How to Fix Mail Keeps Crashing on Mac

Having issues with the Mail app on Mac and it’s frequently crashing?

One of the key selling points of Apple devices is its software support. It is well known that devices sold by Apple have longer support for updates and patches which prolong the life of their gadgets. 

In order to achieve this, Apple releases frequent updates to their devices to further optimize its performance. However, it is also known that when Apple releases a major upgrade from their current operating systems like macOS and iOS,  it is not yet perfect and may have a few bugs and glitches that appear from time to time. 

To address this, they release small patches to the system to fix bugs and glitches that surfaced after launching their major update. 

Recently, there have been reports from different users regarding the Mail app crashing on their Mac computers. While there are a good number of possible solutions to the problem, it is still a mystery as to why this happens on Mac randomly. 

Today, we are going to show you a few ways on how you can address this issue on your Mac PC. 

Let’s begin. 

 

 

1. Restart Your Mac.

The first thing that you should do if some of the applications are not working properly on your computer is to give it a restart. 

Rebooting your PC would give a chance to your operating system to load all of its resources properly which may not have loaded completely the first time you start your computer. 

Now, to restart your Mac, check out the guide below. 

  1. On your computer, press on the Apple logo located at the top of your screen. 
  2. Next, click on Restart

mail crashing on Mac

 

  1. Lastly, wait for your computer to reboot completely.

Alternatively, you can also restart your Mac by holding the Power button until the options menu appears. Now, click on Restart or press the R key from your keyboard. 

Once done, go back to the Mail app to see if it would still crash while you are using it. 

 

 

2. Rebuild Your Mailbox. 

The Mail app on macOS allows users to rebuild their mailbox if they are experiencing problems while using it like missing mails, garbled messages, or simply if the app is not functioning properly.  

If the Mail app on your computer crashes randomly and not immediately, you can try rebuilding your mailbox to address the issue. 

  1. On your computer, open the Mail app. 
  2. Next, click on a Mailbox from the sidebar. 
  3. Lastly, tap on Rebuild to start the process. 

mail crashing on Mac

 

Once done, restart your Mac and try to use the Mail app normally to see if it would still crash randomly during use. 

However, if you are still experiencing random crashes on the app, then you can proceed to the next method below to try and fix the issue. 

 

 

3. Delete the Problematic Mail. 

If a specific mail causes the app to crash when you open it, what you can do is to try deleting the problematic email. This would help you prevent accidental opening of the email while you are using the application on your computer. 

To do this, check out the steps below. 

  1. First, open the Mail app from your computer. 
  2. Next, scroll and find the email that causes the app to crash. 
  3. Lastly, press on the Delete key on your keyboard to remove the email from your account. 

Once you have deleted the mail, ask the sender to resend the email to your account and try to view it once again to see if the issue is already resolved. 

 

 

4. Isolate the Issue. 

Mail allows users to add multiple email accounts so that you can view all of your emails on just a single app rather than having different applications for each email that you own. With this, it is possible that one of your accounts causes the Mail app to crash. 

To diagnose which email causes the Mail app to crash, check out the step below:

  1. On your Mac, click on the Apple logo located at the upper part of your screen. 
  2. Next, click on System Preferences
  3. After that, click on Internet Accounts

mail crashing on Mac

 

  1. Now, uncheck all of your email accounts and try to open the Mail app to see if it will crash. 
  2. If the Mail app worked perfectly after removing all of your email accounts, try to enable your accounts one by one to see which will cause the Mail app to crash. 

Once you have found the problematic account, keep it disabled for the meantime and wait for Apple to address the issue on the Mail app so that you can still continue using the application for your other email accounts. 

Alternatively, you can also access your problematic account using your web browser temporarily. 

 

 

5. Boot in Safe Mode. 

When you boot your Mac in safe mode, it will automatically repair errors and clear system caches that can cause problems with the Mail app and eventually crash. 

In this case, you can try using the Mail app for the meantime while you are in safe mode to allow your operating system to repair itself. 

To boot into safe mode, follow the guide below. 

