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On Sonoma, everything behaves as expected, but nothing gets filed, regardless of account. That is, I can’t file Gmail, nor iCloud, nor any other mail server. I’ve been round, and round on settings, restarting Mail, and MsgFiler, and nothing helps. Any thoughts?
By the way, I’ve been using MsgFiler for decades. Great product. I think this is the first problem I’ve had that I couldn’t solve myself.
NM_MacBook@Nimishs-MacBook-Pro bin % bash keepMsgFIlerRunning.sh
keepMsgFIlerRunning.sh: line 1: {rtf1ansiansicpg1252cocoartf2761: command not found
keepMsgFIlerRunning.sh: line 2: syntax error near unexpected token `}’
keepMsgFIlerRunning.sh: line 2: `cocoatextscaling0cocoaplatform0{fonttblf0fnilfcharset0 Menlo-Regular;}’
NM_MacBook@Nimishs-MacBook-Pro bin %
Looks like there might be a mistake in the script? Make sure the file is saved as a straight text file. Sometimes TextEdit adds things like smart quotes and other things that muck up the formatting. I’ve used apps like BBEdit to create plain text files.
Hi Adam,
Same thing, nothing happens, the log does not exist.
I would be happy to have posted this in a different place, but I am not sure where…
The log file won’t write anything if Mail is open and MsgFiler is running. Looks like the script is having a problem. How did you create the script file? Make sure the file doesn’t have funny characters or smart quotes that might have resulted from copying and pasting the contents of the script in the article.
I may make a video describing how to do this, so people can follow along. Stay tuned!
Hi Adam. I’ve just purchased MsgFiler, which is running on Sonoma, and couldn’t be happier. I only wish it was part of Apple Mail itself, like it was the case with MailHub, but I think with what Apple did lately with Sonoma, it may be a long way to go, or perhaps never.
I’d like to ask you an unrelated question, if I may: are you aware of a email template pluggin/app for Apple Mail? I’ve explored MailButler, but it was packed with too many features, rather cumbersome to use and too expensive for this use case.
Just to be more precise: I’m not looking at fancy marketing email template generators here, but rather to ease and standardize replies, even in plain text format.
I am not personally aware of any email template apps for Mail. I tend to write the same replies over and over, so I could benefit from something like that too. I do use tools like Keyboard Maestro and Alfred, and I think they can be configured to provide text snippets that you can easily paste into Mail. I would also look at Shortcuts. It’s pretty easy to create a shortcut that displays a menu. When you choose a menu item, it copies text to the clipboard, switches to Mail, and pastes the content in the frontmost compose mail window (via AppleScript).
FYI, while browsing some Redit forums, I came across someone mentioning aText. I’ve been using it for a day or so now and finding it great for such a simple use, i.e., pasting rich text into emails using a popup menu triggered by a shortcut. I think I’ll settle with this for the time being.
I use the the Apple Mail app most of the time in full screen mode.
When msgFiler 4.1.2 is started, and I am in Mail.app that is in full screen mode, then press CMD+9 I am moved out of Mail.app fullscreen space into a regular desktop space and the msgFiler window is displayed for a moment and it closes.
In order to get msgFiler on top of Mail.app in fullscreen mode I need to quit msgFiler, start it again when on the Mail.app full screen space and then press CMD+9.
It works for some time, but then at random the behavior reverts to what I wrote in the second paragraph of this message.
Please advise whether it’s possible to make the msgFiler window always hoover over the Mail.app in full screen mode.
I already had this option enabled, unfortunately the behavior is the same.
Can you describe how your Spaces settings are configured in System Settings? And, have you tried the feature where MsgFiler aligns itself to Mail’s window? Do you use multiple monitors? I want to try to replicate this on my end.
Sure.
I’m at MacOS Sonoma 14.4.1 (23E224) on Macbook M2
In Preferences, in Desktop & Dock, there is Mission Control section, the options are set as follows:
Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use – OFF
When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application – OFF
Group windows by application – ON
Displays have separate Spaces – ON
The behavior is the same regardless of whether I have just Macbook screen only or connected additional screens. The Mail.app has to be in full screen mode.
I have tried the MsgFIler’s option to align itself to Mail’s window but the behavior is the same.
What is curious is that when I quit MsgFiler and open it again it works flawlessly, with CMD+9 summoning the windows over the full screen Mail.app. I don’t know what conditions need to be met in order for the undesired behavior to start occurring.
