I run into an issue that started the past few upgrades: Mail will just stop downloading new Mail. No rhyme or reason, it just stops. I can have a second computer next to it and watch mail come in, but on that Mail, it won't do anything. I have to quit (sometimes force-quit) to get it to start again.
Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS
151–160 of 178 posts
Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS
#152I get something like this all the time, except it pops up behind whatever I'm doing and doesn't steal focus. I also almost never do stuff in full screen mode, maybe that's the trigger for it stealing focus?
Definitely seems to be related to "I had an email connectivity error and I must let you know NOWNOWNOW." Knowing that it's associated with gmail accounts feels like one more reason for me to get off my ass and disentangle my email from gmail...
Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS
#153Something I still don't understand, similar to this - not sure if it's a bug or feature but I use Desktops heavily, especially while working at home without my extra monitors. For some reason, the order of my Desktops on Mac seem to reshuffle, I can't work out what causes it or when it happens. I often have it ordered something like this: Desktop 1 - Google Doc (Chrome) Desktop 2 - Researching (Chrome) Desktop 3 - Sl…
has anyone found a good, free solution for naming spaces (instead of “Desktop n”)? i used to be able to name them with a free utility, but SIP killed it.
God I wish, this should be something the OS does ffs.
My kludgearound: different desktop pictures, related to the project each desktop is for.
Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
The answer is found in System Preferences > Mission Control. Uncheck the “Automatically rearrange spaces based on most recent use” box :)
Astounding to me that automatic rearranging would have been considered desirable. Hard to imagine that it’s just visual folks (like myself) who would lose flow state if the mental map of their Desktops was interrupted if they were suddenly rearranged.
> Astounding to me that automatic rearranging would have been considered desirable
Funny, i really like this because it lets me switch to another app and then return with a single swipe. The ipad has this behaviour too though the swipe is in the opposite direction.
I use full screen very heavily and rarely use spaces as separate desktops, which I find weird. You probably consider my use weird.
Not to say one approach is better than the other, just suggesting whoever set the default might have decided based on their own use. I suspect this issue was not subjected to any UX research, even at a place as big as apple.
Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS
#155I switched to Airmail for only this reason lol
When I tried Airmail, they sent an email that had something like "oh, we see that you use @.com. Do you think you could reach to your colleagues and talk to them about using Airmail". I deleted the app immediately.
Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
In general I find macOS handles alerting the user very poorly. I don't know why but it infuriates me when icons bounce on the dock for attention. The animation is too insistent for whatever trivial thing the app wants to let me know. Or an app will open some Important Dialog Box that I need to deal with, except it's hidden behind some other windows somewhere and the rest of the app refuses to respond to my clicks unt…
Yeah, that's not good. Sometimes you can find it through some combination of ensuring that app is frontmost by clicking its icon in the dock, choosing "hide others" from its menu, and triggering "show application windows" in Mission Control (often ctrl-down-arrow, or a three-finger down-swipe trackpad gesture).
Due to the explosion in videoconferencing I've spent some time recently helping family set things up via remote desktop (I highly recommend Chrome Remote Desktop by the way, pretty easy to set up). This kind of thing is absolutely inscrutable to non-tech savvy people. All they see is that the computer suddenly stops doing anything but playing an annoying "donk" sound whenever they click and they have no idea that any of those features exist.
Really, Windows with its `window == app == taskbar item` approach is far easier to understand.
Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've switched back to a new MacBook, temporarily due to COVID as it was easy to purchase from Apple and it was an emergency. I used OS X fulltime 2006-11. I'm surprised how buggy Catalina is, including Mail.app. I have had serious firmware issues too, such as needing to reset my SMC very frequently because my USB C stops charging the machine every other day. Apple is clearly, sadly, neglecting mac OS. Surprisingly, I…
Have you run into the mail deleting bug yet? That's what is holding me back from upgrading.
I did. And several other bugs. Their QC has declined significantly.
Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Apple Mail is riddled with bugs it’s unusable. Weird, I've been using it for a decade and I have zero issues. Maybe 'unusable' is a pretty subjective assessment?
The best thing about Apple Mail is their integration with contacts and everything "i" Phone, Pad, etc. It is the whole ecosystem lock down deal again. Nothing has progressed in tech in this aspect, each company is still for themselves instead of consumers.
What lock down are you talking about? Any email client can integrate with your calendar and contacts - those are public APIs.
Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS
#159Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS
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