Mac Mail Not Receiving Emails? How to Fix It (2026)

Short answer: If Mail on your Mac isn't receiving email, first make sure the mail isn't simply hidden: since macOS Sequoia 15.4, Mail sorts messages into categories, and anything outside Primary can look missing. Click the selected category to see All Mail, and check Junk, your rules and blocked senders. If the mail really isn't arriving, look for a warning or offline icon next to the account, choose Mailbox > Get All New Mail, check that webmail receives it, and re-enter your password in System Settings > Internet Accounts. Rebuilding the mailbox or re-adding the account fixes most of what's left.

These steps are for macOS 27 and also work on macOS Tahoe 26, Sequoia 15 and Sonoma 14.

Step 1: Check whether the mail is really missing

A lot of "missing" mail has arrived and is just out of view. Check these before changing any settings:

Categories. If you see Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions buttons above the message list, new mail may be in another category. Click the selected category to show All Mail. To turn categories off, click the View Options button in the toolbar (or open the View menu) and deselect Show Mail Categories.
A message filter. If the list shows only unread or flagged mail, a filter is on. Choose View > Filter > Disable Message Filter, or press Command-L.
Junk. Look in the Junk mailbox and in your provider's spam folder on webmail. Mail's own settings are under Mail > Settings > Junk Mail, but your provider can also move mail to Junk before Mail sees it.
Rules. A rule can move or delete mail as it arrives. Check Mail > Settings > Rules and turn off any rule you don't recognize.
Blocked senders. In Mail > Settings > Junk Mail > Blocked, mail from blocked people can go straight to the Trash. Check who's on the list.
Search. Search for the sender's name. If the message turns up in another mailbox, it arrived. If search itself misbehaves, see Mac Mail search not working.

Step 2: Make sure Mail is online and checking

Look for a status icon (a warning symbol or lightning bolt) next to the account's inbox in the sidebar, and click it for details. A lightning bolt means the account is offline.
Take accounts online. Choose Mailbox > Online Status and take any offline account online.
Check for new mail. Choose Mailbox > Get All New Mail, or press Shift-Command-N.
Check your connection and VPN. If websites load but Mail can't connect, turn off any VPN or network filter app and try again.
Quit and reopen Mail, or restart the Mac.

Step 3: Find out whether it's Mail or the account

Sign in to your provider's webmail (iCloud.com, Gmail, Outlook.com) and send yourself a test message from another address or your phone.

It arrives in webmail but not in Mail: the problem is on your Mac. Go to step 4.
It doesn't arrive in webmail either: the problem is the account or the provider. Check the provider's status page, your storage (below) and any notice in webmail.

Apple's System Status page covers iCloud Mail. Google and Microsoft have their own status pages, linked in the sources at the end.

Step 4: Fix the account in Mail

Re-enter your password

If the status icon says the login failed or Mail asks for your password, quit Mail and open Apple menu > System Settings > Internet Accounts. Click the account, click Details if shown, and type your current password. Gmail and Outlook.com accounts may need to be removed and added back with the Google or Microsoft Exchange option instead; our guide to "Unable to verify account name or password" explains why.

Check that the account is turned on

In Mail > Settings > Accounts > Account Information, make sure Enable this account is on. The Status line should show a green dot for online. Turning the account off and on again also forces a fresh connection.

Check your mailbox storage

When a mailbox is full, providers stop accepting new mail. In Mail, Control-click the account's mailbox and choose Get Account Info to see how much space you're using. Delete or archive large messages, then choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items so the space is actually freed on the server.

Accept any new terms

Apple notes that some providers stop delivering to apps until you accept updated terms and conditions. Sign in to webmail and look for a notice.

Step 5: Rebuild the mailbox

If messages show up in webmail but not in a particular mailbox in Mail, select that mailbox in the sidebar and choose Mailbox > Rebuild. For IMAP and Exchange accounts, Mail discards its local copy and downloads the messages again from the server, so the mailbox looks empty for a while. Large mailboxes can take some time. Your mail on the server isn't touched.

Step 6: Remove the account and add it back

If nothing else works, remove the account in Mail > Accounts (Internet Accounts) and add it again, picking your provider from the list where you can. IMAP, iCloud, Gmail and Exchange mail is stored on the server and comes back. If the account uses POP, back up its mailboxes first, since POP mail is stored only on your Mac.

Not getting mail from one sender?

If everything arrives except messages from one person or company, the cause is almost always a filter rather than Mail itself: check your blocked list, your rules, Junk on both Mail and webmail, and whether that sender is in another category. Ask the sender whether their message bounced; a bounce message usually says why.

Mail arrives late or the inbox doesn't refresh

If mail does arrive but only when you click Get Mail, or the unread count never updates, that's a sync problem rather than missing mail. Our guide to Mac Mail inbox not updating covers it, and Mac Mail can't connect to the server covers connection errors.

If Mail keeps letting you down

Disclosure: we make Canary Mail. If you keep losing time to the same sync problems on several accounts, another app may suit you better. Canary Mail is an email app for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows and Android that works with Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo, Exchange and other IMAP accounts. The free plan covers unlimited accounts on 2 devices with AI inbox sorting; the Growth plan ($36 a year) adds AI writing and summaries, read receipts and send later. More than 2 million people use it, and Apple has featured it on the App Store and the Mac App Store.

Be clear about what switching can't fix, though: if your provider is down, your password is wrong or your mailbox is full, every email app will hit the same wall.

Frequently asked questions

Why am I not receiving emails on my Mac?

Often the mail has arrived but is hidden by Mail's categories, a filter, Junk or a rule. If it really isn't arriving, the account may be offline, its password out of date, or the mailbox full. Check webmail to see which.

Why isn't Mac Mail loading new emails?

Look for a lightning bolt or warning icon next to the account, take it online with Mailbox > Online Status, and choose Mailbox > Get All New Mail (Shift-Command-N). If that doesn't work, re-enter your password in Internet Accounts.

Why are my emails suddenly not coming through?

A changed password, a full mailbox, new terms from your provider or a provider outage are the usual causes when mail stops suddenly. Webmail and your provider's status page tell you which.

How do I reset Mail on my Mac?

Rebuild the affected mailbox (Mailbox > Rebuild), or remove the account in Internet Accounts and add it back. Both download your mail again from the server for IMAP, iCloud, Gmail and Exchange accounts.

Will rebuilding a mailbox delete my emails?

No, not for IMAP or Exchange accounts. Mail deletes its local copy and downloads the messages again from the server. The mailbox looks empty until the download finishes.

Why do I get emails on my iPhone but not my Mac?

Your account works, so the problem is Mail on the Mac. Check categories and filters, then the account's status icon, and re-enter the password in System Settings > Internet Accounts.

Other Mac Mail fixes

Sources

Try another email app for Mac

Download Canary Mail