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malibuchevy - Aug 7, 2006 - 5:01 pm

I am constantly haveing problems when trying to open various emails.
when I click on some or they are in the next sequence to open the little circulating beach ball comes up and the email says it is connecting to the server but never downloads the message - any ideas

Cheryl - Aug 9, 2006 - 12:54 am

Marcia,

I need more information before I can help.

What email program are you using - Mail, Eudora, Thunderbird, or a webmail base through your browser?

Are you referring to opening an email or getting your emails?

How are you connecting to the internet - dialup, cable or DSL?

How much memory do you have installed on your computer?

The answers to these questions will help me troubleshoot your problem.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 9, 2006 - 4:40 pm

Cheryl

I am using the mail program on mac - I do not have alot of messages.
after sending myself some emails from friends computers I believe part of the problem may be emails with attachments.
I have high speed internet cable and talked to them already - since the email is delivered, they feel it is a problem with my computer .
since I am a novice at this computer stuff I looked under disk info and looks like my capacity is 55.77 GB, 44.80 GB available, 10.97GB used.
Does this help us in trouble shooting?

Cheryl - Aug 10, 2006 - 12:30 am

Marcia,

You have plenty of room on your hard drive, so that is not the problem.

Do you have other programs (other than Mail) open when this happens?

I still need a bit more information.

Go to the Apple Menu (the blue apple at the far left at the very top of your screen) and click and hold the mouse button down.
You will get several choices. Pull down the mouse to select About This Mac.

A new window will open. It will tell you the processor speed, the version of OS X you are using and the amount of RAM (memory) installed.

I need those numbers.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 14, 2006 - 1:34 pm

Cheryl - the cable company has been having connect problems the past few days so was unable to respond. I do have another email today with an attachment that I am unable to open still
Here is info you requested
Mac OS X 10.2.8
Memory 768 MB
Processor 1 GHz PowerPC G4
Does this help

Cheryl - Aug 14, 2006 - 1:45 pm

Marcia,

I understand about connect problems. When I moved it took my ISP 9 days to get me up and running.

Can you tell me what the full title of the attachment is? Specifically the letters after the dot. Is it a .pps, .jpeg, or .doc?

It could very well be that we have to teach your computer what to use to open the attachment. But it can also be that the file will not be able to open on your Mac at all.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 14, 2006 - 2:01 pm

Cheryl - I don't know what the attachment today was - the one I sent myself the other day was .doc. wHen I went to open the one today, I never could see anything, the little colored beach ball just kept going around and I had to force quit.
I am assuming since the lady sending it has a windows based computer and it was an article to read it was also a .doc
I know jpeg but what is pps?

Cheryl - Aug 14, 2006 - 3:17 pm

Marcia,

First, let's get your computer taught how to open those attachments. I am sure you know that .doc is a text document and can be opened with Text Preview, AppleWorks or your choice of word processor.

Open the email that has the attachment. Now at the top right under the From, Subject, and Date header should be an arrow and a paper clip. Right next to that it will say 1 attachment (or how many attachments there are). Immediately to the right of that is two buttons. Save & Slideshow. (If you don't have Slideshow - do not worry as I think that was added to a later OS update).

Click and hold on the Save button. It will show a menu of the name of the attachment and you also have Save All and Add to iPhoto (if it is a .jpg). Note the name of the file so you can find it later in these instructions.

Select Save All.
Now a new window will appear.
If it is a .doc, you will want to save the file to your document folder. Of course you can select where you want it saved - even your desktop.

Once you select the place you want it saved to, click on the Save button at the bottom.
Now you can close the email.

Now go to the folder where you have saved the attachment and click once on the icon.
Go to the File Menu and select Get Info.

The next window that opens will give you a lot of information. Your attention should be in the Open With section. If it is not expanded, click on the arrow next to the words Open With and you should see A pull down menu.
If your attachment is a .doc you want to select AppleWorks, or your word processor that you use all the time.
If the attachment is a .jpg you may want Preview or iPhoto to open it. This goes for .gif, and .pic also.
.html should open with Safari or your favorite browser.

