MailMate crashes or freezes during every use, very shortly after I start it up

I don't think the problem is the number of messages. Based on what (I think) is your crash reports I believe the problem is related to a rule copying messages. Do you have such a rule defined? A quick way to check is to do this in the Terminal:

grep copyMessage ~/Library/Application\ Support/MailMate/Mailboxes.plist

I've already tried to fix the issue, but even though the problem appears to be simple I'm not convinced the solution is quite as simple. Nevertheless, try this special update of MailMate: http://updates.mailmate-app.com/archives/MailMate_r4404.tbz

(The changes involved in this update could potentially introduce or reveal other bugs.)

Thanks for trying out MailMate.

Thank you for your prompt and thorough response! I did have 2 rules running, according to Terminal, though Terminal didn't tell me where they were. I found one and deleted it. I haven't found the other. Is it not possible to find a list of rules and the folders they are associated with?

I will give the update a try, though it makes me nervous that it could "potentially introduce . . . bugs."

Thanks again for your help.

Don't worry too much. It was just a fair warning that this was a quick fix not tested by other users.

If you view the Mailboxes.plist file then you can also see which mailbox has the rule. Or maybe easier, just do like this to get context for the grep result:

grep -C5 copyMessage ~/Library/Application\ Support/MailMate/Mailboxes.plist

I would actually very much like to know if the test version fixes the crash.

Thank you again for your prompt assistance with this issue.

MailMate no longer crashes, so it worked, though other problems remain.

E.g., MailMate seems to take forever to download from this Gmail account. The little gray circle icon spins and spins and spins and spins.... for well over 16 hours now and it's still spinning. It has downloaded most emails already. There are thousands, but I was figuring MailMate could handle thousands?

(If I should set up as a separate ticket for this, apologies and please let me know.)

Thanks again.

This sounds like an unresolved issue I had with another user and I'm very interested in fixing it. Thousands of messages should not be a problem.

First, if you look under SOURCES in the mailbox outline, which IMAP mailbox has the spinner(s)?

Also, respectfully, I would suggest a more user-friendly way to look up which mailboxes have which rules. There could be a list of all rules in the preferences section, for example.

You suggested that it would be "eas[y]" to type in "grep -C5 copyMessage ~/Library/Application\ Support/MailMate/Mailboxes.plist"

But for those of use who don't use Terminal (ever) for any reason, this is a strange way to search out the information. I'd politely recommend making internal to the MailMate app. Some users don't even know how to open Terminal. MailMate is great and should be accessible to those folks too, despite their lower literacy in Mac-related stuff.

Thanks for listening.

Wow, you are quick to respond! Awesome.

It is my main Gmail and its subfolders that have the spinners. They appear next to the name of the source, and also appear next to some of the subfolders. Sometimes they disappear from subfolders but remain next to the main account name. Same account that was causing the crash before the fix.

Well, I wrote “easier” (than the alternatives) and not “easy”. There is no “easy” alternative and it is of course my intention to make it easy to locate mailboxes with rules in the GUI.

So, apparently no specific IMAP mailbox (I was hoping for “[Gmail]/All Mail”).

Open the Activity Viewer (⌥⌘0), let it run for a minute or so, and then use “Help ▸ Send Server Logs”. That'll help me figure out what MailMate is working on.

How many messages do you think are in the account (roughly)?

Yes, you are correct about what you wrote. Sorry to misquote you. I appreciate the response and your dedication to improving the product further. Cheers.