beth73

Q: Mac mail automatically deleting emails

Hi everybody,

 

Has anybody come across this problem before? 

 

Last week, out of the blue, the Mac Mail program automatically started deleting all of the emails in my IMAP inbox older than 8 days.  They're not appearing in the Trash folder either.  I've gone into the Mail preferences and there aren't any options that I could set under the "Mail Behaviors" tab for the Inbox itself, only for the Drafts, Sent, Junk, and Trash folders, which I don't have problems with.

 

I've tried replacing the Messages folder for this IMAP account under ~/Library/Mail/IMAP-account/INBOX.imapmbox with a backup containing all of the missing emails, but they're still not showing up in my inbox.  I've also tried rebuilding the mailbox and reindexing it, but neither have worked either.

 

I've also been in touch with my email provider, and he said it wasn't anything on his end.

 

Does anybody have any suggestions?  I'd definitely appreciate it if anybody can offer some insight!  Thanks so much in advance!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jun 6, 2011 1:54 PM

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Q: Mac mail automatically deleting emails

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  • by jononto,

    jononto jononto Jul 23, 2014 4:08 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 23, 2014 4:08 AM in response to BDAqua

    rogers.com

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Jul 23, 2014 10:54 AM in response to jononto
    Level 10 (123,785 points)
    Jul 23, 2014 10:54 AM in response to jononto

    Hmmm, and you don't have any Rules installed in Mail?

     

    And they aren't in the Trash folder in Mail?

  • by delta9000,

    delta9000 delta9000 Aug 17, 2014 5:43 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 17, 2014 5:43 AM in response to BDAqua

    I am having the same issues with Mail. I have no rules to delete the messages, but since their last update many of my messages end up in the trash folder. Once I select all of them and force apply the rules, then they go to their proper folders, however, sometimes, they go back to the trash again unless I create a new rule memorizing the the e-mail. This is happening a lot with new e-mails whose address is not in my contacts list. Again, this just started happening after the last update. I am running Mac OX 10.9.4 and Mail Version 7.3 (1878.6).  Any ideas how to fix this? I even tried to go to an outside programme but it is too much trouble since most of them do not import my mail folders and subfolders.  Thanks for all your help.

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Aug 17, 2014 10:43 AM in response to delta9000
    Level 10 (123,785 points)
    Aug 17, 2014 10:43 AM in response to delta9000

    Hello, I do have 10.9 but rarely use it, so I might be able to help, though I don't care myself, this is the 10.4 forums & you may get better help in the 10.9 forums...

     

    OS X Mavericks

     

    Or you could ask here with a new topic so we can address your particular problem.

  • by delta9000,

    delta9000 delta9000 Aug 17, 2014 12:11 PM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 17, 2014 12:11 PM in response to BDAqua

    Thanks. I reposted it under OS X Mavericks. Awaiting a response. Thanks.

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Aug 17, 2014 1:24 PM in response to delta9000
    Level 10 (123,785 points)
    Aug 17, 2014 1:24 PM in response to delta9000

    Great, I see you're in good hands over there... but 700+ is a lot of rules!!!

  • by depome,

    depome depome Nov 10, 2014 6:26 PM in response to jononto
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 10, 2014 6:26 PM in response to jononto

    I've had the same trouble since resetting my iPhone a few weeks ago. My problem is ONLY with my apple e-mail, @me.com My deleted items get permanently deleted after two weeks, which I don't like, even though the Mail app on my iMac is set to 'never' permanently delete and there are no message rules.

     

    Reading this thread has taken me to my iPhone settings and I see in there that it says to permanently delete after two weeks. I guess this must have changed when I reset/restored my phone... Annoying that it affects my iMac too, given all the settings appeared correct on there. I'm not certain this is the solution yet, but after going to look to see if it was POP etc, I did see that setting and changed it. Hopefully I'm sorted now...

  • by Jo45mi22xx,

    Jo45mi22xx Jo45mi22xx Jun 30, 2015 12:55 PM in response to Happy-12
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 30, 2015 12:55 PM in response to Happy-12

    I hope this will be a useful answer to some of our problems. I changed my ISP provider from TalkTalk to BT infinity not knowing one uses POP and BT imap.

    Well I tried everything, every time I opened my Apple mail everything had been deleted. Well all you need to do is click on Mailbox at the top of the screen then click on rebuild, I couldn't believe my luck, I have to keep checking my mail to see if it is still there.

  • by AnotherLiz,

    AnotherLiz AnotherLiz Mar 14, 2016 2:51 PM in response to Happy-12
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2016 2:51 PM in response to Happy-12

    Thank you, you've saved me hours of work. Found out my emails were being deleted and have followed the guidance you provided.

  • by Kenko2,

    Kenko2 Kenko2 May 8, 2016 5:56 AM in response to Jo45mi22xx
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Desktops
    May 8, 2016 5:56 AM in response to Jo45mi22xx

    Just make sure the emails you want are actually on the server first.  Mine are not.  If I had done the rebuild I would have lost even more because the rebuild empties the mailbox on your computer and then re-downloads them from the server.

  • by SteveMc10123,

    SteveMc10123 SteveMc10123 Oct 6, 2016 7:38 PM in response to beth73
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 6, 2016 7:38 PM in response to beth73

    So I'm sure somewhere below it says that is because Apple Mail has default to delete mail older than 1 month.

     

    I really really hate hate hate this feature of Apple Mail.   Why would you make a default to delete a users stuff w/o them knowing!!!  Uggh.  I've been burned by this default a couple times now.  I don't like to discard old mail because its often useful to search archives. 

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