How to Fix “Mac Mail Stuck on Moving Messages”?

Apple Mail is a widely used email client on macOS that can easily integrate with iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and other popular email providers. The email client is reliable, but app users have reported multiple problems, such as Mail getting stuck when moving messages between mailboxes.

The issue is typically shown as one or more of the following symptoms:

• The app will show a loading indicator while attempting to move the emails.
• Moving messages – status shows, but the process never completes
• Emails stay in the original folder without starting the process.
• The Mail app becomes unresponsive or freezes.
• The duplicate messages appear in the source and destination mailboxes.

The issue can occur anywhere, anytime, when moving a message between mailboxes, that is, from the inbox to the custom folder, between accounts, to trash, or to the archive folder. It affects any user across all macOS versions.

Why Does Mac Mail Stuck on Moving Messages Happen?

We can’t pinpoint a single factor that causes the issue with Mac Mail stuck on moving messages. The causes can be:

• A corrupted index file or envelope database.
• Network connectivity or VPN interference that would disrupt server communication.
• Synchronisation failure between the Mail app and the remote mail server.
• Outdated macOS or Mail app version with any known bugs.
• Incorrect or outdated account credentials.
• Any server-side issues with the email providers.

Transferring email back and forth between your IMAP account (iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook) and “On My Mac” also takes more time because it has to upload the message to your mail server. This means the move could look frozen for a significantly longer time than when transferring messages within the same account.

Troubleshooting Steps to Fix Mac Mail Stuck on Moving Messages

Follow the steps in order. After each of the steps, test whether the messages are now moving successfully before proceeding to the next one.

Is Mail Actually Stuck, or Just Slow?

Before trying the fixes below, make sure Mail is actually frozen and not just taking a long time or a slow server move:

1. Go to Window > Activity Viewer (or Window > Activity depending on macOS version).
2. Check if there is an active “Moving messages” or “Syncing” task and a moving progress indicator.
3. If the progress bar is moving, then leave it; large mailboxes or a slow IMAP server can take time.
4. If there is no visible progress, or Activity Viewer is not showing anything while the mailbox says “Moving messages”. Then, treat this as stuck and continue with the next steps.

Force Quit and Restart Mail

First, let’s start with a simple and most overlooked fix. Starting with a clean slate in the Mail application.

1. Press Command + Option + Escape to open the Force Quit window.
2. Select Mail from the list and click Force Quit.
3. Wait a few seconds to allow all the Mail processes to terminate fully.
4. Reopen Mail from the Launchpad and attempt to move the message again.

Check Internet Connection

Any email client relies on a stable internet connection. Any connectivity issue can cause the move operation to get stuck in the process.

1. Open Safari or another browser and check if other web pages are loading properly or not.
2. If the Wi-Fi is not working, try switching to an Ethernet connection for more stability.
3. Disable and re-enable Wi-Fi using the menu bar icon.
4. If connected to a VPN, temporarily disconnect it and test Mail again.
5. Restart the router or modem if the connection seems unstable.

Check out our other troubleshooting article: Apple Mail attachments not downloading.

Rebuild the Mailbox Index to Resolve Mac Mail Stuck on Moving Messages

Mac Mail maintains a local index of each mailbox. When the index becomes corrupted, moving emails can fail to complete. Rebuilding the mailbox will force Mail to re-index the mailbox contents.

1. In the Mail app, click the problematic mailbox.
2. Go to Mailbox > Rebuild.
3. Wait for the rebuild to complete; it might take time depending on the mailbox size.

Take all the Accounts offline, Then Online

Toggle the email accounts offline and back online to force the email to re-establish the connection with the mail server, which resolves the synchronisation states.

1. In the Mail menu bar, go to Mailbox > Take all Accounts Offline.
2. Wait a few seconds.
3. Go to Mailbox > Get All New Mail.
4. Allow Mail a few minutes to fully connect.
5. Now attempt to move the messages in Mac Mail.

How Low Disk Space Causes Mac Mail to Get Stuck When Moving Messages?

If the Mac’s disk is nearly full, the Mail app will not write new data to the local store. It will indirectly disrupt operations, such as moving messages.

1. Go to Apple Menu > About This Mac > More Info.
2. Click Storage to view the available disk space.
3. If you have less than 5 GB free, clear the space.

After freeing up the space, relaunch Mail and test again.

Delete and Re-Add the Account

Outdated or corrupted account settings are one of the most frequent culprits that cause issues with Mac Mail. Removing the account and adding it fresh gives Mail a clean configuration to work on:

1. Before proceeding, make note of the account settings.
2. Open System Settings > Internet Accounts.
3. Select the affected email account and click the minus button to remove.
4. Restart the Mac.
5. Return to Internet Accounts and click the + button to add the account again with credentials.
6. Open Mail and allow the sync. Then test moving the messages in Mac Mail.

