How to stop mail from randomly opening on mac

The frustration of having your emails open unexpectedly on your Mac! Here are some steps to help you stop this from happening:

1. Check your email client settings:

For Mail.app (built-in email client):
- Go to Mail > Preferences > General
- Uncheck "Open attachments automatically"
- Uncheck "Open emails automatically"
For other email clients like Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or third-party apps:
- Check the settings menu for similar options to disable automatic opening of emails or attachments.

2. Disable Auto-Play:

Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General
Uncheck "Allow apps downloaded from: Anywhere" (or "Anywhere" if you're using macOS High Sierra or earlier)
Check "Allow apps downloaded from: App Store" (or "App Store" if you're using macOS High Sierra or earlier)

3. Disable Quick Look:

Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts
Uncheck "Quick Look" under "Services"
Alternatively, you can disable Quick Look for specific folders or emails by right-clicking (or Control-clicking) on the folder or email and selecting "Get Info". Then, uncheck "Open with Quick Look" in the "General" tab.

4. Disable Spotlight Search:

Go to System Preferences > Spotlight
Uncheck "Search results" under "Privacy"
This will prevent Spotlight from indexing your emails and opening them unexpectedly.

5. Disable Mail's "Show Preview" feature:

6. Disable third-party email plugins:

Check your email client's settings or plugins folder for any third-party plugins that might be causing the issue. Disable or uninstall them if necessary.

7. Reset your email client:

If none of the above steps work, try resetting your email client by deleting its preferences file. For example, for Mail.app:
- Go to ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData (or ~/Library/Mail/V3/MailData for newer versions of macOS)
- Delete the MailData folder
- Restart your email client

By following these steps, you should be able to prevent your emails from opening randomly on your Mac.