The ability to rename an email message is a profoundly valuable feature. However, occasionally the feature just stops working and requires a restart of the application to restore the capability. This has been a persistent problem for me for several years, but I have never been able to purposefully recreate the problem, though it seems to happen for me at least weekly.
For me this problem has only occurred when renaming an email subject in the message browser viewer. Once the bug is triggered no further renaming of message subjects is possible. No error message presents itself, it is just that the new subject is not stored with the message. However, after triggering the bug, when opening an individual message in its own window it is possible to consistently and reliably rename the message without restarting the application. Regardless, the ability to rename the email subject in the message browser view is never restored without first quitting the eM Client application and relaunching it.
What I recall doing last week when the issue occurred, and again today, was to use a slash in my edited title and this appeared to cause the issue to manifest. (e.g. I renamed my message “Amazon Order: New Wider Garden Stakes w/optional extensions”) and it immediately put eMclient in the mode where it would no longer allow subjects to be edited without restarting the application. However, this issue is not immediately repeatable. It seems it will only happen after a prolonged period of eM Client use without restarting the client.
My Theory is that a cache related to subject titles is being populated. When it eventually gets too large, the use of a slash “/“ when renaming subjects causes a data overflow that throws the feature into a frenzy. Since the cache would be cleared after quitting the application and relaunching it, the functionality is restored.
I personally have no issues adding a - or / to existing message subjects in the message preview window no matter how many times I rename or edit the subject using the latest V10.4.5326 with Win11 or Mac OS26. So If your not using the same version, then suggest to update and see if that fixes it..
My Theory is that a cache related to subject titles is bing populated and when it eventually gets too large, the use of a slash “/“ when renaming subjects
I don’t think the subject title or length should make any difference. If it does support will update this thread.
Yes could be your local message cache is corrupted and just needs clearing.
So if you have an IMAP, Exchange, Office 365 or iCloud account “right click on your inbox” or “All Mail” if it’s a Gmail acct, and click “Properties” at the bottom. Then click the “Repair” tab and click “Repair”.
Once the cache is cleared your messages will be slower to reread till fully cached again.
If clearing the local message cache still has the same problem, then next suggest you go to “Menu / Accounts” and remove and readd your account and see if that fixes it, as could be an account problem and might just need re-adding as new.
Note: If you have a POP account “before removing your account” go to “Menu / File / Export” and choose “Export emails to (.eml) files” and save your POP messages to a folder on your desktop. Then after re-adding your POP account go back to “Menu / File / Import” and choose “Email (.eml) and select your desktop folder.
Thanks for your advice. I usually keep my eMClient’s releases updated. Plus, this subject renaming issue is a multi-year problem so I don’t know that updates alone will solve the issue if they don’t specifically address the concern in a specific release. As I stated, I can’t reproduce the problem immediately it takes days, and a great many subject title renames before the issue manifests again. It does so at least twice a month, but has never caused me to lose any messages. Since I typically rename and then file the message in a specific task folder I usually notice that the renaming didn’t take, just after it fails.
I do have some POP accounts and will need to see if the issues I am having are on the POPs and not on the IMAPS. I will also try to note which mail server is responsible for the message in question. I am aggregating email accounts from at least a half dozen distinctly different systems. I use rules that sort and redirect messages to different inboxes or folders so I don’t need to check or have a local inbox for each mailbox. Some of teh sorting happens on the respective mailservers and soem of it takes place on my desktop within eMClinet. I also have POP mail stored in IMAP mail inboxes and vice versa. So it really complicates the matter, when there is so much cross pollination
I don’t want to mess with repairing and re-syncing my email for fear of losing any older messages that might still be buried in my inboxes, especially when quitting the app and relaunching seems to fix the issue every time and opening a message in its own window is a viable, although slightly tedious solution, especially when you have taken the time to compose a perfectly complex and descriptive subject line with the appropriate action notations only to later find that the revised subject line was never saved.
If I have to, I will just live with the issue. It isn’t horrible, but occasionally unnerving when I have several dozen email messages open on different desktops and need to sort thorough it all to make sure I don’t miss something thats in-process before restarting eM Client. At least there is workaround, if I prefer to change the subject in its own window (it always works, without fail).
I believe eM Client is a fairly solid application and despite all of my organizational gyrations I have never lost any messages or found any of them to be corrupted. It is a workhorse.