how to stop mail from downloading old mail

These measures do not help, there is a deeper problem. Microsoft Outlook works lightning fast on MacOS, Apple Mail is sluggish, send/receive mail responds 2-3 minutes later than Outlook. There is a constant Downloading messages note on the bottom left of screen, I left the computer on for 12 hours, it did not finish. It restarts from time to time. I switched back to using outlook again, this was after a 1 year period of wait "hoping" that things would get better. It was a M1 MacBook Air 16GB at the time, now a M2 MacBook Air 16GB

Hello dhester,

Thanks for those details.

If you don't want to delete the account, Let's try booting your Mac in Safe mode. Safe mode prevents certain software from opening and also forces the computer to run some disk checks similar to First Aid. This can actually resolve some issues. More information on starting to safe mode and steps to take after starting there can be found here: Start up your Mac in safe mode – Apple Support

"Intel processor

1. Turn on or restart your Mac, then immediately press and hold the Shift key as your Mac starts up.

2. Release the key when you see the login window, then log in to your Mac. 

3. You may be asked to log in again. On either the first or second login window, you should see "Safe Boot" in the top right-hand corner of the window."

Let us know if that helps.

Cheers.

Welcome dhester,

This is something we can definitely assist you with, thanks for posting here.

We want to help you get Mail working at its best for you. Without removing the account from your computer, there wouldn't necessarily be a way to stop Mail from fetching new messages since that is the purpose of the app. However, if you'd like you could remove the account in question from Mail and see if that accomplishes what you were hoping to do. This article goes over how to remove accounts from Mail: Log out of or remove email accounts in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

We hope this information is helpful!

Have a great day.