I also have the same issue with built in Intel UHD 620 graphics after updating to 1.9.1-30ef802f. Unfortunately it makes Mailspring next to unuseable at the moment.
I don’t have the issue with any other electron apps.
Resizing the window doesn’t always cause the window to repaint and often quit is required.
The --disable-gpu flag doesn’t resolve the issue but it seems like it makes the repaint on resize always work.
I could be wrong but it might be something to do with lack of RAM, I have some other electron based apps that go to a background colour and title bar state when I haven’t used them in a while and when they get re-opened, they need to essentially re-load. They look the same as Mailspring but Mailspring doesn’t handle the reload.
I get this problem regularly on a 16Gb RAM machine so not sure it would be lack of RAM.
It tends to happen when you switch between applications (I think). Like open up a new email, go to browser and then go back to Mailspring and then the entire application goes black/white.
Reproducing it on demand is difficult though so it might be something to do with when (x) of something is being consumed.
I have also experienced it on my dual monitors where, if it’s not focused on one monitor and I’m working on the other and it will happen but randomly, not necessarily at the same time as changing windows.
So, it loses focus and then randomly, not at the same time as any focus change, it will turn white.
I said switching windows but I’ll have Mailspring up on one monitor and then the browser up in the second monitor. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, it seems to definitely be more problematic when switching between focuses across different screens.
Following that, I have checked both my laptop single screen and in my dual screen dock and it seems like it’s only happening to me with two screens. So it could be dual monitor or something the dual monitor causes like higher GPU load.
To contribute, I also use a dual monitor, and an AMD graphics card. What usually fix for me is to click twice on the mailspring icon on the system tray, it seens to trigger some sort of redraw of the screen and then everything is back
Hello, I am also having this issue. Dual monitors (running at different resolutions) but for me it doesn’t seem to happen when switching windows, only when opening emails. It happens mostly with emails from my workplace but other times with completely random emails such as from Humble Bundle. I am almost always running Vivaldi browser (Chromium) but it has happened with Vivaldi closed. Closing the window and reopening it from the system tray usually works if done multiple times.
I’m not experiencing this but my gf is. We both run it on laptops with AMD Ryzen 4K APUs, but I have an Nvidia discreet GPU and 16 GB RAM, and she’s has 8 GB RAM and the built-in AMD graphics.
We both use Chrome as our default browsers and constantly have it open. She normally uses 2 screens at the same time (built-in and external) and I use either an external or the built-in.
I’m just giving my experience in case it’s helpful to solve this issue. I use Debian 10, with Mailspring 1.9.1, installed downloading the 64-bit .deb from the website.
I can sometimes reproduce the issue by creating new “Compose” windows. Sometimes (I can work on making this statement more precise if you guys think it could be helpful) there seems to be a limit on the number of new compose windows that can be opened. A while ago it happened if I open three new windows (by hitting Ctrl+N 3 times). Until two it’s fine, and reaching three the main window (in the back) turns white. No resizing fixes it if 3 compose windows are opened. As soon as I closed one and went back to two, resizing solved the problem. This limit of 3 windows was consistent for many trials during the same run of mailspring. As soon as I fully closed mailspring and reopened, the limit disappeared. Again, I’ll be happy to report back if you think this could be helpful.
Expanding on my previous post, I am able to produce the white screen in a consistent manner:
Open mailspring,
close mailspring to the tray,
click on the icon to bring mailspring to the front,
press Ctrl+N four times to create 4 new compose windows.
While the 4th composer is created, the main mailspring window goes white. Resizing the main window doesn’t solve the issue until the number composer windows is back to 3 or below.
In some instances, I have obtained the white screen not in the fourth composer window, but before.
But you’re using Mailspring on Linux, although the symptom is the same, a blank/white main window, what causes it on Windows is apparently different from Linux.
On Windows seems to be related to running more than one monitor and switching to the Mailspring app from an app (Chrome?) on a different monitor.
I should say that on Windows I can ctrl+N 4 or more times and the windows never goes blank/white.
Edit: tried it again following the exact same steps on Windows, managed to reproduce it. See below.
I experienced that on Windows too. And also when I tried to replicate the problem above with x4 new windows, it was fine. But when I specifically followed the steps confirmed above (close to tray and then make focus and then try, this did cause the issue).
The above was just steps to reproduce the problem. The cause is probably multiple different things that lead to the same issue.
Just to add that I’m facing this issues for weeks. I just hang out on this forum to post about it, and see if this a know issue. Seems it is a common bug.
I am in Windows 10 latest updates, multiple screens, Intel integrated graphics (i5 8thGen, UHD 620) and I face various situations where Mailspring gets full blank. It can be when putting in visibility again (for example when I see a new mail notification), writing a new mail, writing a reply,… It happens something like 2/3 of the time, this is very annoying.
At the beginning of this issue, I closed and reopened Mailspring, and I lost seconds at every blank screen. Then some weeks ago, I found out that minimizing and restoring can make it appears right, sometimes I need to make is multiple times with waiting times so it get back to normal.
Yes, good reproduction. Note that the number of new emails is variable : sometimes the main window gets blank on the first new email writing window opened, sometimes 2,… I guess it can be even higher than 4.
Looks like it is related to the heap in Electron. And when a garbage collection occurs, or when it use “deeper” memory, the blank screen fires (miss the repaint), the render crashes or hangs when some conditions appear.