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User profile for user: Moscool
Moscool Author
User level: Level 1
41 points

Mail search very slow

Looking at the forums this happened in Big Sur a couple of years ago, it seems to have returned with MacOS 13...


Mac Mail switches from zippy to beachball pretty much at random. Rebuilding mailboxes and moving thousands of emails to local storage doesn't seem to do anything.


A constant though is the agonising slow search function. It used to be pretty much instantaneous but now it can take up to one minute to get any result. OS13 has also removed the choice of 'sender contains'. So a big step backwards.


Any fixes? - Thanks

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Mar 31, 2023 12:56 AM

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User profile for user: Sean_B1
Sean_B1
User level: Community Specialist

Posted on Apr 3, 2023 6:30 PM

Hello Moscool,


We would like to see how we can help you with Mac Mail working slower than expected. The best place to start will be by updating the macOS to 13.3 with the steps in this link: Update macOS on Mac - Apple Support


"Use Software Update

Before following these steps, it's a good idea to back up your Mac.

  1. From the Apple menu  in the corner of your screen, choose System Settings or System Preferences.
    • If you chose System Settings, click General on the left side of the window. Then click Software Update on the right.
    • If you chose System Preferences, click Software Update in the window.

2.Software Update then checks for new software. 

    • If Software Update finds new software, click the button to install it. The button might be named Update Now, Upgrade Now, Install Now, or Restart Now, for example. You might then be asked to enter your administrator password.
    • If Software Update says that your Mac is up to date, then no new software is currently available for your Mac model. Software Update shows only software that is compatible with your Mac."


Get back to us with your results after updating, and we can go from there.


Cheers!


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User profile for user: Sean_B1
Sean_B1
User level: Community Specialist

Apr 3, 2023 6:30 PM in response to Moscool

Hello Moscool,


We would like to see how we can help you with Mac Mail working slower than expected. The best place to start will be by updating the macOS to 13.3 with the steps in this link: Update macOS on Mac - Apple Support


"Use Software Update

Before following these steps, it's a good idea to back up your Mac.

  1. From the Apple menu  in the corner of your screen, choose System Settings or System Preferences.
    • If you chose System Settings, click General on the left side of the window. Then click Software Update on the right.
    • If you chose System Preferences, click Software Update in the window.

2.Software Update then checks for new software. 

    • If Software Update finds new software, click the button to install it. The button might be named Update Now, Upgrade Now, Install Now, or Restart Now, for example. You might then be asked to enter your administrator password.
    • If Software Update says that your Mac is up to date, then no new software is currently available for your Mac model. Software Update shows only software that is compatible with your Mac."


Get back to us with your results after updating, and we can go from there.


Cheers!


Reply
User profile for user: Moscool
Moscool Author
User level: Level 1
41 points

Apr 4, 2023 5:46 AM in response to Sean_B1

Thank you


The upgrade has rebuilt 'something' and the search is now much faster. It is still weird, in particular when searching for a mail domain. If I enter a string eg lse, I get one set of names. If I continue typing lse.ac, I get a totally different list when in fact all people concerned share the same @lse.ac.uk.


i will post updates with observations after a couple of days using it.

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Mail search very slow

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