diff --git a/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/base.rb b/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/base.rb
index e331eff3c8..19408f2a48 100644
--- a/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/base.rb
+++ b/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/base.rb
@@ -544,9 +544,9 @@ module ActionMailer
         end
       end
 
-    protected
+    private
 
-      def set_payload_for_mail(payload, mail) #:nodoc:
+      def set_payload_for_mail(payload, mail)
         payload[:mailer]     = name
         payload[:message_id] = mail.message_id
         payload[:subject]    = mail.subject
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@ module ActionMailer
         payload[:mail]       = mail.encoded
       end
 
-      def method_missing(method_name, *args) # :nodoc:
+      def method_missing(method_name, *args)
         if action_methods.include?(method_name.to_s)
           MessageDelivery.new(self, method_name, *args)
         else
@@ -566,8 +566,6 @@ module ActionMailer
         end
       end
 
-    private
-
       def respond_to_missing?(method, include_all = false)
         action_methods.include?(method.to_s)
       end
@@ -830,7 +828,7 @@ module ActionMailer
       message
     end
 
-    protected
+    private
 
       # Used by #mail to set the content type of the message.
       #
@@ -841,7 +839,7 @@ module ActionMailer
       # If there is no content type passed in via headers, and there are no
       # attachments, or the message is multipart, then the default content type is
       # used.
-      def set_content_type(m, user_content_type, class_default)
+      def set_content_type(m, user_content_type, class_default) # :doc:
         params = m.content_type_parameters || {}
         case
         when user_content_type.present?
@@ -863,18 +861,16 @@ module ActionMailer
       # If it does not find a translation for the +subject+ under the specified scope it will default to a
       # humanized version of the <tt>action_name</tt>.
       # If the subject has interpolations, you can pass them through the +interpolations+ parameter.
-      def default_i18n_subject(interpolations = {})
+      def default_i18n_subject(interpolations = {}) # :doc:
         mailer_scope = self.class.mailer_name.tr("/", ".")
         I18n.t(:subject, interpolations.merge(scope: [mailer_scope, action_name], default: action_name.humanize))
       end
 
       # Emails do not support relative path links.
-      def self.supports_path?
+      def self.supports_path? # :doc:
         false
       end
 
-    private
-
       def apply_defaults(headers)
         default_values = self.class.default.map do |key, value|
           [
diff --git a/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/preview.rb b/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/preview.rb
index 93a11453bf..c147ca78d0 100644
--- a/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/preview.rb
+++ b/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/preview.rb
@@ -94,22 +94,22 @@ module ActionMailer
         name.sub(/Preview$/, "").underscore
       end
 
-      protected
-        def load_previews #:nodoc:
+      private
+        def load_previews
           if preview_path
             Dir["#{preview_path}/**/*_preview.rb"].each { |file| require_dependency file }
           end
         end
 
-        def preview_path #:nodoc:
+        def preview_path
           Base.preview_path
         end
 
-        def show_previews #:nodoc:
+        def show_previews
           Base.show_previews
         end
 
-        def inform_preview_interceptors(message) #:nodoc:
+        def inform_preview_interceptors(message)
           Base.preview_interceptors.each do |interceptor|
             interceptor.previewing_email(message)
           end
diff --git a/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/test_case.rb b/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/test_case.rb
index 1d09a4ee96..ebc7b37961 100644
--- a/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/test_case.rb
+++ b/actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/test_case.rb
@@ -73,38 +73,36 @@ module ActionMailer
         end
       end
 
-      protected
+      private
 
-        def initialize_test_deliveries # :nodoc:
+        def initialize_test_deliveries
           set_delivery_method :test
           @old_perform_deliveries = ActionMailer::Base.perform_deliveries
           ActionMailer::Base.perform_deliveries = true
           ActionMailer::Base.deliveries.clear
         end
 
-        def restore_test_deliveries # :nodoc:
+        def restore_test_deliveries
           restore_delivery_method
           ActionMailer::Base.perform_deliveries = @old_perform_deliveries
         end
 
-        def set_delivery_method(method) # :nodoc:
+        def set_delivery_method(method)
           @old_delivery_method = ActionMailer::Base.delivery_method
           ActionMailer::Base.delivery_method = method
         end
 
-        def restore_delivery_method # :nodoc:
+        def restore_delivery_method
           ActionMailer::Base.deliveries.clear
           ActionMailer::Base.delivery_method = @old_delivery_method
         end
 
-        def set_expected_mail # :nodoc:
+        def set_expected_mail
           @expected = Mail.new
           @expected.content_type ["text", "plain", { "charset" => charset }]
           @expected.mime_version = "1.0"
         end
 
-      private
-
         def charset
           "UTF-8"
         end
diff --git a/actionmailer/lib/rails/generators/mailer/mailer_generator.rb b/actionmailer/lib/rails/generators/mailer/mailer_generator.rb
index 9dd7ee7a27..4a8d0178de 100644
--- a/actionmailer/lib/rails/generators/mailer/mailer_generator.rb
+++ b/actionmailer/lib/rails/generators/mailer/mailer_generator.rb
@@ -19,12 +19,11 @@ module Rails
 
       hook_for :template_engine, :test_framework
 
-      protected
-        def file_name
+      private
+        def file_name # :doc:
           @_file_name ||= super.gsub(/_mailer/i, "")
         end
 
-      private
         def application_mailer_file_name
           @_application_mailer_file_name ||= if mountable_engine?
             "app/mailers/#{namespaced_path}/application_mailer.rb"