One is that yesterday in the evening it worked as intended, I put my Macbook to sleep and tried filing emails in the morning the next day and it started happening again.
The steps are:
Have the Mail.app running in full screen
Start MsgFiler
Summon it with CMD+9
It will show up over the Mail.app window as intended.
At some point summoning the MsgFiler app with CMD+9 over the Mail.app window will cause the move to last space I was working in. Then I have to either quit the MsgFiler app or turn off Mail.app’s fullscreen mode and turn it on again – MsgFiler starts behaving as intended by displaying over the full screen Mail.app
Thanks for the details instructions. I will try to replicate this on my end.
I’m a relatively new MsgFiler user, having moved from SmallCubed’s MailSuite Mail Act-On when it did not survive the upgrade to macOS Sonoma.
To mimic my Act-On filing rules, I’ve created a Keyboard Maestro macro to perform two actions on the selected message(s) before invoking MsgFiler: Mark as Read and Flag > Clear Flag.
MsgFiler’s action menu includes similar actions, but I don’t see a way to have them applied automatically.
Go to MsgFiler Settings > Filing. There will be options to set the Read Status on messages, label, flag, etc. By default, they are set to do nothing, but you can configure to mark messages as read, assign or remove flags and labels.
Mark messages as read and Flag filed messages > Remove Flag are just what I want.
P.S. While I was in MsgFiler Settings, I took a close look all settings and did some fine tuning.
Hi Adam, I upgraded to msgfiler4 and have the filing script installed and running unfortunately, when I file a message, and it re-appears in the inbox again in a couple minutes. Is there something I need to do?
What I’ve tried
Quit and restarted mail
Quit and restarted both mail and msgfiler
Restarted my MacBook Pro
let me know if there’s something else I need to do.
What kind of email account are you trying to file to? Gmail? Which filing method are you using? Archive and File or Direct? Send me an email to support (at) MsgFiler (dot) com and we can continue the thread.
It might be that I will have you create a new user account on your computer, add the same Mail account to this user, install the Filing Script, and see if MsgFiler works correctly. I have been helping others where this solves the problem. Something about how Mail is set up causes this bug. If it works, what you then do is delete the Mail account on the primary user account and recreate it.
Hello Adam, I had a minor issue. I renamed a mailbox and afterwards MsgFiler couldn’t find that mailbox. Even after restarting everything (mac, mail, MsgFIler). Finally I renamed it with a “fake name” and created a new mailbox with the good name and transfered from the fake to the good. Is ther another method ? It’s really not critical
MsgFiler detects new mailboxes by comparing the total count of mailboxes. Since you renamed a mailbox, the total count renamed the same. You can force a refresh of mailboxes by pressing Command-R from MsgFiler. Note, currently Favorite mailboxes and Recent mailboxes do not update with the new name of the mailbox. So, you’ll have to remove a renamed Favorite or Recent and re-add.
I have been a long-time user of the MsgFiler Plugin. It has worked perfectly for my needs and is much preferred to the application. On updating to Sonoma, I can no longer find the latest plugin version available to download – have you discontinued it?
Hi. I know this has been posted before but did not find the answer. I have to computers running Sonoma 14.4.1 msgfiler 4.1.2 and the same happens on both.
First, MsgFiler not always opens on CMD+9. When leave the computer for some time, I have to re-open the app for it to work again.
Also, as described by other users, it happens from time to time that on CMD+9 and mail.app on full screen, I get switched to the desktop but nothing happens. If I quite mail.app and reopen, things go back to normal.
Excelent utility. I am so glad to be able to use it again. Hope you can work out these details soon.
MsgFiler 
On Sonoma, everything behaves as expected, but nothing gets filed, regardless of account. That is, I can’t file Gmail, nor iCloud, nor any other mail server. I’ve been round, and round on settings, restarting Mail, and MsgFiler, and nothing helps. Any thoughts?
By the way, I’ve been using MsgFiler for decades. Great product. I think this is the first problem I’ve had that I couldn’t solve myself.
Send me an email to support (at) msgfiler (dot) com and let’s schedule a troubleshooting session over Zoom to see what’s happening.
HI Adam, I have tried to install the keepMsgFilerRunning script following your instructions, but MF does not start, and I get
open /tmp/msgfiler-open.log
The file /tmp/msgfiler-open.log does not exist.
