Notifications says 1 msg but nothing in my "inbox"

darkscot · Mar 5th, 2009, 09:03 AM

Notifications says 1 msg but nothing in my "inbox". I deleted some old message to "kick it into action" and no change except the notification is no longer there. I think it's broke.

rgray · Mar 5th, 2009, 09:57 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by darkscot
	Notifications says 1 msg but nothing in my "inbox". I deleted some old message to "kick it into action" and no change except the notification is no longer there. I think it's broke.

Often this will clear if you quit/restart Mail, or logout/in or restart the machine.

Failing any of those options you might consider some basic Mail.app maintenance. There is a file ~/Library/Mail/Envelope Index (EI) which is the heart of Mail. This is a database of all the comings, goings, movements and deletions of all messages. It just grows and grows, and as it gets bigger two things happen. Firstly, Mail slows down as searches for messages etc. take progressively longer. Secondly, the file can become corrupted causing all sorts of anomalous behaviour such as phantom and missing messages, as well as erroneous counts.

There is a good discussion of this problem at Rebuild your database and speed up Mail.app | Hawk Wings.

To remedy the situation, that is to optimise the EI database, do one of the following:

1. For the hardcore Mac-head, fire up Terminal and type in (or copy/paste) this code:

Code:

sqlite3 ~/Library/Mail/Envelope\ Index vacuum;

2. If the thought of Terminal gives you the twitches, but you are comfortable in Finder:

1. back up user/Library/Mail & quit Mail
2. note the size of the Envelope Index (EI) file - in will be much smaller after you're done (and Mail will be faster! )
3. drag EI out of the Mail folder and park it someplace safe like Desktop
4. restart Mail and OK it when it asks if you want to import your Mail
5. this can take a while especially if it has never been done before

3. For the less intrepid Mac-heads there is a utility to do this process for you. VacuumMail (and how to make the process automagic) and a very interesting discussion can be found at Musings from Mars Apple Mail Slowing Down? VacuumMail Can Probably Help

See also macosxhints.com - A possible fix for a slow Mail.app.

I strongly advise reading the linked discussions before doing this and making a quality backup, however it has worked well for me and my clients. As always, YMMV, caveat emptor.

darkscot · Mar 5th, 2009, 10:05 AM

That was the best reply I ever got, rgray. Unfortunately, I was referring to my ehmac.ca PM inbox

But I'm glad this got posted as I do also have a message in my drafts folder in Mail that I can't delete. Cheers!

rgray · Mar 5th, 2009, 10:38 AM

That's OK.

This basic Mail.app maintenance thing is kind of a 'hobby horse' of mine. I have solved countless Mail problems by doing it. I have been meaning to write it up and bost it on my pathetic little blog of Mac tips and tricks for friends and clients at sundog.ca, so collecting all the parts of the argument was useful.

Interestingly, there is a post at macosxhints.com - Speed up iPhoto '09 by vacuuming its databases discussing much the same issue with iPhoto. In the comments there is also indication that iTunes may share the same sort of issues.

HowEver · Mar 5th, 2009, 10:55 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by rgray
	That's OK. This basic Mail.app maintenance thing is kind of a 'hobby horse' of mine. I have solved countless Mail problems by doing it. I have been meaning to write it up and bost it on my pathetic little blog of Mac tips and tricks for friends and clients at sundog.ca, so collecting all the parts of the argument was useful. Interestingly, there is a post at macosxhints.com - Speed up iPhoto '09 by vacuuming its databases discussing much the same issue with iPhoto. In the comments there is also indication that iTunes may share the same sort of issues.

You're famous now:

Link to thread:
http://www.ehmac.ca/mac-ipod-help-tr...-pro-tips.html

Link to specific post:
http://www.ehmac.ca/mac-ipod-help-tr...tml#post793993

rgray · Mar 5th, 2009, 11:08 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by HowEver
	You're famous now:

Cool!!

Usually folk say 'notorious' or 'infamous', but 'famous' is good too...

rgray · Mar 5th, 2009, 12:16 PM

OK, folks. Just to put closure to how easy it is to do this mail maintenance, I did it again just right now from download to finished run.

I do this (one way or another) fairly often so the shrinkage in the size of ~/Library/Mail/Envelope Index is fairly small. Today it went from 3.3Mb to 2.9Mb. If you have carried a lot of mail over time and, say also, from machine to machine and across OS levels, the file can grow huge. The guy who wrote the original macosxhint shrank his EI file from 200Mb to 2!!!

After this cleanup Mail will feel zippier, searches quicker, no phantom or lost messages.

As always, YMMV, caveat emptor, dude...... Here's how

Goto Musings from Mars Apple Mail Slowing Down? VacuumMail Can Probably Help and download VacuumMail (VM) (halfway down the page) or use this unauthorised direct download link.
Run the installer, which does a nice job putting VM into the Utilities folder inside Applications.
Note size of the EI file (go to ~/Library/Mail/Envelope Index)
Run VM and follow the instructions.
When VM is done, You're done! This can take an almost disturbing length of time if you have never done it before - actually time will vary directly with the size of the original EI file. Ed McMahon said that drink was God's payment for hard work so grab yourself a beer, and one for me while you're there .