Mail update sucks

[chrisman9]

Hi, everyone reading this. You may recall, but probably wont, my recent posting about my mouse seeming to be crapping out after too-short a use-life. Well, Im near sure now that the repeated and repeated L-clicks to open incoming mail pieces is due to the ' jittery' quality of a recent Mail update (which offers the 'finger-sweeping' side-to-side) and this 'unstable' quality is why clicking-effeciency has been reduced. Any of you experiencing this? Regardless, can you advise whether I can 'revert' to an older edition of Mail ? And, if so, then how to (and how to save my 'on my mac' folders full of mail) thanks, Chrisman

 

[Phil in ocala]

No you cannot....Steve Jobs demanded no user be able to go back to old OS.....he controls your computer from the grave.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

can you advise whether I can 'revert' to an older edition of Mail ? And, if so, then how to (and how to save my 'on my mac' folders full of mail) thanks, Chrisman

Did you make a copy of your boot drive before upgrading? If so, reinstall the copy and you'll be back to how things were. If you've developed new files, stored new photos or music, etc since the upgrade, you need to back up all the new stuff since before reverting back to the old system.

Whole mailboxes can be backed up and then restored as needed... or just individual mail messages if you don't want whole boxes.

A good tip for all Mac people: always make a SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Clone of your stable boot drive before upgrading. It is the way back if the new < existing.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Is this a problem in Sierra?

 

[Bart Kela]

I haven't seen any major news articles about Apple Mail failing on macOS Sierra so my conclusion is that this is not a widespread issue.

Surely if this was affecting many, we would be hearing about rather than one person posting to a MacRumors forum.

 

[chrisman9]

Hey, Guys, Thanks for all of your replies. I will continue going along as Ive been. Feeling way over my head after reading the 47 replies to 'Poihy's' thread called "Apple Mail Sucks (with 5 exclamation points!)" I am so inexperienced in this arena that Im unlikely to get up to speed. Harkening to an earlier era, but analogous, it's all pretty much 'Hunt and Peck" thanks again... Chrisman (disheartened)

 

[zaaach48]

Hey, Guys, Thanks for all of your replies. I will continue going along as Ive been. Feeling way over my head after reading the 47 replies to 'Poihy's' thread called "Apple Mail Sucks (with 5 exclamation points!)" I am so inexperienced in this arena that Im unlikely to get up to speed. Harkening to an earlier era, but analogous, it's all pretty much 'Hunt and Peck" thanks again... Chrisman (disheartened)

yea....first problem...you actually used Apple Mail. Sorry I know thats not much help but I would just avoid email apps in general. Apple Mail sucks, Outlook sucks, 3rd party apps come and go

 

[posguy99]

No you cannot....Steve Jobs demanded no user be able to go back to old OS.....he controls your computer from the grave.

Except you can, of course.

You can install any OS your machine supports at any time you choose.

 

[Phil in ocala]

I haven't seen any major news articles about Apple Mail failing on macOS Sierra so my conclusion is that this is not a widespread issue.

Surely if this was affecting many, we would be hearing about rather than one person posting to a MacRumors forum.

______________
WELL..if you personally did not hear others complain, then I guess is issue is null and void.

 

[ignatius345]

Did you make a copy of your boot drive before upgrading? If so, reinstall the copy and you'll be back to how things were. If you've developed new files, stored new photos or music, etc since the upgrade, you need to back up all the new stuff since before reverting back to the old system.

Whole mailboxes can be backed up and then restored as needed... or just individual mail messages if you don't want whole boxes.

A good tip for all Mac people: always make a SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Clone of your stable boot drive before upgrading. It is the way back if the new < existing.

You can revert using Time Machine as well.

I agree with your advice though (I use Time Machine continuously in conjunction with regular CCC clones kept offsite, plus whatever is backed up by using Dropbox and iCloud).

 

[Bart Kela]

______________
WELL..if you personally did not hear others complain, then I guess is issue is null and void.

You don't get it, do you?

A couple of people complaining about this or that isn't statistically significant. What is Apple's marketshare of desktop PCs over the past few years, maybe 5%? There are about 2 billion PCs in use in the world right now, so about 100 million Macs.

If there really was an inherent problem with this application, there would simply be more stories about this, all over the place, not just MacRumors.

It has nothing to do with what stories I personally hear. Actually, it's the opposite. It's about tens of thousands of people telling their stories, almost none of which I could read because they'd be so widespread.

If there are 500-1000 comments in some Apple support forum thread, yeah, it's probably worth it for someone from Apple to look into it. Of course, someone has to be the first to bring attention to an issue, but it's not like macOS Sierra is new.

