Mail hanging, even after repeated restarts

Mail is repeatedly hanging (“Not Responding”), even after several machine restarts (Mail configured to start automatically upon restart).

[Edit] I should note that my other email clients (laptops, iThings, etc.) ARE able to access their email accounts - so not necessarily a server-side issue.

SpamSieve’s “training” script runs for a long time (long enough for a spinning gear to appear in the menubar). Eventually it stops, but Mail remains in “Not Responding” state.

Per your instructions, I’ve attached Activity Monitor samples from (1) Mail and (2) SpamSieve. I’ve also attached a screen Grab from Activity Monitor.

Any guidance would be appreciated; the spam is mounting up! :slight_smile:

Environment:

Mac Mini (mid 2011) running MacOS 10.11.6
Mail - 9.3
SpamSieve - 2.9.27, running in Drone mode

Sample of SpamSieve.engfer.2017.02.24.txt (57.5 KB)

Sample of Mail.engfer.2017.02.24.txt (128 KB)

Screen grab.engfer.2017.02.24.pdf (91 KB)

The regular training script does not show anything in the menu bar. The drone (remote training) script does, however that doesn’t seem to be what was happening when you recorded this sample from Mail. It looks like the delay was caused by SpamSieve waiting for Mail’s own junk filter while it was filtering incoming messages. Please see the AppleMailChangeJunkStatus option for speeding this up.

Thanks! Resolved!

Thanks for your quick response, Michael. I changed the setting of the AppleMailChangeJunkStatus option, as you suggested. For the past few days the drone has been running reliably, and, to my eye, more efficiently. The Mail Activity dialog box displays for a much shorter period of time, and each of the activities listed seems to complete more quickly. Given that I have seen performance issues from my ISP’s mail servers, your suggestion appears to have been Right On Target.