New Mail Notifications Not Working

[August West]

I have a new M2 mini that I just set up over the weekend but I get no notifications for incoming mail. Neither the sound nor the banner are working. The unread message count on the Mail icon is working though and the outgoing mail sound is also working. I've playing with all the Mail setting, Notification settings and Focus but nothing seems to work. Any ideas?

 

[jcscol]

I've had problems with the New Message Sound after system upgrades in the past, which I've fixed by deleting that particular setting by doing the following:

1) Close Mail
2) Open the Terminal in Applications/Utilities
3) Type the following to reset the NewMessages Sound option:

defaults delete -app Mail NewMessagesSoundName

4) Open Mail and select your desired sound

Hopefully that will fix it. Not sure about the notification messages though.

 

[August West]

Thanks but that isn't working.

2023-03-17 08:07:32.276 defaults[19550:192839]
Domain (com.apple.mail) not found.
Defaults have not been changed.

 

[jcscol]

That's strange! What does the following show?

defaults read -app Mail NewMessagesSoundName

 

[adrianlondon]

That's strange! What does the following show?

defaults read -app Mail NewMessagesSoundName

My mail notification sounds work perfectly (Ventura 13.3 beta, but also worked fine in previous releases) and the above command returns a "does not exist" message.

 

[jcscol]

13.3 b4 here too, and it returns the expected value for me. Does the following return anything at all?

defaults read -app Mail

 

[August West]

That's strange! What does the following show?

defaults read -app Mail NewMessagesSoundName

2023-03-17 08:44:57.211 defaults[19834:210083]
The domain/default pair of (com.apple.mail, NewMessagesSoundName) does not exist

 

[August West]

13.3 b4 here too, and it returns the expected value for me. Does the following return anything at all?

defaults read -app Mail

2023-03-17 08:47:19.997 defaults[19851:211099]
Domain com.apple.mail does not exist

 

[jcscol]

OK, I'm rather stumped! Do you have a com.apple.mail.plist file buried somewhere in your Home Directory's Library/Containers folder:

find "$HOME/Library/Containers" -type f -name "com.apple.mail.plist"

 

[August West]

OK, I'm rather stumped! Do you have a com.apple.mail.plist file buried somewhere in your Home Directory's Library/Containers folder:

find "$HOME/Library/Containers" -type f -name "com.apple.mail.plist"

Not to my knowledge.

james@Jims-Mac-mini ~ % find "$HOME/Library/Containers" -type f -name "com.apple.mail.plist"
find: /Users/james/Library/Containers/com.apple.archiveutility: Operation not permitted
find: /Users/james/Library/Containers/com.apple.Maps/Data/Maps: Operation not permitted
find: /Users/james/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari: Operation not permitted
find: /Users/james/Library/Containers/com.apple.CloudDocs.MobileDocumentsFileProvider: Operation not permitted
find: /Users/james/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail: Operation not permitted
find: /Users/james/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes: Operation not permitted
find: /Users/james/Library/Containers/com.apple.news: Operation not permitted
find: /Users/james/Library/Containers/com.apple.corerecents.recentsd/Data/Library/Recents: Operation not permitted
find: /Users/james/Library/Containers/com.apple.stocks: Operation not permitted

 

[jcscol]

I don't know why things are so different from my set-up here. It's possible the preference file I have is left over from a previous install, but changing a setting in Mail results in the com.apple.mail.plist file I have in my Library/Containers folder being modified, so it is (still) being actively used.

I also don't know why you appear to have so many 'Operation not permitted' responses to your Find query, when I get none. Without necessarily posting the results here (it will be a long list!), does the following show any strange ownership/permission responses?

ls -al $HOME/Library/Containers

 

[IncreasinglyFrustrated]

Following...

Last month, I set up an M1 Mini, an M2 Mini and an M2 MBP. All from scratch, all linked to the same Apple ID. Mail notifications on my MBP don't work, (the notification sound still works though), but everything works fine on the 2 minis. Bizarre and annoying.

