mail crashes when trying to find an email

Mail may be crashing attempting to render a message whose content it cannot decipher. That is more likely to occur on "old" versions of Mail than it is on the newer versions incorporated on recent iPhone models.

To update macOS please read Update macOS on Mac - Apple Support.

If you are using the latest version of macOS that can be installed on your MacBook, try rebuilding Mail's message database by following these instructions: Rebuild mailboxes in Mail on Mac - Apple Support. You can rebuild any Mailbox including Inbox, Trash, Junk, etc. I recommend rebuilding all of them.

Yes! Exactly what I'm experiencing. I can't search on United and a few others, which I also noticed were travel-related. How weird. It crashes as soon as I type the fourth letter. I'm contemplating switching to Microsoft Outlook if Apple can't fix this issue... Whether or not there's a corrupted message hidden away somewhere, Mail should *never* crash.

I was having a similar issue today. I am seeing this reported on many threads. I tried ALL suggestions posted, many of which came from Apple tech. (rebuilding mailboxes, deleting envelope files + closing/rebooting, etc.) Nothing worked. I have a trip coming up where I'm flying from Boston to Chicago. It would crash anytime I typed in Chic (Chicago), Ord (ORD airport), Confirma (confirmation), BOS (Boston airport) and Unit (United airlines--my airline). I couldn't find any other trigger words, even letters that correspond with trips that I just took this month. So, I decided to just go in and delete ALL emails related to my upcoming trip. I emptied my trash afterwards, restarted mail, and now it's fixed!! So, it looks like specific, recent emails were triggering it. (Although, yesterday they weren't....so I'm not sure what that is about. But at least for now, it's working.)

I started having exactly this same problem upon upgrading to Mac OS Sonoma. Rebuilding mailboxes doesn't fix it.

I have this issue too. Whenever I search for an airline or, really, any travel related word, it crashes: Delta, United, Jetstar, SLC. I haven't had it crash on a word not related to travel! Weird. and annoying...

I have a similar problem. Mail crashes as soon as I type the string "unit". No other strings seem to be a problem. If "unit" is imbedded in a longer string (ie "u" is not the first letter) there is no problem. Other four letter strings ending in "t" -- no problem. Extremely weird. This seems to be brand new as of this morning...I know I have found email from United Airlines in search before, probably since last software update (running Sonoma 14.1.2) I can find the emails themselves via any other string they contain (MileagePlus, flight info, etc.)

Interesting that it seems to be travel-related / reservation-related emails for all respondents in this thread. Makes you wonder if it might be connected to the OS's links to calendar and reminders--you know, where your device sends you a texts about events you arranged online, even if you didn't specifically set up a reminder or calendar appointment. In any case it is clearly a flaw in the software that Apple is not particularly interested in addressing. I was offered the chance to walk through a number of steps with the MacBook in Safe Mode, but it quickly became far more odious (and, to my eye, risky) than the error itself...so I will live with it for now. BTW for me, rebuilding the mailboxes and emptying the trash had no effect...the problem persists.

It's happening to me when I type in Spirit Airlines (usually after the third letter). Same with United. Delta, Frontier, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines don't have any problems.