Mail 11.5 (3445.9.7) Smart Mailboxes suddenly all empty

[Dudley Brooks]

I set up a few Smart Mailboxes just to try them out ... and was so
pleased with their quick indexing/filtering/whatever-you-call-it that I
set up a bunch more.

I've been enjoying them for quite a while ... until suddenly today
they're all empty. Not just that nothing shows -- they *say* "(0
messages)".

I tried
Mailbox > Get New Mail
Mailbox > Synchronize "Gmail" (gmail is IMAP)
Mailbox > Rebuild

None of them worked.

(Actually, there are a *tiny* number of mailboxes which still have
*some* messages. But even those don't have all the messages they used
to have.)

--
Dudley Brooks, Artistic Director
Run For Your Life! ... it's a dance company!
San Francisco

[Sn!pe]

Dudley Brooks <dbr...@runforyourlife.org> wrote:

> I set up a few Smart Mailboxes just to try them out ... and was so
> pleased with their quick indexing/filtering/whatever-you-call-it that I
> set up a bunch more.
>
> I've been enjoying them for quite a while ... until suddenly today
> they're all empty. Not just that nothing shows -- they *say* "(0
> messages)".
>
> I tried
> Mailbox > Get New Mail
> Mailbox > Synchronize "Gmail" (gmail is IMAP)
> Mailbox > Rebuild
>
> None of them worked.
>
> (Actually, there are a *tiny* number of mailboxes which still have
> *some* messages. But even those don't have all the messages they used
> to have.)
>

Can you see the missing messages on the Gmail web interface?
That would prove that they haven't been deleted from the server.

--
^Ï^ My pet rock Gordon just is.

~ Slava Ukraini ~

[Dudley Brooks]

Oh! I forgot to mention that I can even see them all in All Mail in
(Mac) Mail! Just can no longer see them in the individual smart
mailboxes I created to sort them out.

So, yes, I can see them in the web interface. :^)

So ... not only are they all in gmail ... they are even all in Mac Mail.
But the Smart Mailboxes are no longer working.

BTW, is "All Mail" a built-in Mac Mail folder, or is it Mac Mail's
dowloading of gmail's All Mail folder? (In Thunderbird it's the latter.
But I don't know whether Mac Mail's relationship to gmail is the same
as TB's relationship to gmail.)

[Sn!pe]

Dudley Brooks <dbr...@runforyourlife.org> wrote:

> On 7/19/22 2:16 PM, Sn!pe wrote:
>
> > Dudley Brooks <dbr...@runforyourlife.org> wrote:
> >
> >> I set up a few Smart Mailboxes just to try them out ... and was so
> >> pleased with their quick indexing/filtering/whatever-you-call-it that I
> >> set up a bunch more.
> >>
> >> I've been enjoying them for quite a while ... until suddenly today
> >> they're all empty. Not just that nothing shows -- they *say* "(0
> >> messages)".
> >>
> >> I tried
> >> Mailbox > Get New Mail
> >> Mailbox > Synchronize "Gmail" (gmail is IMAP)
> >> Mailbox > Rebuild
> >>
> >> None of them worked.
> >>
> >> (Actually, there are a *tiny* number of mailboxes which still have
> >> *some* messages. But even those don't have all the messages they used
> >> to have.)
> >>
> >
> > Can you see the missing messages on the Gmail web interface?
> > That would prove that they haven't been deleted from the server.
> >
>
> Oh! I forgot to mention that I can even see them all in All Mail in
> (Mac) Mail! Just can no longer see them in the individual smart
> mailboxes I created to sort them out.
>
> So, yes, I can see them in the web interface. :^)
>

That is a blessing.

> So ... not only are they all in gmail ... they are even all in Mac Mail.
> But the Smart Mailboxes are no longer working.
>
> BTW, is "All Mail" a built-in Mac Mail folder, or is it Mac Mail's
> dowloading of gmail's All Mail folder? (In Thunderbird it's the latter.
> But I don't know whether Mac Mail's relationship to gmail is the same
> as TB's relationship to gmail.)
>

I'm sorry, I don't really have the expertise to advise you further;
at this stage I'd be looking for advice myself. I might try deleting
the mail accounts from Mail then recreating them but I'm not confident
that it would work. I really wouldn't want you to risk losing all your
past mail. Good luck!

[Sn!pe]

Afterthought: You could try recreating a smart mailbox.
AIUI smart mailboxes are just view filters.

[Dudley Brooks]

This is embarrassing! Turns out that if I haven't opened Mail for a
while (and it has literally been weeks), apparently all the Smart
Mailboxes have to repopulate ... and it takes a long time! A
rea-ea-ealy, rea-ea-eally, l-o-o-o-o-o-ng time!

I sent my first message about the problem at 12:39pm PST ... and at some
time between 3:41pm (when I last looked) and 6:31pm (when I looked just
now) the Smart Mailboxes repopulated. So it took something between
three hours and six hours.

But thanks for your willingness to help.

[Your Name]

Assuming it's an IMAP connection, it could have been redownloading all
the email headers from Gmail, which will take some time if you are the
type of person who stores a lot of emails. It then has to re-filter
them.

Personally I stay well away from "smart" anything - mailboxes, folders,
devices, cars. They're usually incredibly dumb and not worth bothering
with.

Mail also does tend to be a bit slow when first opened. When I boot my
Mac every morning, I go into Mail as one of the first things I do. It
quickly gets the new emails (via a POP conneciton), but trying to open
a message to read can be a mission in frustration - it usually takes at
least two attempts (sometimes many more) to open the message before it
actually displays any content. After the first message, it works
properly. It's not even possible to close the non-displaying message
window using the keyboard shortcut, only the close gadget on the window
works.

[Lewis]

In message <tb7bu4$179rh$1...@dont-email.me> Dudley Brooks <dbr...@runforyourlife.org> wrote:
> On 7/19/22 2:16 PM, Sn!pe wrote:

>> Dudley Brooks <dbr...@runforyourlife.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I set up a few Smart Mailboxes just to try them out ... and was so
>>> pleased with their quick indexing/filtering/whatever-you-call-it that I
>>> set up a bunch more.
>>>
>>> I've been enjoying them for quite a while ... until suddenly today
>>> they're all empty. Not just that nothing shows -- they *say* "(0
>>> messages)".
>>>
>>> I tried
>>> Mailbox > Get New Mail
>>> Mailbox > Synchronize "Gmail" (gmail is IMAP)
>>> Mailbox > Rebuild
>>>
>>> None of them worked.
>>>
>>> (Actually, there are a *tiny* number of mailboxes which still have
>>> *some* messages. But even those don't have all the messages they used
>>> to have.)
>>>
>>
>> Can you see the missing messages on the Gmail web interface?
>> That would prove that they haven't been deleted from the server.

> Oh! I forgot to mention that I can even see them all in All Mail in
> (Mac) Mail! Just can no longer see them in the individual smart
> mailboxes I created to sort them out.

Ok, so the next step is to see what the conditions are for the Smart
Mailboxes. You can right click one and choose "Edit Smart Mailbox..." in
the menu.

I sort all my mail in smart mailboxes, but I've have limited result with
this on gmail (which I use very very little).

--
This is now, and now, and now. Live it, feel it, cling to it. I want to become
acutely aware of all I’ve taken for granted.” ― Sylvia Plath

[Dudley Brooks]

Thanks for all the info and advice. Much appreciated.