Edited to add I get the same "Domain com.apple.mail does not exist" & "Operation not permitted" errors as the OP when trying to read the defaults and find the plist; (even running under sudo).

 

[jcscol]

If you feel like investigating, you could try dumping your defaults to a text file and searching for anything Mail related. This will save the (long) list to your Home directory.

defaults read > defaults.txt

Edit: I have just remembered that I have Terminal set for 'Full Disk Access', so that may explain why I don't get the permission errors with the Find command described earlier.

But it still raises the question that if you don't have a com.apple.mail.plist file, where are your Mail preferences being stored?

 

[August West]

I don't know why things are so different from my set-up here. It's possible the preference file I have is left over from a previous install, but changing a setting in Mail results in the com.apple.mail.plist file I have in my Library/Containers folder being modified, so it is (still) being actively used.

I also don't know why you appear to have so many 'Operation not permitted' responses to your Find query, when I get none. Without necessarily posting the results here (it will be a long list!), does the following show any strange ownership/permission responses?

ls -al $HOME/Library/Containers

drwx------@ 4 james staff 128 Mar 11 12:39 com.apple.mail
drwx------@ 4 james staff 128 Mar 11 11:10 com.apple.mail.MailNotificationContentExtension
drwx------@ 4 james staff 128 Mar 11 11:16 com.apple.mail.MailQuickLookExtension
drwx------@ 4 james staff 128 Mar 11 11:10 com.apple.mail.SpotlightIndexExtension

This seems to be a sporadic problem. While I was typing this an email came in and I got both notification sound and banner??? But if I send an email to myself I get nada.

"com.apple.mail" isn't listed in Finder when I look in $HOME/Library/Containers/ but if I navigate there in a terminal window it shows up with "ls -la". I can "cd" to "com.apple.mail" but once there any listing command returns "Operation not permitted". This seems to be the case with all of the "com.apple.xxx" containers. Containers for apps I have installed I am able to navigate to and open files.

 

[jcscol]

find: /Users/james/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail: Operation not permitted

Sorry, I didn't spot this earlier. It looks like your search was indeed blocked due to permissions.

Perhaps try again after temporarily granting the Terminal 'Full Disk Access' under System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Full Disk Access (like I have here), and then try the defaults command again

defaults read -app Mail NewMessagesSoundName

Don't forget to disable Full Disk Access for the Terminal afterwards.

 

[jcscol]

"com.apple.mail" isn't listed in Finder when I look in $HOME/Library/Containers/ but if I navigate there in a terminal window it shows up with "ls -la". I can "cd" to "com.apple.mail" but once there any listing command returns "Operation not permitted". This seems to be the case with all of the "com.apple.xxx" containers. Containers for apps I have installed I am able to navigate to and open files.

Yes, they appear strangely in Finder windows here as well: I have several Mail containers, one of which is the 'true' com.apple.mail container we're looking for.

 

[IncreasinglyFrustrated]

I was able to execute "defaults read -app Mail" after granting full disk access to Terminal. Likewise, the "Operated not permitted" errors are gone too. Nothing jumps out in the Mail defaults regarding notifications (or lack thereof).

 

[rob2bob]

I know this is an old thread but any solutions.. mine was making the sound for new mail on a new iMac M3 with Sonoma but has stopped. The setting is still ticked for new mail sounds. Grrr

 

[adrianlondon]

You may notice the sounds come in a minute or so before or after a new mail actually shows in Mail.

It's bordering on funny that Apple don't seem to have the skills necessary to fix this or properly put Mail notifications inline with every other app's notifications.

 

[rob2bob]

You may notice the sounds come in a minute or so before or after a new mail actually shows in Mail.

It's bordering on funny that Apple don't seem to have the skills necessary to fix this or properly put Mail notifications inline with every other app's notifications.

Nope nothing even within t plus or minus a minute (or so). But you are right, such a simple thing and they have not sorted it.