This help article is for an old version of Direct Mail.
If you are having trouble opening Direct Mail, or if your Direct Mail Project is not working as expected, you can try the following troubleshooting steps. After completing each step, please stop and check to see if the issue you encountered has been resolved. If not, move on to the next step.
Step 1: Restart Your Mac
In our experience, 9 times out of 10, restarting your Mac will solve the issue you may be having. Please try a restart first, then come back to this page if problems persist.
Step 2: Check for Software Update
Make sure that you are running the latest version of Direct Mail. You can check for an update by choosing Direct Mail > Check for Software Update from the menu bar at the top of your screen. If you got Direct Mail from the Mac App Store, open up the App Store app and look under the Updates tab.
Step 3: Delete Caches and Preferences
It is possible for Direct Mail's cache and preferences files to be in an inconsistent state. Removing these files can help resolve some issues. Here's how:
- Quit Direct Mail
- Open the Terminal application. It is located inside the Applications > Utilities folder. You can also search for it using Spotlight (the magnifying class in the top-right corner of your screen).
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Copy the following line of text, paste it into the Terminal window, and press the Return key:
defaults delete com.ernieware.directmail; mv ~/Library/Caches/com.ernieware.* ~/Library/Containers/com.ernieware.directmail/Data/Library/Caches/com.ernieware.* ~/.Trash/;
Try reopening Direct Mail to see if the issue resolves. If problems persist, proceed to step 3.
Step 4: Create a New Project
It is possible that your Direct Mail Project has somehow become damaged. This can be the result of network problems (if the project is stored on a network drive), hard drive issues, file syncing problems, etc. If the issue you are experiencing goes away after creating a new project, then odds are the issue is related to your project (and not the Direct Mail application or preferences).
- Open Direct Mail
- Close any Direct Mail windows that appear
- Choose File > New Project from the menu bar.
If the issue goes away when using the new project, then it's possible that your original project is damaged.
If you suspect that your Direct Mail Project is damaged, please send it to us for inspection. Please use the "Send Email" button on this page, as it can handle very large file transfers that wouldn't work over regular email.
If the issue persists, please continue on to Step 4.
Step 5: Re-install Direct Mail
It is possible that your download of Direct Mail has been damaged. This can happen as a result of hard drive problems, overly aggressive anti-virus software, or other software that may have interfered with Direct Mail. To reinstall:
- Quit Direct Mail
- Switch to the Finder and locate the Direct Mail application. It is most likely in your
ApplicationsorDownloadsfolder. - Drag Direct Mail to the Trash. Don't worry, your messages, mailing lists, and reports will not be deleted (they are saved in a separate project file on your hard drive).
- Click here to download a fresh copy of Direct Mail. If you purchased Direct Mail from the Mac App Store, open the App Store and click the "Purchased" icon at the top of the window to re-download Direct Mail.
After Direct Mail has finished downloading, open Direct Mail and see if your issue is resolved. If it is not, please contact our support team.