Make sure that the script works by doing the following in Terminal app:
See what happens. If MsgFIler opens (provided Mail is running), then you may have entered something incorrectly in the cron entry.
Also, I would post a comment on the original post, since this Submit a Question section is getting quite long.
I get an error too –>
NM_MacBook@Nimishs-MacBook-Pro bin % bash keepMsgFIlerRunning.sh
keepMsgFIlerRunning.sh: line 1: {rtf1ansiansicpg1252cocoartf2761: command not found
keepMsgFIlerRunning.sh: line 2: syntax error near unexpected token `}’
keepMsgFIlerRunning.sh: line 2: `cocoatextscaling0cocoaplatform0{fonttblf0fnilfcharset0 Menlo-Regular;}’
NM_MacBook@Nimishs-MacBook-Pro bin %
Looks like there might be a mistake in the script? Make sure the file is saved as a straight text file. Sometimes TextEdit adds things like smart quotes and other things that muck up the formatting. I’ve used apps like BBEdit to create plain text files.
Hi Adam,
Same thing, nothing happens, the log does not exist.
I would be happy to have posted this in a different place, but I am not sure where…
You can go to the original post here and leave a comment: https://msgfiler.wordpress.com/2024/04/25/workaround-for-quitting-msgfiler-bug/
The log file won’t write anything if Mail is open and MsgFiler is running. Looks like the script is having a problem. How did you create the script file? Make sure the file doesn’t have funny characters or smart quotes that might have resulted from copying and pasting the contents of the script in the article.
I may make a video describing how to do this, so people can follow along. Stay tuned!
BBEdit did it! Thank you Adam.
Should MsgFiler show up in the Apple Mail extensions list?
(Sonoma 14.4.1 (23E224))
No, MsgFiler is an app so it would appear in your Applications folder. It is not a MailKit extension.
Sorry, but 41.2. still quits
Okay! I will continue investigating the root cause of this.
Hi Adam. I’ve just purchased MsgFiler, which is running on Sonoma, and couldn’t be happier. I only wish it was part of Apple Mail itself, like it was the case with MailHub, but I think with what Apple did lately with Sonoma, it may be a long way to go, or perhaps never.
I’d like to ask you an unrelated question, if I may: are you aware of a email template pluggin/app for Apple Mail? I’ve explored MailButler, but it was packed with too many features, rather cumbersome to use and too expensive for this use case.
Just to be more precise: I’m not looking at fancy marketing email template generators here, but rather to ease and standardize replies, even in plain text format.
Me too! I tried MailButler but it is cumbersome to use. Would love other ideas from the community here.
I am not personally aware of any email template apps for Mail. I tend to write the same replies over and over, so I could benefit from something like that too. I do use tools like Keyboard Maestro and Alfred, and I think they can be configured to provide text snippets that you can easily paste into Mail. I would also look at Shortcuts. It’s pretty easy to create a shortcut that displays a menu. When you choose a menu item, it copies text to the clipboard, switches to Mail, and pastes the content in the frontmost compose mail window (via AppleScript).
Thanks, Adam, this is helpful.
FYI, while browsing some Redit forums, I came across someone mentioning aText. I’ve been using it for a day or so now and finding it great for such a simple use, i.e., pasting rich text into emails using a popup menu triggered by a shortcut. I think I’ll settle with this for the time being.
I use the the Apple Mail app most of the time in full screen mode.
When msgFiler 4.1.2 is started, and I am in Mail.app that is in full screen mode, then press CMD+9 I am moved out of Mail.app fullscreen space into a regular desktop space and the msgFiler window is displayed for a moment and it closes.
In order to get msgFiler on top of Mail.app in fullscreen mode I need to quit msgFiler, start it again when on the Mail.app full screen space and then press CMD+9.
It works for some time, but then at random the behavior reverts to what I wrote in the second paragraph of this message.
Please advise whether it’s possible to make the msgFiler window always hoover over the Mail.app in full screen mode.
Kind regards,
Blaze
Enable Hide Dock icon in General Settings. This will require a restart of MsgFiler, but afterwards it should hover over Mail.
I already had this option enabled, unfortunately the behavior is the same.
Can you describe how your Spaces settings are configured in System Settings? And, have you tried the feature where MsgFiler aligns itself to Mail’s window? Do you use multiple monitors? I want to try to replicate this on my end.