Reset the Mail Envelope Index to Fix Mac Mail Stuck on Moving Messages

The envelope index is Mail’s master database that tracks all messages and the metadata. If the envelope index is damaged, it is one of the most common causes of stuck emails while moving.

1. Quit Mail completely.
2. Open Finder and press Command + Shift + G to open the Go to Folder.
3. Type the path and press Return: ~/Library/Mail/V10/MailData/
4. Search for file names Envelope Index, Envelope Index-shm, and Envelope Index-wal.
5. Move the files to the Desktop.
6. Reopen Mail. It will automatically rebuild the envelope index from the mail server.
7. Once complete, test whether the issues “Apple Mail stuck at moving emails” are resolved or not.

Note for step 3: The V10 folder name isn’t the same for all; it changes with the macOS/Mail version. Go to ~/Library/Mail/ first and open a folder with the name V9, V10, V11, etc., then continue with the MailData.

Check the macOS and Mail Updates

Apple releases updates to macOS and the Mail app that address known bugs, including synchronisation and message-moving failure issues.

1. Open the Apple menu > System Settings > General > Software Update.
2. If an update is available, download and install it.
3. After updating and restarting, open Mail and test the move operation.

Create New Mailbox and Transfer Message Manually

Create a fresh mailbox if the destination mailbox appears to be the problem – Mac Mail Stuck on Moving Messages.

1. In the Mail sidebar, right-click under On My Mac and select New Mailbox.
2. Enter a name and click Ok.
3. Select all the messages you want to move, right-click and choose Move To > your new Mailbox.
4. If it works, the original destination mailbox may have been corrupted. You can delete it and rename the new one.

Check for Conflicting Mail Rules

A rule that moves, copies, or moves messages to a mailbox automatically can conflict with a move by hand, resulting in the message appearing to be stuck or duplicated.

1. In Mail, go to Mail > Settings > Rules.
2. Uncheck or temporarily disable any rule that moves, copies, or archives messages. Move the message again.
3. If it now works, edit the conflicting rule’s conditions so it no longer overlaps with the mailbox you are planning to move.

For more details on this, check out our guide on how to fix the Apple Mail rules stopped working Issue.

Use a Different Email Client to Move Messages

If the issue is with the mail client, use an alternate email client to move messages, as it can bypass the problem while we can troubleshoot the mail client separately.

1. Log in to the email account via a web browser and move messages.
2. Use a third-party mail client, Thunderbird, Airmail, or Spark, to move the messages via IMAP
3. After moving the messages to the server side, simply sync the email client to reflect the changes and access the updated data.

Pro Tip: Alternatively, you can use Apple Mail Converter to directly export the Apple emails into a different file format, making it easy to access and move the messages without depending on the Mail app at all.

Reset Mail’s Preferences File

A corrupted Mail preferences file can cause any unexpected issues, including Mail getting stuck while moving messages

1. Quit Mail completely.
2. Open Finder and go to ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Preferences/.
3. Locate the file named com.apple.mail.plist and move it to the Desktop.
4. Reopen Mail. It will generate a new default preference.
5. You might need to reconfigure the settings, but the accounts and messages will remain intact.

Check Email Provider Server Status

Sometimes the issue might not be with your Mac at all, but with the server. IMAP servers can experience outages or degraded performance that can cause operations to hang, which is when Mac Mail gets stuck moving messages.

• For iCloud Mail: Check Apple’s System Status page at apple.com/support/systemstatus.
• Gmail: Check the Google Workspace Status Dashboard at google.com/appsstatus/dashboard.
• Yahoo Mail: Check the status of Yahoo Mail at downdetector.com/status/yahoo-mail or with Yahoo’s help account on X for outage updates.
• Outlook/Hotmail: Check the Microsoft 365 Service Health status portal at portal.office.com/servicestatus or status.office365.com (if you don’t have an admin login).

If there is an active server incident, the only solution is to wait for the provider to resolve the issue on their end.

Run Disk Utility First Aid

If there is any Disk error, it could corrupt the application data. Try running Disk Utility First Aid checks and repairing the file system issues.

1. Open Disk Utility from Applications > Utilities.
2. Select the startup disk – Macintosh HD in the sidebar.
3. Click First Aid, then Run.
4. Allow the process to complete.
5. If there is any error, repair and restart the Mac.
6. Reopen Mail and test the issue.

Conclusion

Mac Mail stuck at moving messages is a frustrating issue, but it is fixable with the appropriate method. The troubleshooting steps covered in the guide include rebuilding the mailbox, resetting the index, checking the disk space, etc. We have addressed all the common causes behind this issue. Starting from the simple fixes, like force-quitting Mail and checking the internet connection, before we move further with the advanced steps like resetting the envelope index or deleting and re-adding the account. In such cases, one of these solutions will resolve the issue of Mac Mail being stuck on moving messages without any data loss.