PSA: Apple Mail Incorrectly Parses Addresses in Signatures as Missing Recipients - MacRumors
Skip to Content

PSA: Apple Mail Incorrectly Parses Addresses in Signatures as Missing Recipients

With the release of macOS Ventura last month, Apple updated its stock Mail app with several long-awaited features, including the ability to remind you if you forget to add an attachment or recipient. However, it turns out that Mail incorrectly parses email addresses included in signatures as missing recipients.

mail missing recipient
"The new feature that is currently bothering me is Mail's new ability to remind me if I forget an attachment or recipient," writes 512 Pixels' Stephen Hackett, who was first to highlight the problem.

"Gmail and others have had this for years, and it's honestly great," he says. "It's just too bad that Mail doesn't seem to understand that some people put their email addresses in their email signatures."

"As you can see in this screenshot [above], Mail has started warning me every time I send a message that the email address in my footer has been left off the recipient list.

"This is a shockingly dumb catch on Mail's part because the application should know what I have set up using its own Signatures feature. It's literally right there in the app's own settings."

email signatures pane

Hackett has filed feedback with Apple to hopefully address the problem in a future update, but until then it's worth bearing in mind that Mail will continually bug you to add any addresses in your signatures as missing recipients before it lets you send messages on their way.

Related Forum: macOS Ventura

Popular Stories

General macOS Mail Feature

Apple Hide My Email Vulnerability Exposes Real Email Addresses

Wednesday July 1, 2026 6:20 am PDT by
A flaw in Apple's Hide My Email service can reportedly allow almost anyone to uncover the real email address behind a generated alias, and Apple has failed to address it for more than a year since it was first reported. 404 Media is withholding the technical specifics of the vulnerability because it remains exploitable, but the publication verified the issue this week using one of its own...
Apple 2026 Back to School Graphic

Apple's 2026 Back to School Offer Just Went Live in Select Countries

Wednesday July 15, 2026 11:48 am PDT by
Apple's annual Back to School promotion is now live in select countries in Asia, including China, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The offer provides college students and educational staff with a free item with the purchase of an eligible Mac or iPad model. The exact offer varies by country, with options including a pack of four AirTags, AirPods 4,...
iphone 17 cyber

Apple Closes Unlocked iPhone Loophole for T-Mobile and Verizon Financing

Wednesday July 15, 2026 3:20 pm PDT by
Carrier-financed iPhones purchased from Apple will soon be locked to the carrier, ending a workaround customers used to purchase an unlocked iPhone on a payment plan. Until the rule change, buying an iPhone from Apple and opting for financing through Verizon or T-Mobile meant you would get an iPhone not locked to either carrier's network. That's no longer the case, and now iPhones financed...

Top Rated Comments

NightFox Avatar
48 months ago
I don't even understand the point of this feature. It's really useful when an email client notices you might not have included an attachment you refer to, but I'm struggling to think of an instance where I would want to include the email address in the message body of someone I'm actually sending that email to. There maybe be niche cases, but I'd suspect that 99.9% of the time that's not something you would be wanting to do.

I'm sure someone will come up with a valid example though.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
scrl Avatar
48 months ago
I think it's worse than this. I'm getting bugged when I merely mention another email address in a message, because Mail thinks that address should be a recipient too? WHY? I often want to mention another email address but not include them as a recipient. There really ought to be configurable rules around all this...
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
48 months ago
What's the idea to add own e-mail to signature if it is already in the "From" field?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Detektiv-Pinky Avatar
48 months ago

What's the idea to add own e-mail to signature if it is already in the "From" field?
Some people still print emails, or forward them to other people and not always is the 'From' field preserved in this context. It makes sense to have your address embedded in the signature.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MYZ Avatar
48 months ago
It's difficult to believe that zero people at Apple put their emails in their signature.

So then the obvious question is, why wasn't this easily caught earlier?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
48 months ago
The worlds most advanced os can’t do the most basic task correctly. Color me shocked.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)