Mail icon in the Dock

[jayess]

A small curved arrow has appeared on the Dock beside the bottom left corner of the Mail icon. Does anyone know what this indicates? The OS is El Capitan.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

A small curved arrow has appeared on the Dock beside the bottom left corner of the Mail icon. Does anyone know what this indicates? The OS is El Capitan.

Never come across that. I'm suspecting it's an artifact of some sort. Have you tried repositioning the Mail icon, to see if the curved arrow moves with it?

 

[Dave Braine]

It sounds like it's an Alias.

 

[dwfaust]

A small curved arrow has appeared on the Dock beside the bottom left corner of the Mail icon. Does anyone know what this indicates? The OS is El Capitan.

Posting a screen shot of the dock/icon might be useful.

 

[jayess]

It sounds like it's an Alias.

You are right, it is an alias, as I suppose all the dock icons are aliases. But, as you know, the dock aliases do not usually have the curved arrow associated with an alias. I was curious as to why the Mail icon has this arrow.

 

[dyt1983]

You are right, it is an alias, as I suppose all the dock icons are aliases. But, as you know, the dock aliases do not usually have the curved arrow associated with an alias. I was curious as to why the Mail icon has this arrow.

The Dock icon is probably pointing to an alias. Ctrl-click on the Mail icon in the dock (that's an alias) and select "Options->Show in Finder" to see where it is really pointing. Then select the revealed item, use "Get Info" and see where the original file is.

 

[Dave Braine]

You are right, it is an alias, as I suppose all the dock icons are aliases.

True.

But, as you know, the dock aliases do not usually have the curved arrow associated with an alias

Also true.

 

[mildocjr]

You created an alias of the Mail app and then moved the alias to the dock, you can drag the alias out until it becomes a wad of paper then release the mouse to remove it from the dock, then go back into your applications and drag the Mail app down to your dock in it's place.

 

[jayess]

You created an alias of the Mail app and then moved the alias to the dock, you can drag the alias out until it becomes a wad of paper then release the mouse to remove it from the dock, then go back into your applications and drag the Mail app down to your dock in it's place.

[doublepost=1460765496][/doublepost]I did as you suggested when this problem first appeared but on dragging the Mail app to the dock it once again appeared as an alias (the arrow). I was careful not to pause on the desk top, to make sure that I wasn't creating an alias, before letting it go on the dock. This problem is on the Macbook of a friend which is why I am a bit slow in replying to these posts.
Now here is another peculiarity. When I visited this friend a couple of days ago the Mail icon (still with the arrow) had acquired a question mark superimposed upon it and did not open the Mail app. I dragged this icon off the dock and dragged another from the applications folder on to the dock which again displayed the alias arrow but did, at least, open the Mail app.
All very odd, isn't it?
[doublepost=1460765953][/doublepost]

The Dock icon is probably pointing to an alias. Ctrl-click on the Mail icon in the dock (that's an alias) and select "Options->Show in Finder" to see where it is really pointing. Then select the revealed item, use "Get Info" and see where the original file is.

[doublepost=1460766209][/doublepost]Thank you for this suggestion. i will follow it up at the first opportunity and let you know. As you may gather, from my reply to mildojr, this may take a day or two.