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Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS

annoying.technology

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Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS

#161

Post by snuxoll »

tannhaeuser wrote: post #115
snuxoll wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's how apps "notified" back then. Polite apps would just bounce their dock icon rather than stealing focus, however.

Exactly. I found the bouncing animation genius, as it always reminded me of a toddler impatiently jumping up and down for attention. Doesn't mail.app do this?

> mail.app

Mail.app and most other apps since 10.8 (?) introduced badges just use those, unless it’s a more urgent thing than “you have a new message” in which case, yes, it will bounce the dock icon.

Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS

#162

Post by basilgohar »

kahlonel wrote: post #84

I was a long time Gmail user, on the verge of leaving Gmail due to a long list of reasons. This bug was the final straw for me (I know it’s not Gmail’s fault). Got rid of Gmail completely. Haven’t seen this bug since.

Gmail's IMAP interface does have issues, along with their repurposing IMAP folders as "labels", this causes many traditional email clients problems, including Thunderbird. My Gmail account causes Thunderbird to slow to a crawl most times. I am sure there is some Thunderbird liability as well, but I did not have this problem with other, large IMAP accounts that were not Gmail before.

Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS

#163

Post by fsflyer »

My Apple Mail bug is with changing passwords on Exchange accounts. I change the password, Apple Mail prompts for the new password, then uses the old one to connect.

I have to quit Apple Mail and use the accounts pane of preference panels and cancel when it prompts for the new password as it has the same bug. Then I can click details and change the password. That works.

Reported many years ago in Sierra.

Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS

#164

Post by dzhiurgis »

vladharbuz wrote: post #55

I've had this issue for the past 2–3 years. It seems to happen because of improper error handling. If you look closely at the app in the instant it opens, your affected account will have a “disconnected” symbol next to it in the sidebar. However, it goes away before an error can be shown. My theory is: there is a momentary connection issue with these G Suite accounts, and Mail.app starts to show an error by focusing…

I’ve noticed only when watching YouTube in full screen

Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS

#165

Post by njhaveri »

If anybody is interested, I've been writing a Gmail-focused email client for macOS called Mimestream. It combines native macOS UI with Gmail-specific features such as categorized inboxes, colored labels, and aliases (made possible by the use of the Gmail API instead of IMAP).

I just opened up a public beta, and you can request immediate access on the website at https://mimestream.com. It's free during the beta period - I only ask for feedback: feedback@mimestream.com.

Unlike some other 3rd party email clients, it makes direct connections from your Mac to Gmail and stores data/credentials on your Mac. There's no intermediary servers.

Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS

#166

Post by jedieaston »

1_player wrote: post #20
ancarda wrote: post #3

I get something like this with Music.app -- it seems to randomly open. I suspect it's some kind of keystroke (i.e. hitting the play button) but I haven't figured out exactly why it's happening or how to stop it. I'm pretty sure this didn't used to happen until I upgraded to Catalina. I really wish I had better luck with Linux...

If no media is currently playing or paused and you press the Play button by mistake, the Music app opens. It's extremely annoying.

You can get rid of this with

launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.rcd.plist

(https://www.howtogeek.com/274345/stop-itunes-from-launching-...)

Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS

#167

Post by blueberry_47 »

mstade wrote: post #159
snazz wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. This is a very annoying default, but luckily you can disable it.

Alright people, stop teasing and tell me what to look for please! :o)

Settings > Share Screen > Maximize Zoom window when a participant shares screen ?

Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS

#168

Post by cerberusss »

m463 wrote: post #148
dingdingdang wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solidly on Linux Mint now but back in the day when wrangling MacOS I used Hammerspoon to fix these sort of issues - should be doable to monitor and enforce the background status of Mail.app and then pause the monitoring when invoked by user (easiest thing would likely be to set hotkey that then also pauses monitoring), and finally resume monitoring when Mail.app goes to background (i.e. user done with active interact…

That is an interesting name for a tool. wonder where it came from?

It was forked from a tool called Mjolnir, so that's where the "hammer" part of the HammerSpoon name could come from.

Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS

#169

Post by cerberusss »

gingerlime wrote: post #111
mstade wrote: post #54

I don't have any issues with Apple Mail but I do have issues with zoom, randomly switching from full screen sharing to the desktop and back again, it's incredibly annoying. It doesn't happen when I share my screen, only when others do. It seems to have gotten better recently but still happens in occasion. Anyone else seeing this? Maybe it's related?

I have another zoom problem on Mojave. Even though I marked the zoom windows to use Desktop 2, they keep opening on Desktop 1 :-/ any tips on how to fix this?

Several apps have this. I suspect they don't correctly support the windows restoration API.

Re: Apple Mail randomly becomes the frontmost application in macOS

#170

Post by vladharbuz »

andrewmcwatters wrote: post #93
vladharbuz wrote: post #55

I've had this issue for the past 2–3 years. It seems to happen because of improper error handling. If you look closely at the app in the instant it opens, your affected account will have a “disconnected” symbol next to it in the sidebar. However, it goes away before an error can be shown. My theory is: there is a momentary connection issue with these G Suite accounts, and Mail.app starts to show an error by focusing…

Hey Vlad, hope you're doing well!

Oh hey man, nice to hear from you, same to you! :)
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