The first thing to try and rectify this situation is to take your Mail Account offline. Take Account Offlineīut if your problem is more than just that message, you need to put your investigative skills to test. Then, relaunch the Mail app while holding the Shift key on your keyboard. This action forces Mail to open without displaying any problematic messages. Quit the Mail app by select Mail > Quit Mail. Troubleshoot Mail App Always Downloading Reload Mail App Change Drafts Mailbox to On My Mac and choose Drafts from the drop-down menu options.Go to Apple Menu > Preferences > Accounts.Change Draft Settings for Apple’s Mac Mail App Quite a few of our readers noted that if they changed the location of where email accounts store their drafts that the Mail App started working normally. Update to the latest version of Mail, if possible.Delete any messages you no longer need from your Inbox and other mailboxes.Delete all messages inside your Deleted Items and Junk (Spam) folders.These might fix your issue, and if not, they prepare your Mail for fixing. Mail App Always Downloading: Housekeepingīefore you troubleshooting, perform these steps. So, the words of wisdom here are: IGNORE IT. This message means your Mail app is syncing across your various email accounts.Įven though it uses the term downloading it’s actually checking for any syncing between accounts. Mail App Always Downloading: Sometimes It’s Normal!įirst, if you’re observing this downloading message at the bottom left of your Mail app’s sidebar and it’s only there for a relatively short time, this is normal. Try rebuilding and reindexing your Mailbox.Remove the Mail Account and then add it back.

Take your Mail Account offline temporarily and then take them back online.

Change your mail account’s setting for storing the Drafts Mailbox Behaviors to On My Mac.

Relaunch the Mail app while holding the Shift key on your keyboard.

Luckily, some fixes do the trick and get your Mac’s Mail App up and working normally with no more “downloading messages” errors.

If you start noticing that your Mac’s Mail app always downloading and is continuously or frequently showing a message that it’s “Downloading Messages,” you are not alone.īoth OSX and macOS users report this problem with their Mail app.

Mac mail very slow