If what you want is not in the list, select Other. A new window will open and you can select the program you want to open the file.

Once that is selected, click on the button labeled Change All. This will make the computer open all attachments like that one with the program you selected.

Now those documents should open properly.

A .pps file is a powerpoint or slide show. If you have PowerPoint Reader or Keynote installed on the computer, that will open those kind of files - usually. Sometimes the file is corrupt because of being sent as an attachment too many times.

If the file has .exe at the end, you will not be able to open it as it is a Windows only file. Usually if you get those, it is a worm or virus that is meant for a person on a Windows machine.

As a warning, do not open files that are attached to emails that you do not know who the sender is. Those files cause more trouble than your curiosity of what it is.

Let me know how you do and if you need further assistance.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 14, 2006 - 3:58 pm

Cheryl - I will send myself a document from work tomorrow cuz somehow in moving that one from today to the trash, I deleted it.
I will let you know tomorrow night how it works. Makes sense to me.
I am not able to answer your quick response on the email - another assistant is working on that but here is the response I get when I click on "Quick Response"

Notice for Mac IE 5.x Visitors

On August 5th, 2006 we upgraded our site to make it run purely in CSS. Because of this change, older browsers like Mac IE 5.xx are unable to view our site and in fact, crashes the browser. We don't want to block Mac IE 5.xx users from our site, but we can't realistically support a browser so few people actually use. For this reason, we will be implementing a FORUM only theme that will be supported in IE Mac 5.xx.
Your other assistant said something about letting the webmaster know so this could be resolved.
will email you tomorrow
Marcia

Cheryl - Aug 14, 2006 - 4:26 pm

Marcia,

In truth, even Microsoft has pulled the download for Internet Explorer. You have Safari installed with the OS. Give that a try and see if you like it.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 14, 2006 - 4:37 pm

Cheryl - I do use Safari and love it but how do I get that to be the default on your quick responses.

Hey, I found the 2 emails I have that I believe have attachments - the problem is that I can't even open the email- when the computer defaults to this email or if I click on it, I can't get it to open and never can see if it truly has an attachment. that little round beach ball thing just keeps going and going and finally I force quit mail so I can use the damn thing. I never have read the emails. I sent the one from a friend's computer and know it has a .doc attachment. Your instructions would work if I could open it. Any thoughts?

Cheryl - Aug 15, 2006 - 2:20 am

Marcia,

With Safari open, go to the Safari Menu and select Preferences.
Click on the General icon.
The first option is to select the default browser. In the pull down menu just select Safari.
Close the preference window.

Open Mail and go to the folder where the email you talked about is. You will need to click on the arrow next to Inbox to show the individual mail boxes.
Click on the account mail box that that email is in. If you only have one email address, only one mailbox will show.
Now go to the Mailbox menu and select Rebuild. This is at the very bottom of the list.
Once done, try to open that email.

Let me know how you do.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 16, 2006 - 5:48 pm

Cheryl - sorry it is taking so long - I did change my default to Safari and the computer is allowing me to click on the quick response on your email and send this to you. So thanks, I think that problem is solved.
Now to the emails with attachments, I still can't get that issue going. I had the cable company out again today cuz on top of all this stuff I am working thru, there are connection problems. Sad story huh?
Anyway, I did the second part of the above. When you click on rebuild, should anything come up or does it automatically do this when I click on rebuild and I assume it happened?

