Apple Mail has disappeared!

[Raven]

See my question above.
Also, I will take my MBPro to an Apple store in 2 weeks (500 miles away). Hope they might be able to help me.

Here is another thought...
My MBP has 10.13.6. As I said, Apple Care helped me reload the same OS, but that did not bring my emails back. IF I upload OS10.14, might that solve the issue?  I can't go past 10.14 (I think), or I won't be able to use my Adobe CS6 apps. I've got nothing to lose to load OS10.14?

[jchuzi]

According to MacTracker, the maximum OS for your MBP is 10.15.7. I can't say if upgrading to 10.14 will solve your problem, unfortunately.

[Raven]

I thought I would download Mac OS10.14 onto my MBPro. Just to see if my lost Apple email comes back. I can’t go upgrade any further because I won’t be able to use my Adobe CS6 apps. So, I looked here…
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683
It gives me a link to Mojave OS 10.14.6 in the App Store.

 Then I can see all the info, but there is no DOWNLOAD button or link.
What am I missing?

And, should I not be downloading 10.14.0 first and then update to 10.14.6?
Can TS please advise?
Much thanks!

[jchuzi]

Click GET in the App Store page. There is no reason (that I can think of) to start with 14.0 and then update. You should be able to go to 10.14.6 directly.

[Raven]

I know there should be a GET. But I don't see any. 
This has been a very frustrating exercise. Nothing seems to be working! 

[Raven]

jchuzi, this thread is changing from my original post. I will start a new one.

[Paddy]

Um...let's roll this all back to the original issue.

I'm guessing there is corruption in the Mail folders somewhere. So there are various things that should be tried - not sure why this hasn't been suggested yet, as it's usually the place to start with mail issues.

Obviously, do a cloned (preferably) backup before starting any of this.

Solution 1. Rebuild your accounts. This could take a while if you've got a lot of mail.
1. Launch the Apple Mail application on your device.
2. From the list of folders, select the folder that you wish to rebuild.
3. Click the Mailbox menu followed by Rebuild.
4. Check if the issue is resolved. If not, try the next solution.

Solution 2: Restoring Apple Mail Account
Step 1:
You can restore your Apple Mail account using the Preferences option.
Step 2:
On your Mac Mail application screen, click the Mail menu.
Step 3:
Go to the Preferences option.
Step 4:
In the window that opens next, select the Account option.
Step 5:
Disable and again select the Enable this account option.
Step 6:
Finally, click the Save button.
Step 7:
Now, check if the Mac mail mailboxes disappeared issue is resolved.

(I doubt that solution #2 will do anything, but hey, worth a try as it's painless)

Solution 3. Reindex your Apple Mailbox
Rebuilding your Mailboxes is often enough to solve many of the issues an overburdened Mail app may experience. However, if you’re still having problems (such as the app becoming so unresponsive it barely works or fails to launch), you should manually reindex your Mailboxes.

Here’s how to manually reindex your Mailbox:

1. Quit Apple Mail if the app is running.
2. Launch Finder and select Go from the Menu Bar.
3. Enter ~/Library/Mail/ and press Go.
4. Choose the V8 folder (depending on your macOS version, it can be named V5, V6, or V7) > MailData. Next, locate and delete all the files that start with Envelope Index, such as “Envelope Index” or “Envelope Index-wal.”
Note: It’s a good idea to copy each file to your desktop before deleting it.
5. Launch Apple Mail. The next time you open Mail, it will build entirely new Envelope Index files. You may have to be patient—this process can take a while if you have a lot of messages for Mail to go through. If everything is now working normally, you can safely delete the old envelope files you'd dragged to the desktop.

[Raven]

Paddy,
Re: #1 - I can't rebuild any account because Mail only opens for a split second.

#2 - Tried that myself and with with help of AppleCare people. Twice. Made no difference. They even helped me reload the same OS10.13.6. I had cloned everything prior to that. They could not suggest any other solutions other than to upgrade the OS to the latest version. As mentioned, I cannot do that at this point in time due to my Adobe CS6 apps.
I'm starting to learn how to use Affinity apps and maybe in a few weeks I can look at going past 10.14 which I uploaded yesterday and another problem has presented itself. I posted that separately.

#3 - Because I can't see any Mailbox, I will try to manually reindex as you described.

Aside, you've helped me so often over the years I owe you big time! 

[Raven]

Paddy, Manually re-indexed Mailbox as you suggested. Removed those Mail Data folders.
Relaunched Apple Mail. Only saw it for a split second. Same issue as before.
The Mail Data folders are back. 

I can see emails for a split second when it's launched.
I can see separate emails when I dig down deep in the Library/Mail/v5 folder. So, they are there. How to bring them back in a usable format?

[Paddy]

Note: it's good that the Mail data folders are back - all you did was re-index (and re-create) them. If they disappeared during this operation, that would not be good!

Well, at this point, I have to conclude that there is something very wrong somewhere and that it goes beyond normal Mail issues.

Does your mail work ok on your NEW iMac? Are you using IMAP for your mail? (just want to be sure you'll see exactly the same thing on all devices if everything is working ok). If you aren't using IMAP, then that's another issue and needs some discussion on how to switch to it.

If your mail works ok on the new iMac, then obviously the problem resides entirely with the 2012 MBP and its operating system/installation of Mail. (I'm just making sure here - there really hasn't been any discussion of this other than a note that a Test account worked ok for a few days and then started behaving badly.)

What email are you using? Gmail or just the Bell mts.net (got your email ) ? Is the webmail working ok? (if it's all working fine on the other computers and your iPhone, then it's just the MBP. I'm just trying to rule out anything else we might have missed here...it's not likely that it's an external problem, but got to ask in order to be sure.)

If everything is fine on other Macs/your iPhone, then cloning things on the MBP is apparently just copying the problem. You have said that you don't use this MBP for anything important other than email. So, assuming that you can access your email just fine on the iMac, copy any files off the MBP that you need that aren't saved elsewhere. Then wipe it. Completely. As if you were going to sell it. And start over. Don't install anything other than reinstall the OS and then add your Mail accounts. See if that works. Leave it for a few days to make sure it continues to work. Then add the stuff back that you actually need on this machine.

Instructions from Apple on how to wipe your MBP. https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201065
NOTE: make sure you de-authorize Adobe CS6 if you've got it installed on this machine. Otherwise you can't reinstall it without calling Adobe. https://helpx.adobe.com/in/download-install/kb/activate-deactivate-products.html

One more question - when you open Mail, have you ever gone to Console (in the Utilities folder) to see what you can see - any Crash Reports or other indications of what might be going on? Make a note of the exact time that Mail quit, and then have a look in the system.log for any clues. Often these reports aren't terribly useful to normal human beings, but still worth having a peek. You never know...

[Raven]

Much thanks again, Paddy. Will take me a few days to try your suggestions and report back. Working on several other volunteer projects at the moment. 

[Raven]

Paddy,
I am using IMAP.
Using BELL MTS as ISP.
Webmail is working fine. All emails are visible there.
I looked in Console/System log. No idea what I am seeing here.  See screen capture.

I am willing to wipe everything and rebuild if that is still necessary.

[jchuzi]

My version of Console in Big Sur has Crash Reports as one of the options in the sidebar (apparently not in your OS). Can you search for it in your version? In BS, you must do this immediately after a crash; the report does not appear after a restart.

[Raven]

jchuzi, you can see on my screen capture above, in the side bar, there is no Crash Report. There is a "Crash Reporter" under Library/Logs, but it's an empty window.

[jchuzi]

Try to open Mail and let it crash. Then, see if Crash Reporter shows anything.