Sure.
I’m at MacOS Sonoma 14.4.1 (23E224) on Macbook M2
In Preferences, in Desktop & Dock, there is Mission Control section, the options are set as follows:
The behavior is the same regardless of whether I have just Macbook screen only or connected additional screens. The Mail.app has to be in full screen mode.
I have tried the MsgFIler’s option to align itself to Mail’s window but the behavior is the same.
What is curious is that when I quit MsgFiler and open it again it works flawlessly, with CMD+9 summoning the windows over the full screen Mail.app. I don’t know what conditions need to be met in order for the undesired behavior to start occurring.
One is that yesterday in the evening it worked as intended, I put my Macbook to sleep and tried filing emails in the morning the next day and it started happening again.
The steps are:
Thanks for the details instructions. I will try to replicate this on my end.
I’m a relatively new MsgFiler user, having moved from SmallCubed’s MailSuite Mail Act-On when it did not survive the upgrade to macOS Sonoma.
To mimic my Act-On filing rules, I’ve created a Keyboard Maestro macro to perform two actions on the selected message(s) before invoking MsgFiler: Mark as Read and Flag > Clear Flag.
MsgFiler’s action menu includes similar actions, but I don’t see a way to have them applied automatically.
Go to MsgFiler Settings > Filing. There will be options to set the Read Status on messages, label, flag, etc. By default, they are set to do nothing, but you can configure to mark messages as read, assign or remove flags and labels.
Thanks, Adam, for your speedy, helpful response.
Mark messages as read and Flag filed messages > Remove Flag are just what I want.
P.S. While I was in MsgFiler Settings, I took a close look all settings and did some fine tuning.
Hi Adam, I upgraded to msgfiler4 and have the filing script installed and running unfortunately, when I file a message, and it re-appears in the inbox again in a couple minutes. Is there something I need to do?
What I’ve tried
let me know if there’s something else I need to do.
thank you,
mike
What kind of email account are you trying to file to? Gmail? Which filing method are you using? Archive and File or Direct? Send me an email to support (at) MsgFiler (dot) com and we can continue the thread.
It might be that I will have you create a new user account on your computer, add the same Mail account to this user, install the Filing Script, and see if MsgFiler works correctly. I have been helping others where this solves the problem. Something about how Mail is set up causes this bug. If it works, what you then do is delete the Mail account on the primary user account and recreate it.
Hello Adam, I had a minor issue. I renamed a mailbox and afterwards MsgFiler couldn’t find that mailbox. Even after restarting everything (mac, mail, MsgFIler). Finally I renamed it with a “fake name” and created a new mailbox with the good name and transfered from the fake to the good. Is ther another method ? It’s really not critical
MsgFiler detects new mailboxes by comparing the total count of mailboxes. Since you renamed a mailbox, the total count renamed the same. You can force a refresh of mailboxes by pressing Command-R from MsgFiler. Note, currently Favorite mailboxes and Recent mailboxes do not update with the new name of the mailbox. So, you’ll have to remove a renamed Favorite or Recent and re-add.
I have been a long-time user of the MsgFiler Plugin. It has worked perfectly for my needs and is much preferred to the application. On updating to Sonoma, I can no longer find the latest plugin version available to download – have you discontinued it?
macOS Sonoma removed support for Mail Plug-ins. So MsgFiler 4 (with the Filing Script) is the way to go now.
Hi. I know this has been posted before but did not find the answer. I have to computers running Sonoma 14.4.1 msgfiler 4.1.2 and the same happens on both.
First, MsgFiler not always opens on CMD+9. When leave the computer for some time, I have to re-open the app for it to work again.
Also, as described by other users, it happens from time to time that on CMD+9 and mail.app on full screen, I get switched to the desktop but nothing happens. If I quite mail.app and reopen, things go back to normal.
Excelent utility. I am so glad to be able to use it again. Hope you can work out these details soon.
I have yet to reproduce the quitting MsgFIler bug, so that one has been challenging to figure out the source. You can read the blog post on the workaround here for a temporary fix: https://msgfiler.wordpress.com/2024/04/25/workaround-for-quitting-msgfiler-bug/
I have been able to reproduce the full-screen Mail switch to a different space bug on my end, but I don’t have a fix for it yet.