2ND question not resolved is opening emails with attachments - I can't even get the emails to open to do what you suggested above. when I go into mail and click on an email I know has attachments, the email never opens up I just get that little circulating beach ball thing. I have left the computer doing this but th email never comes up and so far I have not seen an error message - when I come back the computer is just sitting like it wants me to open an email - I sent myself a form from a windows computer today that is a .doc so I know this should be there but can't open it up. I am stumped. Thanks for hanging in there with me and figuring this out. I am learning a lot of trouble shooting skills from you. Marcia

malibuchevy - Aug 16, 2006 - 6:01 pm

Cheryl - alittle more info - I also am trying to compose an email from my computer. when I click on the paper clip of course the box comes up to select attachment. I have gone into the document file and tried sending both a .cwk and .doc cuz I have appleworks files and also mac officefor the .doc. when I find the file and click on open, the same thing happens - I get the little swirling beach ball thing that comes up and the only way I can move forward is to do a force quit on mail. Something is amiss but thought it might help our trouble shooting to know it is hosed both ways.
Marcia

Cheryl - Aug 17, 2006 - 3:42 am

Marcia,

There might be a few things to tweak in Mail to correct this problem.

First, in Mail, go to the Mail menu and select Preferences.
In General, midway down is Downloads Folder.
Make sure it is set to Mail Downloads folder in the pull down menu.

Now go to Accounts>Advanced.
Where it says Prompt me to skip messages over ( ) KB.... make sure it has nothing in that box. If it does, just delete the number.
Close Preferences.

Now create a new message and select attachments. In the new window that appears - at the bottom - make sure the Use windows friendly attachments is checked.

Now give it a try.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 17, 2006 - 5:56 pm

Cheryl - under mail, preferences I do not have a downloads folder. Can I find this anywhere else?

Cheryl - Aug 18, 2006 - 12:29 am

Marcia,

You can designate a folder for your downloads in Mail - creating one.

Go to Mail's Preferences>General.
In the Download section, with the pull down menu select Other.
Now a new window will open.
First select a place that you want your attachments to be saved. This should be in your Home folder to make it easier to find when needed.
Select New Folder at the bottom left.
Name your folder in the next window that pops up. (attachments or Mail downloads). Click Create.
Now your new folder should be listed in the column window where you designated it (Home).
Now click on Select.
That window disappears and in the Mail Preferences, it will show up.

Now your attachments that come with emails will be saved in that folder.

Immediately under the Downloads is Remove unedited Downloads Option. My personal rule is when I want to save the attachment, I move it to another folder for safe keeping or use the Save option in the individual email. I then set the Remove option to After message is Deleted. Anything important I keep and the attachment will be kept. Any thing else I delete in Mail, the attachments will get deleted. This is good to keep my hard drive clear of the clutter of those jokes and images that are sent to me (and I don't want to keep).
You may want to select one of the other options.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 18, 2006 - 2:59 pm

Cheryl - when I go into the Mail pull down and click on preferences a window comes up that has these categories across the top
Accts - Fonts & Colors - Viewing - Composing - Signature - Rules
There is no General - where do I find this on my system. My version of mail is 1.2.5 (v553)does this help?
Are we ever going to get this? It sure is frustrating!
Marcia

Cheryl - Aug 18, 2006 - 11:57 pm

Marcia,

When you open Preferences, the first window should be in General already. The first line should read Default Email Reader, then Check for new Mail and New Mail sound.
Do you have this when you first open Mail's preferences?

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 19, 2006 - 1:05 pm

Yes - that is the screen -guess I just don't know the lingo -where do I find the download section is it hidden in a pull down cuz the only listings to get into are the above email
Accts - Fonts & Colors - Viewing - Composing - Signature - Rules
I will await your reply

Cheryl - Aug 19, 2006 - 1:18 pm

Marcia,

The Download Section is in the middle in the first window that opens in Mail>Preferences.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 19, 2006 - 3:02 pm

The first window that opens when I click on preferences has the following choices across the top only (see below). I see no download in this window.
there were however the "wenberg1@cableone.net" under description and the check for new mail which I have set for 5 minutes and the new mail sound which I have set. Is this the screen you are referring to - there is no download anywhere.
below are choices.
Accts - Fonts & Colors - Viewing - Composing - Signature - Rules

Cheryl - Aug 20, 2006 - 12:57 am

Marcia,

What you are looking at across the top are the other options you can set.
When you first open Preferences - look at the information that is listed under the tool bar/icons at the top (where Accts, fonts, viewing, etc are listed) in the window.

