatically populate it with his iCloud pics?


I told him to reinstall the Mac OS, but he gets 'the operation couldn't be completed. PKdownload error 8.

 

[barbu]

Pretty sure you can just delete/move the mail folder, ie ~/Library/Mail
You can also try finding and trashing the mail prefs.

 

[Fishrrman]

barbu is on the right track in reply 2 above.

I would suggest your friend MOVE or COPY the ~/Library/Mail folder to another location, preferably on some kind of external drive.

Then, DELETE the current "mail" folder inside home/library.

I'm thinking that this should cause Mail to "open for the first time" again, inviting the creation of a brand-new account.

Your colleague will then probably have to use the "Internet" pref pane to create the account (after which it will be accessible in Mail).

Assuming that a new account can be created, the next step would be to "manually import" mail from the OLD Mail folder. Once it's "inside of" the new Mail setup some moving/re-arranging may be required, but the old emails will at least "be there".

Hmmmm... another way to try:
I'm using Mojave, newer versions of the OS may be different, but I know this works:
Get to the finder.
Open home/library/Mail. Inside there will be a folder named "V6" (or perhaps a higher number for later versions of the OS).
Open this folder.
Inside there will be several files, each BEGINNING WITH THE NAME "Envelope Index".
Delete ALL of the "Envelope Index" files. Put them into the trash, then empty the trash.
I suggest a COMPLETE REBOOT next.
Then, open Mail and see what happens.
I did this, and it "rebuilt" all my mailboxes at one time.

No promises, do this at your own risk.
If it doesn't work, revert to "plan A" above.

PRINT OUT this reply, and hand it to your colleague.