.PLST File For Mail

[Richard Serkes]

My Mail program is acting stupid again and I'd like to delete the .plst file and start over with setting the Preferences. But I'll be darned if I can find the .plst file for Mail. Does anyone know what folder it's in?

I'm using OS 10.11.3.

[rickj]

My Mail program is acting stupid again and I'd like to delete the .plst file and start over with setting the Preferences. But I'll be darned if I can find the .plst file for Mail. Does anyone know what folder it's in?

I'm using OS 10.11.3.

Try username/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Preferences. There doesn't seem to be one in the regular Preferences folder any more.

[Richard Serkes]

My Mail program is acting stupid again and I'd like to delete the .plst file and start over with setting the Preferences. But I'll be darned if I can find the .plst file for Mail. Does anyone know what folder it's in?

I'm using OS 10.11.3.

Try username/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Preferences. There doesn't seem to be one in the regular Preferences folder any more.

My username is Skippy. Under Skippy there is no Library folder. And under Macintosh HD/Library there is no Containers folder. What now?

Perhaps I should mention that the problem is I go to Mail/Preferences to select Mail as my default email application and it won't stick. It keeps going back to another email application. I thought if I deleted the .plst file for Mail I could start from scratch so to speak.

[rickj]

My Mail program is acting stupid again and I'd like to delete the .plst file and start over with setting the Preferences. But I'll be darned if I can find the .plst file for Mail. Does anyone know what folder it's in?

I'm using OS 10.11.3.

Try username/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Preferences. There doesn't seem to be one in the regular Preferences folder any more.

My username is Skippy. Under Skippy there is no Library folder. And under Macintosh HD/Library there is no Containers folder. What now?

Perhaps I should mention that the problem is I go to Mail/Preferences to select Mail as my default email application and it won't stick. It keeps going back to another email application. I thought if I deleted the .plst file for Mail I could start from scratch so to speak.

In the last few versions of OS X, the user Library folder is hidden. To get to it, go to the Finder, hold down the OPTION key and click on the Go Menu. You'll see Library about half way down. I use the User Library often enough that I have it in my sidebar so I don't always have to use the Go Menu.

Screen Shot 2016-03-04 at 9.27.13 PM.png (142.14 KiB) Viewed 2955 times

[Richard Serkes]

Wow, I NEVER would have found it there. OK, now that I get to the Preferences folder I have like a gazillion files. So which one(s) do I delete or do I delete the entire folder? Deleting the folder sounds a little scary.

[Jay Cline]

Apple Support now has a Twitter account where you can ask questions.

I asked: @AppleSupport How do I delete plist file for Apple Mail in Capitan?
Their response:
@ClineNorthwest We don't recommend doing that, as it can cause further issues. DM us with more info about what's going on. We want to help.

[Richard Serkes]

Apple Support now has a Twitter account where you can ask questions.

I asked: @AppleSupport How do I delete plist file for Apple Mail in Capitan?
Their response:
@ClineNorthwest We don't recommend doing that, as it can cause further issues. DM us with more info about what's going on. We want to help.

I don't twit. All the social media are tools of the Lord of the Flies.

[Jay Cline]

Coincidentally @LordoftheFlies has a Twitter account. The account hasn't sent a tweet since 2008 tho.

[Richard Serkes]

Try username/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Preferences. There doesn't seem to be one in the regular Preferences folder any more.

OK, I girded my loins and decided to delete the entire folder you gave me the path to. I figured I could always replace it. So what happened, you ask? When I opened Mail after deleting the Preferences folder all my preferences were gone as if I'd just opened Mail for the first time. All that is other than the default email program. There was the offending program instead of Mail. I changed it to Mail, closed Mail and when reopening Mail found that the offending program was once again the default.

Then I went to my Trash and clicked the "Put Back" option which did just that.

So deleting the Preferences folder with all those files removed all saved preferences other than the one I wanted to get rid of so I could resent the default email program. Am I going to make an appointment at the Tacoma Apple Store to have someone at the Genius Bar fix things for me? No. That's a long drive.

[Stephen Hart]

So this is the same problem where you tried out another app Airmail and it got stuck as the default Mail program?
Did you ever find a way to change the default in that other app Airmail?

Here's a developer forum that speaks of this issue. The solution was to clear Launch Services. That means you'll have to reset any apps you've chosen to replace the default app for opening file types. https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/14502

The Airmail site has a link to this dev post.

Here's a blog post with another solution: sign out of iCloud, change default in Mail, sign back into iCloud. Sounds benign.
https://nickjvturner.wordpress.com/2015 ... il-client/