Some Mac users who upgraded to Mountain Lion are reporting problems with the Address field's auto-complete feature in Mail. Auto-complete is the feature that tries to predict the target recipient when you start typing an email address, so that you don't have to type more than a few characters. I find this feature invaluable, and when Mountain Lion Mail failed to auto-complete the address in my first outgoing message, I knew something was up.
I started by checking the Address Panel window, which is available by selecting Window, Address Panel in the Mail application. When the Address Panel opened, there were no addresses listed. When I attempted to add an email address, nothing happened.
A quick check of the Address Book app showed all of my contacts, so what was going on?
A little bit more investigation revealed that auto-complete wasn't the only feature not working in Mail. The ability to add events and invitations contained within the body of an email to my calendar was also buggered up.
The Problem
Both of these problems stem from the same issue: Mail's failure to transverse an alias to a cloud storage or syncing service.
Many of you use cloud storage and syncing services to allow multiple Macs to share common information. Two of the most popular things to share between multiple Macs are Address Book data and Calendar data.
In fact, I was using DropBox to sync my Address Book and Calendar data. This worked fine under OS X Lion and earlier, but Mountain Lion's Mail app seems to have a bug that prevents it from finding the necessary data files on a cloud-based storage system other than iCloud.
Luckily, the solution is a simple one; all of the fixes can be performed in the Finder. You don't need any special tools, but before you start, be sure to back up your system because we will be deleting some files and aliases. In addition, you may want to back up the AddressBook folder that is stored on your cloud service.
When you've taken care of the backups, let's begin.
The Solution for the Auto-Complete Mail Problem
- Quit Mail, as well as Contacts, Calendar, and Reminders, if they're open.
- Use the Finder to navigate to ~/Library/Application Support. (The ~ represents the user's home folder.) You may notice that the Library folder doesn't seem to be present on your Mac. That's because it's been hidden since the introduction of OS X Lion. You can find instructions on how to make the Library folder visible in our OS X Lion Is Hiding Your Library Folder tip.
- Once you're in the Application Support folder, you'll notice that the AddressBook folder seems to be missing, too. You'll see an alias called AddressBook; you can tell it's an alias by the little arrow in the bottom left corner of the icon. If the AddressBook folder isn't an alias, stop right here. The problem you're having is probably related to something else.
- If the folder is an alias, then we can continue.
- The alias points to the AddressBook folder that you moved to your cloud service. In order to correct the Mail problem, you need to copy the AddressBook folder from your cloud service back to your Mac, and then delete the alias.
- Open your cloud storage service. This will vary from service to service, but in most cases, there will be a folder on your Mac that shows all of the data you have stored in the cloud service. Open this folder and locate the AddressBook folder.
- Leave this Finder window open; we will be dragging the AddressBook folder to your Mac in a later step.
- In the Application Support folder on your Mac, delete the AddressBook alias by right-clicking the alias and selecting Move to Trash from the pop-up menu.
- Leave the Application Support Finder window open as well.
- With the alias gone, we can copy the actual AddressBook folder back to your Mac. From the Finder window that's open to your cloud service, drag the AddressBook folder to the Application Support folder on your Mac.
- When the copying is complete, you can launch Mail. The Address Panel and the Auto-Complete function should both be working.
The Solution for Events, Invites, and Calendar-Related Mail Problems
The fix for the events and invites issue in Mail is nearly identical to the fix for the AddressBook problem. The only differences are the folder names and where they are stored.
- Quit Mail, as well as Contacts, Calendar, and Reminders, if they're open.
- Open a Finder window to ~/Library. The user's library folder is hidden. A quick way to access it is to hold down the option key and select Go, Library from the Finder menu. A Finder window will open on your Library folder. Leave this window open, because we will be using it shortly.
- Open your cloud storage service and locate the Calendars folder you have stored there. Leave this window open, too, because we will be using it in a few steps.
- In the Library Finder window, you will see an alias called Calendars. You can tell it's an alias because there's an arrow in the bottom left corner of the icon. If Calendars is not an alias, you can stop here because the problem you're having is probably related to something else.
- If Calendars is an alias, then right-click the alias and select Move to Trash from the pop-up menu.
- From the Finder window that's open to your cloud service, drag the Calendars folder to the Library folder on your Mac.
- After the copy process is complete, you can launch Mail. Your problem with events and invites should be fixed.
What to Do About Cloud Syncing
This Mail problem seems to be a bug, because other apps, such as Calendar and Contacts, work fine, even when synced to a cloud service that isn't Apple-based. The easiest fix for now is to just use iCloud. It's free, it's included with OS X Mountain Lion, it will keep your contacts and calendars synced between your Macs and iOS devices, and it works with Mail without any apparent issues.
