Weird Apple Mail Problem

Posted Mon Dec 8, 2008 in

Over the last months I’ve had this recurring weird Apple Mail problem. I don’t recall when it began, but it’s been back periodically. The unread-message count that appears on the window header sometimes displays a ridiculous number of unread messages — even for me.

Shutting down and restarting Mail sometimes fixes the problem. But, it’s chronic and will not go away.

Irritated, I did a brief web search this afternoon. I found this link: Leopard Apple Mail Incorrect Message Count <http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5653148&#5653148>. I read through the issue, used a smart mailbox to find all of the unread messages, and then deleted them.

The problem went away. The question is whether it is permanently gone or I have just a temporary fix. Time will tell.

Edit 1530: Nope, this didn’t fix the problem. It helped me identify a lot of fossil emails, but didn’t stop the top-bar miscount. I know I have a lot of email, but not four billion messages.