eMC app update & crash on macOS

My eM-Client (paid license) prompted for an update to a new version, so I started the auto download & install on my old iMac, macOS-OSX 10.11.6. The process ended regularly, and I landed on the “Congratulations!” web page.

After the necessary eMC restart, I got errors and freezing of the app. I had to force-quit it: other actions were not possible.
Now at every launch the message “eM Client quit unexpectedly” appears immediately. Check of eMC database corruption doesn’t start at all.
I restarted my Mac, no other apps running. Same eMC crash. I downloaded manually the latest v. 8.2.1687.0, re-installed and tried to launch: nada.

I know it’s an old issue, and I know the brute solution: to get rid of the whole folder located at ~/Library/Application Support/EM Client.

So I ask other people who stumbled on this problem: are there any ways to recover (at least partly) the emails databases already stored locally?

Mails are not lost (all my accounts are IMAP) but I’d rather prefer to recycle what’s still there, instead of letting eMC rebuild everything from scratch.
My email providers all offer a free service for normal private users. I wonder if they can object for this unexpected “owerwork” - happening fom time to time - of retrieving at once many years of stored emails on their servers.
Waiting for suggestions. What to do now? To throw away (again) all the databases, or to find a recipe at least for partial salvage / recovery?

I appreciate several eMC features, but this last experience “update and die” is quite irritating.

If you have done a recent eM Client backup either automatically in settings or manually you can try restoring your backup via the menu option.

Failing that if you have no recent backup and have IMAP accounts you would normally need to remove and re-add your IMAP accounts as new.

As you said if you cannot get the program to launch you would have to drag the whole folder to the bin and reinstall if the program or database is corrupted.

Once all working suggest to go into settings and setup the automatic periodic backup or do manual backups via the EMC menu regularly.

[quote=“cyberzork, post:2, topic:77065, full:true”]
…if you cannot get the program to launch you would have to drag the whole folder to the bin and reinstall if the program or database is corrupted.[/quote]

Thank you cyberzork for your suggestions.
The problem seems more severe: eMC 8.2.1687, as well as 8.2.1680, cannot run on old Macs as mine (macOS 10.11.6 El Capitan). And they don’t show any incompatibility alert.

I made a bunch of installation tests. For each test I started with the virgin Mac. I removed both the app “eM Client” from the Application folder, as well as the folder “eM Client” from ~/Library/Application Support/. In brief the Mac is prepared as one that never had eMC installed. Then I installed the .pkg.
My results: v8.2.1457 and v8.2.1478 started regularly (and created their “eM Client” folder). On the contrary v8.2.1680 and v8.2.1687 fail to run, and give the “unexpectedly quit” message with their error report. They explode very early, since the “eM Client” folder just contains three empty files (zero bytes): main.dat, check_db.txt and Logs/sqlite.log.
The culprit is not a corrupted database, it is the app itself. The last apps, not running on old macs, behave (from my point of view) as if they were already corrupted. Knowing that I’ll stick with v8.2.1478, hoping to never push the update button in the future.

The closing remark of my last post, “install and die”, is not far from reality.

Yes could then be the older Apple OS is the issue and you would need to update to a later Mac OS to run V8.x . The earliest eM Client ver release for Mac referred to macOS Mojave fix in 2018, so more than likely eM Client for Mac was tested on that OS and up & be lucky to work on older OS’s.

It appears according to the Apple site Mac OS El Capitan is (no longer supported by Apple) In keeping with Apple’s release cycle. Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan is also (no longer receiving security updates) as of August 2018.

So the only thing i would suggest for your older Mac OS is to (try the latest version 7.x) if you cannot get any V8.x to work from the eM Client release history page. If that still doesn’t work, you would need to update your OS to eg: Mojave or later if your hardware supports it, or update your Mac.

(Latest version 7 eM Client for Mac)

7.2.37965.0

Monday, February 24, 2020

eM Client for Mac 7.2 Service Update

  • Fixed occasional crashes during scrolling
  • A few other fixes

Thanks again for your prompt reply.
For now it seems that v8.2 (1478) works reliably over that ol’ Capitan!
OS update? The hardware dates 2007. It cannot be upgraded any more. But the SSD is fast enough.
I’ve taken seriously your suggestion of frequent backups. In any case the built-in database check & repair is very robust. I made a mess trying to keep most of the pre-crash .dat files. Few errors were discovered and promptly repaired. So I returned online in a short time.

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