I'm not refuting the fact that the OP has a problem, I'm just saying it's not widespread. That means it's likely something to do with the OP's system, configuration, whatever. That's the logical explanation.

 

[mkelly]

Well, Im near sure now that the repeated and repeated L-clicks to open incoming mail pieces is due to the ' jittery' quality of a recent Mail update (which offers the 'finger-sweeping' side-to-side) and this 'unstable' quality is why clicking-effeciency has been reduced.

So first off, "jittery quality of a Mail update" is something that I haven't heard of before, and I haven't experienced myself. Now that isn't to say that it isn't happening to you. But the question is: *why* is it happening to you?

To get started, what version of macOS are you running, specifically? Go to Apple -> about this Mac and grab the actual version number (in my case, it's Sierra 10.12.3).

Another question: what kind of mouse are you using? Are you on a MacBook and referring to the trackpad as a "mouse", or is this a desktop / MacBook with an external mouse? If so, what model? Apple Magic Mouse or something else?

From the sounds of your post, it seems like you think you are triggering the left/right finger-swipe gesture in Mail.app when hovering over a message. I'm wondering how you are doing that with a mouse? The Apple Magic Mouse can likely do it because of its touch-sensitive surface, same with the trackpads in MacBooks - but in order to do so you must swipe two fingers simultaneously. If you are using either of those input devices, do you click with multiple fingers at once? Or are you using a 3rd party device like a Logitech mouse?

Note that there is a workaround to disable the swipe feature in Apple Mail - if you go to Mail -> Preferences -> Viewing and choose "Use classic layout", this will change the layout of the Mail window to an older style (you can always go back in there and turn that feature off if you prefer the new style). However one side-benefit of the old style is that left/right swiping on messages is disabled.

 

[BrianBaughn]

OK...updated this MacBook to Sierra.

The only jittery new thing I see is in my message list. Sometimes the senders name switches back and forth between name and email address. Definitely could be described as "jittery".

 

[canuckRus]

No you cannot....Steve Jobs demanded no user be able to go back to old OS.....he controls your computer from the grave.

Au contraire. You won't believe this but a week ago I had been operating with Sierra and using Siri, etc.. Four days later Siri completely disappeared and was nowhere to be found on the computer. Went to "about this Mac" and low and behold the OS had flipped to El Capitan. Checking App Updates found invite to update to Sierra. Would love to know if anybody else has experienced the like.

 

[Bart Kela]

It seems unlikely that the operating system stealthily downgraded itself without your permission.

If it really did, I suggest you inform Apple of this bug. Sierra has been out for several months and I have not yet read about such an occurrence, but we can't rule out that it actually happened. That said, it sounds skeptical at best.

 

[canuckRus]

It seems unlikely that the operating system stealthily downgraded itself without your permission.

If it really did, I suggest you inform Apple of this bug. Sierra has been out for several months and I have not yet read about such an occurrence, but we can't rule out that it actually happened. That said, it sounds skeptical at best.

Nothing I knowingly did and OS changes always used to require acknowledgements and a shutdown.
Sudden disappearance of Siri from top and bottom menu bars, System Pref. and Launchpad otherwise inexplicable.

 

[Bart Kela]

Hmmm, the most logical explanation would be some sort of malware. Apple does not downgrade operating systems automagically.

In fact, it is in their best interest to keep you on the latest version of the operating system; that's why they stopped charging for the OS years ago. It is far easier for them to develop and support a user base that is mostly on the current version of macOS.

Anyhow, good luck with your hobbled system.

 

[vbctv]

It's funny, I actually think Apple Mail works better on newest beta 10.12.4. Of course it won't allow Mailbutler or any add-ons/plugins but it feels smoother and clicks work finally correctly. Spam is working again when something I mark as not spam.

 

[canuckRus]

Hmmm, the most logical explanation would be some sort of malware. Apple does not downgrade operating systems automagically.

In fact, it is in their best interest to keep you on the latest version of the operating system; that's why they stopped charging for the OS years ago. It is far easier for them to develop and support a user base that is mostly on the current version of macOS.

Anyhow, good luck with your hobbled system.

I merely reinstalled Sierra and all is well again.

 

[macmee]

.....he controls your computer from the grave.

Damn this is a pretty neat trick. Most people I know can't even control their computers properly and they're still alive!

 

[Bart Kela]

I merely reinstalled Sierra and all is well again.

Good for you.

I suggest you keep a very close eye on your system. It has been automagically "downgraded" [sic] once before, you don't want that to happen again. That sort of behavior is outside of Apple's ecosystem.

Good luck.