Mac OS X 10.4: Mail.app 2.0: Plug-in problems, removing bad bundles; Import problems; more

Plug-in problems There appear to be some significant issues with Mail.app plug-ins under Mac OS X 10.4. In particular, the following plug-ins:

• PGP mail.bundle
• MailPriority

appear to cause issues.

These plug-ins, if they are causing problems on your Mac, can be removed from the folder: ~/Library/Mail/Bundles.

Import issues In one reader's case, importing issues were caused by an inexplicable naming problem of old .mbox (Unix-style mailbox data stores). Renaming the .mbox files with their proper extension resolved the issue.

The reader writes:

"When Mail under Tiger started up, I noticed that it had not imported some of my mailboxes -- they were there, but they were empty. After trying to figure out what was happening, I noticed that the mailboxes not imported ended in .mbox.mbox instead of just .mbox. I renamed them, and they imported without problem. G. Hart"

Another solution involves moving the old Sent and Inbox .mbox files to the new ~/Library/Mail folder (on your Mac OS X 10.4 installation) then deleting the folder ~/Library/Mail/Envelope Index. After restarting Mail.app, you will be asked to prompted to import files, at which point you should select the ~/Library/Mail folder.

MacFixIt reader Scott Ressler is one reader who successfully applied this workaround.

"I had an issue with importing in Mail 2.0 from a different partition (10.3.9). It's apparently more common a problem when you do an Erase and Install. My particular problem was that Mail would import all of the mailboxes except the Inbox and the Sent Mail box.

"I copied those 2 mailboxes from their original partition into my Mac OS X 10.4 ~/Library/Mail folder and then, with the program off, trashed the file Envelope Index. When I then launched Mail it brought up an import dialogue box and I steered it to my ~/Library/Mail folder and it worked fine, even quickly... only had to rebuild the index."

Deleting the ~/Library/Mail/Envelope Index and ~/Library/Mail/ Envelope Index-journal then restarting Mail.app may also solve other issues with the application.

Signatures not working, solution Several readers have reported that they are no longer able to use signatures in Mail.app 2.0.

As one MacFixIt reader explains:

"You cannot select a signature for IMAP accounts as they are not listed in the signature preference window. I even tried copying an entry in the plist file and editing the account information, it was deleted on launch."

It appears that in many cases this issue can be resolved by entering Mail.app 2.0's preferences, going to the "Advanced" tab, and unchecking the "Include when automatically checking for new mail" option, then turning the option back on.

Deleting Services folder for various issuesDeleting third-party Mail.app services from the ~/Library/Services folder (or deleting the folder itself entirely) can solve a variety of issues with Mail.app 2.0.

Several readers indicate that this procedure is successful for sluggish performance when typing and other problems.

MacFixIt reader Trip Mitchell, for instance, writes:

"I was having the strangest typing problems in Mail 2.0. I could create a new message and address it and type the subject with no problems, but typing within the body was impossible. As soon as a space or any punctuation was typed, the cursor would disappear and no further characters could be typed. I also was unable to use the 'reply' button or menu item.

"After much trial and error, I discovered that deleting the entire 'services' folder (not just the contents, which was a single SpellCatcher item leftover from long ago ) was necessary, and I had to restart OS X as opposed to merely restarting Mail.app.

"I also deleted the '~/Library/Mail/Envelope Index' (also as noted in the MacFixIt article) and allowed Mail to reimport my messages - but I am not convinced that that was part of the problem."

httpmail bundle causes launch problems As noted above, Mail.app bundles (plug-ins) like have caused the the new version of the application (2.0) included with Tiger to unexpectedly quit.

httpmail, a bundle used for accessing Hotmail and other Web-based e-mail services, is the latest plug-in to be implicated.

Oner reader writes:

"The handy httpmail add-on to Mail seems to break Mail 2.0. It will prevent Mail 2 from fully launching and makes it look as though your imported mail from Panther Mail has been eaten. Simply deleting the httpmail bundle from ~/Library/Mail/Bundles and then re-launching Mail 2.0 seems to do the trick."

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