  1. First, turn off your computer completely.
  2. After that, press on the Shift key on your keyboard and hit the Power button. 
  3. Continue holding the Shift key until your Mac boots up completely. 
  4. Lastly, open the Mail app and use it normally. 

Now, observe and see if the Mail app would still crash while in safe mode. 

On the other hand, if you are still having problems with the Mail app after booting into safe mode, you can proceed to the next method below to fix the problem. 

 

 

6. Delete Preference Files. 

Another factor that may cause the Mail app to crash is the preference files. These files are responsible for telling applications on your computer on how they should work. 

Possibly, the preference file for the Mail app got corrupted during use which causes the app to malfunction. To fix this, you can try deleting the file and macOS would automatically generate a working copy of the file. 

However, keep in mind that your current app settings and preferences would also be deleted after performing this process. 

  1. On your Mac, open the Finder.
  2. Next, click on the Go menu and select Go to Folder
  3. After that, type ~/Library/Preferences and hit the Go button. 
  4. Lastly, find the file named ‘com.apple.mail.plist’ and ‘com.apple.mail-shared.plist’ from the list and move it to the Trash

mail crashing on Mac

 

Once done, restart your computer and try to access the app once again to see if the issue with Mail crashing on Mac is already resolved. 

 

 

7. Delete Envelope Files. 

Mail will automatically reindex your mailbox if it detects abnormalities with it that can cause issues to your system. However, there are times that automatic reindexing of your mailbox does not resolve these abnormalities, which makes the app unusable like frequent crashes. 

To fix this, you can try manually reindexing your mailbox by deleting your envelope files. Check out the guide below on how to do this:

  1. On your computer, open the Finder and go to ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData
  2. After that, locate all the files that start with ‘Envelope Index’. 

mail crashing on Mac

 

  1. Now, move the files to your Desktop and try to open the Mail app. 
  2. Lastly, if the Mail app is already working well, move the Envelope files to the Trash to completely remove it from your system. 

However, if the Mail app still continues crashing during use, you can proceed to the next method below to fix the issue. 

 

 

8. Delete the Mail Saved Folder. 

The Mail ‘saved’ folder is a kind of cache folder that allows applications like Mail to reopen or resume once the user closes the app. If you observe that the app crashes after using it the first time, it is possible that your saved folder is corrupted and causes the Mail app to crash. 

To fix this, you can try deleting the Mail saved folder from your system. 

  1. On your Mac, open the Finder and go to ~/Library/Saved Application State/
  2. Once you’re inside the folder, locate the file named ‘com.apple.mail.savedState’.

mail crashing on Mac

 

  1. Lastly, move the file to the Trash to remove it from your system.

Now, open the Mail app to see if you would be able to use the app without crashing. 

 

 

9. Reset NVRAM. 

For our final method, what you can try doing is to reset your NVRAM. Resetting your NVRAM would reset some of your system preferences and settings which may cause conflict with Mail and make the app crash. 

To reset your NVRAM, follow the steps below to guide you through the process: 

  1. First, turn off your Mac computer. 
  2. Next, locate the Option + Command + P + R keys on your keyboard but don’t press it yet. 
  3. Lastly, press the Power button on your Mac and immediately hold the Option + Command + P + R keys on your keyboard and continue holding it for 20 seconds.

Once done, allow your computer to boot normally and try to access the Mail app once again to see if you would still encounter the crashing issue on your Mac. 

This ends our guide on how to fix the issue with the Mail app keeps crashing on your Mac computer. If you know other solutions that can help others in fixing this kind of issue, kindly share it in the comment section below, and we would give credit to your name for the solution once this article gets updated. 

 

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂

 

Author

  • John Sixto

    John is a staff writer at Saint and comes from a SAP ABAP development background. He has a Bachelors in IT and has been writing since 2018, with over 500 posts published. He loves to build PCs and has a deep curiosity in understanding how different components and configurations work. John spends hundreds of hours at a time, researching and testing the software and apps, before he proceeds to write about it. LinkedIn X (Twitter) Website

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