Overview: In this blog page, we will cover effective methods to fix Apple Mail not working problems. Also, what the possible reasons are, and how to resolve it permanently.

Apple Mail is usually a good option in order to manage different email applications such as Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, and other types of accounts from a Mac system. However, things can go wrong without notice. For instance, you may have issues like emails not receiving, not able to send emails, unable to start, have an empty inbox, keep asking for the password, or be very slow.

When you’re looking particularly for Apple Mail not working today, your first step is to check whether the problem is related with your mail application, internet connectivity, your email provider, or the mailboxes saved on your local system.

Also Read: How to Fix Mac Mail Not Working Issue?

Table of Contents Hide
    1. Why Apple Mail is Not Working Properly?
    2. Manual Methods to Fix
    3. Check Account Status
    4. Verify Email Storage Quota
    5. Automated Solution
    6. Conclusion

Apple Mail Not Working Properly – Reasons Behind

There are various points to the problem related to Apple Mail not working.

  • Temporary failure of email provider
  • Incorrect account credentials
  • Changes in Authentication or security
  • Mailbox or provider storage is full
  • Due to VPN, firewall, or network interference
  • Your stored mailbox data is corrupted or contains outdated information
  • It can be because of mail indexing or search problems
  • Hiding messages with mail rules or filters
  • Not completed system update properly
  • A damaged local Mail database
  • One account that you need to remove and set up again

How to Fix Apple Mail Not Working on Mac? 9 Manual Fixes

It is important to follow these simple steps first before making any changes to your account.

1. Check Your Internet Connection

Firstly, open Safari to see if you can access other websites or not. If you can’t open any site, then the problem is not related to Apple Mail. You can check the following points:

  • Cross check your Wi-Fi speed
  • VPN connection
  • Firewall/security software
  • Network limitations
  • Verify all other apps is working

2. Validate Your Email Service for Outages

What happens sometimes is that your Apple Mail is working, while the mail server is not.

  • For example, if an app like Gmail has outages, then the mail will not show at all even if it is completely okay
  • You want to sign-in your email through webmail
  • If it doesn’t work, the problem lies with the email provider or your account
  • Apple recommended trying webmail because it indicates the account is actually open

3. Check Account Status

In the sidebar, open Mail and go to the account. An icon or the connection status is important to avoid Apple mail not working issues. In relation to the problem, it indicates:

  • Login failed
  • Unable to connect
  • Network offline
  • Password required
  • Server connection problem

However, if mail keeps asking for your password before it can work properly. Ask your email service about the credentials. Check if the account is enabled under:

Mail > Settings > Accounts

When messages or mailboxes are not appearing, Apple suggests verifying that the affected account is active.

4. See If Your Inbox is Hiding Emails

In some cases, you are not getting the emails where you want. It is because of filter options. Just check:

  • Message filters
  • Mail categories
  • Junk
  • Bin/Trash
  • Blocked senders
  • Mail rules
  • Other folders

Using the latest macOS, mail can help sort messages in terms of primary, transactions, Updates and Promotions. If you disable these filters, it will show your missing emails.

#5. Rebuild the Mailbox

If some emails are missing, search fails to give you expected results or messages that appear in your mailbox.

  • In Mail, under select the affected mailbox and choose:
  • Mailbox > Rebuild
  • As a reminder, Apple advises users to rebuild a mailbox if messages start going missing when Mail search is no longer functioning as expected
  • One of the most useful ones as this refreshes the local mailbox data rather than the whole account.

Important:

Back up locally stored emails under On My Mac before mailbox maintenance.

#6. Check Email Storage Quota

This method is used to resolve Apple Mail not working issues. Your email service provider could apply storage limits. It may create problems while sending or receiving messages when an account reaches its quota.

Apple Mail lets you check account info and mailbox usage. You must run it if the account has reached a limit.

  • Delete unnecessary emails
  • Empty the Bin/Trash
  • Remove large attachments
  • Archive older messages to a local mailbox
  • Increase available cloud storage

Apple says that if you move your messages to On My Mac mailbox. It is possible to clear server storage without actually eliminating those messages.

#7. Update macOS

  • Verify if macOS has a pending update after doing something on the system
  • While troubleshooting, Apple suggests to update your macOS
  • As, it can fix bugs that impact the behavior of applications, accounts connected, and components
  • But if the issue started immediately following an update, do not automatically consider reinstalling or resetting the system
  • Just backup your mailbox data, before doing any major changes

#8. Check VPN Temporary

  • The VPN may prevent your mail from accessing the mail server
  • Firewall settings can also block emails from reaching the internet
  • It may interfere antivirus apps too
  • Other security tools can additionally block mail access to the network
  • Disable the tool temporarily to see if mail starts working
  • Set its mail or network permissions to enable it instead of just disabling them

#9. Remove and Add Email Account Again

  • Using this, you can resolve Mail sync issues.
  • Just make sure that your main emails are accessible on the website of the email provider
  • Store any emails that might only exist on your Mac
  • All messages may not be saved on the mail server
  • Before you delete the account, try other troubleshooting methods
  • If you have an account that already had important emails for years. Be sure to back it up before you do so.

Import Apple Data to Thunderbird Using Professional Solution

Mac Mail stores data in MBOX format, which gives users an option to migrate to another email client when you face the problem of Apple Mail not working. After that, Thunderbird will manage your moved data. However, if you want to export bulk MBOX data with folders and attachments, then try SysTools Thunderbird Importer. It makes the work easy and has date-based selective import options and ensures a smooth process.

Conclusion

We have discussed various methods to fix Apple Mail not working on Mac problems. Try every manual step one by one to know the main cause. After that, you can choose our professional solution to import bulk MBOX data securely into Thunderbird. At last, follow the precautionary steps to avoid the issue and enjoy smooth email migration.