I have sent you an email with an attachment. The attachment is a picture of the preferences window. Let me know if you can open it.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 20, 2006 - 9:14 am

Cheryl - I received your attachment - mine does not look like that at all.
Must be another version of mac

Cheryl - Aug 20, 2006 - 10:37 am

Marcia,

First, this is good that you got my attachment and you were able to open it.

Second, yes, I have the latest updated OS X 10.4.7 and Mail has gone through some changes. The problem is I have completely forgotten how the 'older' Mail program looks like. I apologize. I found my book on 10.2 to find where the preferences for download are at.

Go to system Preferences - the light switch in the dock, and you should have Internet panel. Open that and there are several Tabs. Click on Web.

here is where you select the default browser - in the pull down menu select Safari.
Home page is what you want Safari to open to when you first start it.
And the last item is Download files... click the Select button and select a folder. I created a new folder named Downloads and have everything go there.

Now, I will send you a document via email. Let me know if you can open it or if you have trouble with it.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 21, 2006 - 2:45 am

Created the file but the bad news is I am not able to open your attachments on the email you sent - same old problem - there are 2 little purple square with the small word "image" underneath, where I am assuming the attachment should be. Any other suggestions?

Cheryl - Aug 21, 2006 - 9:12 am

Marcia,

Those attachments were text documents. Appleworks or TextEdit would open them.

At the top of my email, do you see Attachments under the from, to, subject? If so, click there and see if it lists the attachments. If it does, click on one, then it should open.

Go to Mail>Preferences>Accounts and click on Advanced. Where it says prompt me to skip messages over ... Do you have a number there? If so, delete it or if it comes back, set it to 200 (kb).

Do you know if your ISP is blocking attachments? Maybe you have your account set to block attachments that are a specific size?

Cheryl

Cheryl - Aug 22, 2006 - 2:31 am

From User:
Cheryl - was trying to respond to your last email but when I hit quick links and sned a response, I got the web page but there was no place for a response? Any way - here is how my email looks. I can't click on anything. I went to advanced and there was nothing in the box so I put 200 in. I where would I check on a blocker for ISP?

Cheryl - Aug 22, 2006 - 2:35 am

Marcia,

To check your settings at your ISP go to: http://www.cableone.net/myservices/
Click on My Spam to check what is set there.
also check My Account. Is it there that you may have an option to block attachments at a certain size.

In the Mail link, you can access your email via your web browser.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 22, 2006 - 2:38 am

I could not open your attachments
there was not a number in the advanced KB - I entered 200
Were would I find the ISP blocking information.
Did you look at the email that you responded to the question of the site.
I pasted a copy of what yo email looks like when it arrives in my mailbox
to see if it looks normal or that would give you any insight.

Cheryl - Aug 22, 2006 - 9:46 am

Marcia,

Yes, the email does look normal. Do you get the MacOSX.com banner on it?

Double check one thing for me.
Go to Mail>Preferences.
click on viewing
Do you see the line Display Remote images in HTML messages?
Click the box next to it.

Now see if you can see the attachments.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 22, 2006 - 2:59 pm

No, it does not have the banner on it I can't remember if I sent you a copy of how it looks, there is a little purple square that says image but you can't do a thing with it.

There is a ck by the display remote images in HTML messages.

There is nothing on my cable account that blocks attachments and I called their tech support just to verify.

I am sure this is driving you as crazy as it is me.

in order to get an updated version of "mail" does it have to be purchased or can it be downloaded from some site - I am wondering if this would help me any?
marcia

Cheryl - Aug 22, 2006 - 4:08 pm

Marcia,

The only way to update Mail is to get the complete full install OS X updated version. You are now running OS X 10.2.x . What is now available is Tiger - OS X 10.4.x
But - I need to know what model Mac you have as 10.4 can not be installed on every Mac. There is a 10.3 version that just may work on your machine if it is an older model.

