Unreadable Spam Folder

While searching for an emailed invoice, I discovered that I can’t read any messages in my “Spam” folder. It is lighter colored than all other folders. It shows 789 unread messages and has some folders within it: Attachments, 109250, 2, Messages–I assume these are from SpamSieve. When this folder or any within it are selected, the reading window is blank. So I can’t read, delete…anything!

Mail uses blue for folders that can contain e-mail messages and gray for folders that can only contain other folders.

No, those are not from SpamSieve. It looks like your Mail database is damaged. The messages should still be accessible if you search for them with Spotlight rather than Mail. To fix the display in Mail, quit Mail and then delete the file:

/Users/<username>/Library/Mail/Envelope Index

Then it will build a new database for you.

Thanks Michael. I tried your idea, but it came back the same way. And I don’t think Spotlight can read the folder either. I’m leaning toward just deleting the entire folder. Any advice?

If the mail store is really messed up, rebuilding won’t fix it. Deleting the folder should work, though. If you want, you could find the folder in the Finder:

/Users/<username>/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/Spam

and try to view the messages (the .emlx files) with Quick Look or by double-clicking them.

Thanks. I trashed it from there. Figured there’s nothing worthwhile in it…I hope!

I recommend only deleting mailboxes from within Mail. Otherwise, its database will get out of sync.

Oops!