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    Fixing Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite Mail Not Responding

    Gee Are PabstBy Updated:136 Comments2 Mins Read

    Update: ‘Fixing Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite Mail Not Responding’ also applies to Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan and macOS 10.12 Sierra!
    Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite Mail icon 1024x1024Fix Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite Mail not responding (“Application not responding”) by removing the container folder ‘com.apple.mail.savedState’. Mac OS X saves window locations and open documents of most programs to restore them when the program is launched again after quit. Sometimes after upgrading Mac OS X to the latest version, there can be some handling issues with the prior saved state of Mail which could lead to Yosemite Mail is not responding and crashing.

    Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite Mail: 'Application Not Responding'
    Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite Mail: ‘Application Not Responding’

    It seems that Mail cannot properly manage the prior saved state. Hence, this could be the reason for Mail crashing, especially for the ‘Yosemite Mail not responding’ crash. The solution is to remove Mail’ prior saved state and then re-launch Mail.

    How to remove Mail saved state:

    1. Force quit of Mail app (‘Application not responding‘ issue!).
    2. Go to the Finder.
    3. Hold the Option key and then select ‘Library‘ from the ‘Go‘ menu.
    4. Go to the folder ‘Containers > com.apple.mail > Data > Library > Saved Application State‘ and move the folder called ‘com.apple.mail.savedState‘ to the trash.
    5. Empty trash.
    6. Restart your Mac.
    7. Re-launch Mail.

    Note: Leave the window ‘Internet Accounts‘ in ‘System preferences‘ open. Now, when I restart the Mac or it starts up automatically in the AM, Mail launches correctly, but with the ‘System Preferences‘ window open (Kudos to Ron Mac for this tweak!).

    If this fix doesn’t work, the reason for your Mail app is crashing is another one, e.g. ‘Mail quit unexpectedly‘ . Try the following fixes to resolve Mail crashing:

    I was faced with the problem of Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite Mail not responding on my MacBook Pro 13” retina (End 2013). I was able to resolve this problem by removing the container folder ‘com.apple.mail.savedState’. Did this fix solve your Mail problem, too? Let us know and comment!

    Stay tuned! 😉

    Hi there,my name is Gee Are, blogger and analyst. Blogging is my Passion! I’m the founder and owner of the two blogs called pabst.socialmedia and miapple.me - Tech.Blog.My work experience as a blogger and analysist (Internet Intelligence, SEO and social media) is the basis of the services of pabst.socialmedia.Find more about me.

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    136 Comments

    1. Renan on

      Thanks Gee!!!

      It worked perfectly.

      The only think is that I had to shut down then only restart instead. The first two attempts only restarting the device didn’t work!

      Blog Marked and shared with my friends!

      Cheers!

      Renan Monteiro

      Brazilian Living in Dubai, UAE.

      Reply
      • Gee Are Pabst on

        Hi Renan,

        cool! Thanks for your reply, bookmarking and sharing miapple.me – Tech.Blog! BTW, if you got some problems to solve, just contact me! And I’ll do my very best! 🙂

        Cheers,
        Gee Are

        Reply
    2. Jochen Berbuer on

      Worked @ first try! Thanks for the hint. ….. and I was so frustrated. Back to work now, smiling.
      Keep up the good work!
      Thanks again,
      Jochen

      Reply
    3. Mike Levy on

      Simple fix and it worked on OS X Yosemite vers. 10.10.2.
      Much obliged for the assistance.
      I’ve bookmarked your blog in case I have any further Mac problems.
      Many thanks.

      Reply
      • Gee Are Pabst on

        Mike,

        you’re welcome! Thank you very much for your great feedback! 🙂

        Don’t hesitate to ask me any question related to OS X, iOS or Windows. I’ll do my very best to help you and any other follower of miapple.me!

        Cheers,
        Gee Are

        Reply

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    6. YUYU on

      Hi,

      This has not worked for me. I am on OS X Yosemite Version 10.10. 5
      MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch, Early 2015
      Mail is still not responding. Do you have any further suggestions please?

      Best Regard,
      YUYU

      Reply
    7. aries44 on

      This is a good solution. BUT NOTE: If you have any open email windows, they will be closed upon next startup of Mail. This is because the savedState folder contains information about (naturally) the last saved state of the app, which includes what windows were open, what position on the screen they were, their order, etc. All superficial UI stuff, but could be important if you, like me, keep individual email windows open as a reminder to reply to them.

      Thanks Gee for posting this fix!

      Reply
      • Mark on

        For a number of users, the problem seems to lie not in this folder issue, but a change in Mail’s tolerances in relation to Microsoft Exchange. The recent upgrades to OS X seem to have had the effect of reducing Mail’s ability to cope with larger number of folders on Exchange.
        There is for example this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6815229?start=15&tstart=0
        I found that significantly reducing the number of folders and subfolders I have on Exchange caused Mail to stop hanging.

        Reply
          • Mark on

            No. what i mean is that the Mail program hangs or freezes, just as with the users who have benefited from your fix. But in this case it freezes because something about dealing with multiple folders on the exchange server is too much for Mail. By reducing the number of folders on the Exchange server, you stop Mail from frequently hanging.

            Reply

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    10. Amir on

      Hi Gee Are,

      I think I owe you a BIG THANK since I had tried almost everything to solve this issue (Apple Mail Not Responding..). I even upgraded to El Capitan hoping that it will solve this issue. I went up to Public Beta 4 in El Capitan and then in the latest update the whole system crashed in a start up and I was only able to use it in Safe Mode! Then I downgraded back to OS Yosemite and after seeing again this problem. I came across your page and removed “Container Folder” as you have described.

      Now 48 hours have gone by and the Apple Mail seems to be working as it is intended to be!

      Once again THANK YOU for sharing this with us.

      Amir

      Reply
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