I am at a loss as to what is causing those attachments not to show up.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 25, 2006 - 12:55 pm

Cheryl or whomever
the mac I have is processor : 1GHz Power PC G4
Keep in mind that at one point these attachments could be received cuz I had sent some work home from the office in doc form. - Would there be any download that might do something weird- I hardly ever download anything or am at a loss
Would it be advisable to reload the mail program from my original disk - if so, guide me how to do this and what I might need to save for infor
before I went ahead. Thanks Marcia

TechSupport - Aug 25, 2006 - 5:55 pm

Cheryl - Aug 26, 2006 - 4:55 pm

Marcia,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

The only way to re-install Mail is to do a re-install of the entire system. It is easy to do this with the Archive & Install option in the Installer.
You then will need to install the 10.2.8 combo updater.

But first, try this:

Start up with the OS X CD 10.2 Disk 1 (insert CD, restart computer and immediately hold down the C key)
Do not click on the installer screen. Instead go to the Installer menu and select Disk utility.
When that opens click on the second icon in the side bar at the left, then click on Repair Disk at the bottom right.
Watch the activity screen. If it does any repairs - you will need to click on the Repair Disk button a second time after the first pass is done. The object is to make sure it finds all the problems and repairs them. You may need to hit that button a third or fourth time to get no references to repairs made.

Now click on Repair Permissions.

When that is done, quit Disk utility and restart the computer.

Now give Mail a try.

Cheryl

malibuchevy - Aug 28, 2006 - 3:19 pm

Cheryl - I used the disk utility and tried about repair disks - this is what came up in red
"overlapped extent allocation file 566535d
overlapped extent allocation file 566535d
overlapped extent allocation file 566557d
overlapped extent allocation file 566557d
overlapped extent allocation file 566537d
overlapped extent allocation file 566559d
overlapped extent allocation file 566539d
overlapped extent allocation file 566561d
Since it was always the same thing all 5 passes with the above in red, thought I would quit and email to to you. is there something additional I would need to do? does this mean I have a problem on my hard drive or would reinstalling mail correct?
Marcia

Cheryl - Aug 28, 2006 - 3:44 pm

Marcia,

Overlapped extent allocation means that two files occupy the same space on your hard disk. Although this is a very rare situation, at least one of the affected files will likely have data loss. If Disk Utility or fsck reports this issue on your Mac OS X volume, do not install any additional software.

The most effective way to resolve this issue is to back up as much important data as possible, start up from any Mac OS X Install or Restore disc, then perform an Erase and Install installation of Mac OS X.

When you see an overlapped extent allocation error in Disk Utility, some data loss has already occurred on the disk.

Start up from your Mac OS X Install Disc 1. Do not click on the installer.
Instead go to the Installer Menu and select Disk Utility.
What that opens, click on the first hard drive icon at the top of the side bar at the left.
Now go to the Erase tab and select Mac OS Extended in the pull down menu.
right under that is the name of the hard drive. You can name it anything you want.

Now click on Erase. It will warn you that you will lose everything. Click on Erase.

When it is done, go to the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Drive.
Make sure it does all the repairs, and if it does do repairs, click on Repair Drive again.

Now you can quit Disk Utility and begin the install.

Once done and you have restarted the Setup Assistant will pop up guiding you through the set up steps.

After that is all done, go to System Preferences>Software Update and download and install all the updates that come up .

Once that is done, go to Applications>Utilities and start up Disk Utility. Now it is time to repair permissions. When done, quit Disk Utility and give the computer a try out.

Cheryl

Cheryl - Aug 28, 2006 - 4:34 pm

Marcia,

Make sure you let me know how you do.

Cheryl

Cheryl - Aug 29, 2006 - 12:58 pm

Marcia,

How are you doing?

Cheryl