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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. Robert J. Berger on

      I had the same problem and unfortunately your fix didn’t fix my problem (at least not by itself).

      I ended up doing the following that did make it work:

      * Made sure Mail isn’t running (Force quit if need be)
      * Open Internet Accounts in System Preferences
      * Uncheck Mail in all the Internet Accounts
      * Start Mail
      * Go back to Internet Accounts in System Preferences and reenable (check enable) all the Mail accounts

      It worked after that!

      Thanks

      Reply
    4. Zack Morris on

      My Mail.app was freezing when I tried to quit it (forcing me to force quit it) and it was also not letting me select folders (it just showed the same partial list of my email). I tried your mail state deletion fix to no avail. Believe it or not, what finally worked was:

      1) force quit Mail.app
      2) turn of Airport so my Mac was disconnected from the internet
      3) relaunch mail
      4) quit Mail.app again (this time it worked)
      5) relaunch Mail.app
      6) turn Airport back on again

      From that point on, Mail.app worked normally. I think the issue was actually that it was trying to check or sync mail in one of my accounts and getting stuck. The key step was probably #4, because if Mail.app could quit, then it was no longer caught in whatever infinite loop it was trying to do.

      Incidentally, I went to Window->Connection Doctor and discovered an old SMTP server that was spinning forever. I deleted it in Mail->Preferences->Accounts->Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)->Edit SMTP Server List… then clicking on the bad server and clicking the [-] minus button on the left. I don’t think it was being used, but it’s a good idea to not let those hang around, because Apple’s interface for dealing with SMTP always made things very confusing.

      Reply
    5. Micky on

      Thanks! That worked for me with my MacBookPro in 10.11.4. If the problem repeats, I’ll try your suggestion with the System Preferences.

      Reply
    7. chuck on

      Thank you so much. I was pulling my hair out. You should have Apple post this quick and easy fix on their site!

      Reply

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    10. Minette on

      Hi there, I am one of those whose just can’t press a delete button! I was so nervous to follow your directions, but it worked! Thanks so much

      Reply
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