Mac Mail import failure on iMac Intel with Ventura 13.7.8

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Mac Mail import failure on iMac Intel with Ventura 13.7.8

On my Imac model 2017 Intel - Ventura 13.7.8 where apple mail worked 100% perfect with the different accounts on, until a few day ago. When I startup the mac and I select Mail, a new pop up comes up instead of opening the normal mail...

The new pop up says: Import Messages. When I go to start up the import, you see that he is loading all the mails income, sending.... on the different accounts.

After that all mails has been imported a new popup comes up with the following message: The import has failed. During the import an error happens. See that there is enough memory free in the home folder and try again. There is still 35 GB memory over not used.

With Time Machine I installed older version, still the same, I re-installed OS Ventura..... The problems stays there. Who can help me to solve my problem.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Mac mail on iMac Intel does not work anymore - new pop up windows comes up

iMac (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Oct 24, 2025 12:14 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

AlWeir

Level 5

4,446 points

Oct 24, 2025 9:25 AM in response to carrera911

Try these to see if they work.

Restart in Safe Mode and Re-open Mail

Shut down your iMac completely.
Start up your Mac and immediately press and hold the Shift key (Safe Mode). Release the key when you see the login window.
Log in (you may need to log in twice).
Open the Mail app. The import process may run again and potentially complete correctly in Safe Mode.
If the import finishes, restart your Mac normally and check Mail.

Delete Mail Index Files (Envelope Index)

Quit the Mail app completely (use Force Quit if necessary: press Option + Command + Esc).
Open Finder.
In the menu bar, click Go, then hold down the Option key and click Library (this hidden folder appears only when the Option key is held).
Navigate to Mail/V10/MailData/ (the V10 folder number is specific to macOS Ventura).
Locate and delete all files that start with Envelope Index and ExternalUpdates. You can move them to your Desktop or Trash as a backup first.
Open Mail again. It should attempt to re-index and re-import your messages, which may resolve the corruption.

Disable and Re-enable Email Accounts

Quit the Mail app.
Go to System Settings (or System Preferences).
Click on Internet Accounts.
For each email account listed, uncheck the box next to "Mail" to temporarily disable the account.
Open Mail. It should start without the import prompt.
Quit Mail again.
Go back to Internet Accounts and re-enable the Mail service for each account one by one. This forces a fresh synchronization.

If these steps fail, you may be dealing with a corrupted message or attachment. The most drastic step, which forces a completely fresh start, is to delete the entire Mail folder in your Library (Step 2 but deleting the whole ~/Library/Mail folder), but this will permanently delete any "On My Mac" mailboxes that are not synchronized with a server. Only do this if you are certain all your important mail is stored on a server (like iCloud, Gmail, etc.) and you have a solid backup.

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