Disappearing emails in Mail app despite proper settings

Question

Level 1

6 points

Disappearing emails in Mail app despite proper settings

I've seen others with what appears to be the same or similar problem.

I use Mac Mail for three accounts, two private accounts and a gmail account. Sometimes I cannot find an email that I received a few days ago, it's not in any of the accounts, nor in the bin folders, or anything. Othertimes, I am looking directly at the side panel and a message will literally disappear before my eyes. It is not anywhere else nor it has been moved to another folder nor have I done anything to it. It is driving me mad, and it has lost me a couple of important emails that I know I received and read.

I have tried some of the naive "check if it's plugged in" approaches like looking at the right account, chekcing filters, sortings, rules, blocks, quitting, restarting, you name it. Console logs are infinite and so fast that I cannot find anything there either.

I would appreciate suggestions to deal with this, it's kind of a seriuos bug

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Dissappearing emails

MacBook Pro 14″

Posted on Oct 10, 2025 1:54 AM

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Answer 1

AlWeir

Level 5

4,862 points

Nov 17, 2025 7:41 AM in response to johnsiphone4610

Well the only other thing I can suggest is remove the account from Mail and then re-add it.

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Answer 2

AlWeir

Level 5

4,862 points

Oct 10, 2025 4:53 AM in response to thefercook

You might want to Go To View> Filter>Disable Message Filter. I found that Mail you can't see appears.

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Answer 3

Nov 17, 2025 6:55 AM in response to thefercook

I'm glad I fond a recent post about this issue. although my problem isn't emails that disappear as I see them our a few being erased it's worse.

For me, all my emails disappear without warning. Just a couple of days ago I went to view my mail and all the mails in my gmail account were gone. The entire screen is black. fortunately, this tome they all remain in gmail online which is a saving grace since that account is what I use for my business. This has happened before at least twice fire and theist time they got erased from gmail too! Gmail has a recovery function but they were unable to restore them last time.

None of the online help I've sought addresses this issue either. The searches you do just say go look in your trash folder which Anne can figure out on their won these days.

Could this be some kind of virus or malware? It's happened to me about three times ver theist five years or so.

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