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Imagine that you just typed a very long email. Then Apple ‘Mail App Quit Unexpectedly’ Issue for no reason. When apps on a Mac crash, it’s not only inconvenient, but it could also mean that the Mac is having performance problems or is infected with malware. It’s pretty common for apps on a Mac or MacBook to crash.

This can be caused by a bug in the software, a new firmware update, a third-party app, or corrupt files. With the macOS Big Sur update, the Mail app that comes with a Mac was updated in a way that was long overdue. Along with how it looks, the Mail app has a few problems. One thing that can be annoying is when the Mail app quits in the middle of work.

In this world, it’s hard to get by without Mail, but now that you’re here, you can leave all your problems with us and try this solution to fix ‘Mail App Quit Unexpectedly’ Issue. If you’ve tried all of these solutions and you’re still having the same problem in your iPhone, you should go to their official Apple support website for more information.

Ways To Fix ‘When Mail App Quit Unexpectedly’ Issue

Open Apple Mail in Safe Mode

When you boot into Safe Mode, your Mac’s hard drive is fixed, caches are cleared, and any third-party software that could be causing the Mail app to not work on Mac is shut down. To get into Safe Mode, follow these steps.

On Intel-based Macs:

Shut down your Mac.
Press the power button, then immediately hold down the Shift key until the login window appears.
Log in to your Mac when prompted.

On M1 Macs:

Delete the com.apple.mail.savedState folder

The Saved Application State folder is a cache folder that lets people open apps like Mail again or pick up where they left off. When the folder com.apple.mail.savedState, which is in charge of the Mail app, gets corrupted, Macbook Air Mail may quit without warning.

Open Finder and select Go > Go to Folder from the top.
Type in ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.mail.savedState, then hit Enter.
Move the folder to Trash.

Update the Mail app

By updating Mail to the most recent version for your Mac, you might be able to fix the bugs that are causing it to crash. To update the Mail app, go to System Preferences > Software Update and update your operating system.

Rebuild Mailboxes

(Fixed) ‘When Mail App Quit Unexpectedly’ Issue

If you still have access to Mail, you can rebuild the Mailboxes to stop Mail from closing on its own in the future. Here’s how:

Launch the Mail app.
Select Mailbox from the top and click Rebuild.
The Mail app will start to redownload your messages, and you should wait until it’s done. If the Apple Mail app won’t open and you can’t follow those steps, go to the next tip.

Disable and re-enable email accounts

There’s a good chance that one of your email accounts is causing your MacBook Air Mail to quit without warning. Follow the steps below to figure out what’s going wrong:

Go to System Preferences/System Settings > Internet Accounts.
Select an account from the left side and deselect Mail.
Repeat with all email accounts.
Launch Mail to check if it quits randomly.
If Mail won’t quit even after you’ve turned off all accounts, you need to find the problem account, delete it, and then add it again.Delete the com.apple.mail.savedState folder

Delete Envelope Index files

Mac uses files called “Envelope Index” to keep track of and look for message headers. Sometimes, these files can break. Consequently, the Mail app quits unexpectedly on Mac. You can safely delete these files because your Mac will make them again when you start Mail again. How to stop the Apple Mail app from crashing:

Open Finder and click Go > Go to Folder from the top menu bar.
Type in ~/Library/Mail/ and press Enter.
Open V9 > MailData. (It may be V2, V7, etc.)
Select files with names as follows and move them to Trash.

Envelope Index          
ExternalUpdates.storedata

Reopen Mail.
Wait for Mail to re-import your messages.

Reset Mail via deleting preferences files

The preferences files on your Mac are where Mail stores its settings. If these files get damaged, the Mail app on your Mac won’t work. To reset Mail on a Mac, you should delete these preference files.

Open Finder and select Go > Go to Folder from the top-left menu bar.
Copy and Paste ~/Library/Preferences and hit Enter.
Move the com.apple.mail.plist and com.apple.mail-shared.plist to Trash.
Input ~/Library/Mail/ and press Enter.
Move the PersistenceInfo.plist file to Trash.
Restart your Mac.

Delete the problematic message

If Mac Mail keeps closing when you try to open or edit a certain email message or if it crashes when you try to start it up, the selected message may be broken. So, it’s best to delete both the message that opens automatically when you open Mail and the one you were working on when the crash happened.

Open the Mail app while holding down the Shift key. (This is how Mail opens with no message chosen.)
Right-click on the message that is giving you trouble and choose Delete.
Delete all junk emails.
Now, use Mail for a while longer to see if the problem is still there.

FAQ

What do you do when Apple Mail quits unexpectedly?

If Direct Mail won’t open on your Mac or you get an error message that says the app “quit unexpectedly” when you try to open it, you will need to manually update your copy of Direct Mail to the most recent version.

Why do apps quit unexpectedly?

If a certain app keeps crashing, you should check to see if you are using the most recent version. Older versions of an app may not work well with the latest operating system on your phone or tablet, or they may have bugs that have been fixed in the latest version.

Why does my email app keep closing?

Clearing your app’s data and cache files can fix most problems with Android apps. Most of the time, these files are the cause of the problem. Deleting them should stop Gmail from crashing on your phone.

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(Fixed) ‘Mail App Quit Unexpectedly’ Issue: 8 easy method