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Deleting iphone email does not delete from computer

I am sure I must be missing something simple here....When I delete email from my iphone, it does not delete from my computer (either remotely or by syncing). So when I delete a bunch of emails, the very next time I open iphone email, it retrieves the very same emails just deleted....a viscious cycle. Can anyone assist with what must be a simple setting issue? Thank you.

Posted on Jul 14, 2007 7:49 AM

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12 replies

Jul 14, 2007 7:57 AM in response to hotlatinmonkey

hotlatinmonkey,

With an IMAP account, mail is synchronized between the iPhone and the server, and synchronized between the server and your email client running on your computer.

With POP3 the mailbox acts like a P.O.Box for your email.

This article, while primarily about .Mac which offers both, discusses the differences between the two:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=51729

Hope this helps,

Nathan C.

Jul 14, 2007 8:00 AM in response to Colleen Von Eckartsberg

The options are fairly limited for POP servers based email. You can pick remove mail from the server when your iphone gets the email (probably not what you want), or delete mail from the server when moved from the inbox (i.e thrown in the trash) which is what I usually use. However, if your home computer has already downloaded the email, it will not be removed from the computer.

With IMAP mail servers (like .mac or AOL mail, and some ISPs), when you read an email, delete email, or even move it to a folder, those changes are reflected on all the other computers using that account. This is MUCH better in my opinion. Since I read my mail from home, my laptop and now my iPhone, I've switched my primary email to my .Mac account and everything works great.

Jul 14, 2007 8:02 AM in response to Colleen Von Eckartsberg

Colleen Von Eckartsberg,

As Allan above is asking, are you using IMAP?

If so your computer's email client may be set to show you messages that have been marked as "pending deletion". You can often choose to show or hide messages that have been marked for deletion. For example in Mail.app that option is discussed here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mail/2.0/en/ml602.html

Hope this helps,

Nathan C.

Jul 14, 2007 8:47 AM in response to Nathan C

Nathan C. thanks for the info. I have three account on my iPhone and all of them are POP3 (i.g. verizon, yahoo & aol). Verizon is my defult e-mail and the iPhone gives me an option if I want it to delete it from the server. So when it downloads to my phone and I delete mail it will still appear in my Outlook. It doesn't give me that option for my free mail (yahoo & aol). So my mail shows up on my iPhone and online. The second I delete an e-mail it won't show up online anymore. Is this normal?

Jul 14, 2007 9:12 AM in response to Allan Sampson

I have two accounts on iphone. One is .mac account.
Other is a set-up our IT person did for me to access my office outlook email. The incoming Server is listed as "mail.(our office server name).com". The Outgoing Server is "SMPT.comcast.net"...As I understand it using our home ISP was the way the IT person was able to get me to access my work outlook email.

In any event the deleting problem occurs with either account. In other words If I delete on my home or office computer email it will delete on iphone but will not do the reverse....Any additional help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Chris

Jul 14, 2007 9:21 AM in response to Colleen Von Eckartsberg

Colleen Von Eckartsberg,

When .Mac is configured using the .Mac option on the iPhone it is always configured as IMAP. For that account, on your computer are you checking the messages via POP3, and on your computer, which program are you using to check those messages?

As for your work account, when looking at the settings, it should say POP3, IMAP and Exchange at the top. The button that is "pushed" is the one that account is using. The outgoing server should probably be smtp.comcast.net not smpt. Is that account using IMAP, POP3, or Exchange?

Thank you,

Nathan C.

Jul 14, 2007 4:27 PM in response to Nathan C

Nathan C:

Thank you for your help.

When .Mac is configured using the .Mac option on the
iPhone it is always configured as IMAP. For that
account, on your computer are you checking the
messages via POP3, and on your computer, which
program are you using to check those messages?

.MAC Account - Home Computer: Under Mail/Preferences/Accounts it lists the Comcast account (from our ISP) as a POP and the .Mac account as ".Mac". I access mail thru Mac Mail Application and sometimes thru .mac thru the internet. Update on this account- I cleared the inbox and tried another test. Now it seems to be working. I delete a message from iphone and it will automatically delete from my home computer Mail App. and eventually it will be deleted from the .mac server when accessed thru the internet (these take much longer however). In any event it seem this account works now.

Work Account:
As for your work account, when looking at the
settings, it should say POP3, IMAP and Exchange at
the top. The button that is "pushed" is the one that
account is using. The outgoing server should
probably be smtp.comcast.net not smpt. Is that
account using IMAP, POP3, or Exchange?


I know these three options were there when the IT person set it up but now when I access this account in my iphone it does not tell me what was selected (IMAP,POP, or Exchange) under account information??? It seems to appear only when setting up a new account. Am I missing something?

Also that was a typo. Outgoing server is listed as "smtp.comcast.net"
So to give you as much info as I have:
Incoming Mail Server is "Mail.(officeservername).com" and Outgoing is "smtp.comcast.net". (Using my Comcast ISP was the only way the IT person could get the email access from Iphone to work). And to calrify what is happening on the iphone:
1.Email is accessed no problem from iphone, - downloading all new message from my work outlook works fine.
2.When I delete messages on my iphone, however, it does not delete on my office computer which is on a server network. (Visa Versa does work - when I delete a message on my computer it will delete it on my iphone.
3.NOTE : Contrary to what I posted earlier my iphone now is NOT "RELOADING" messages just deleted from Iphone but which remain on my office computer. This means half the problem is solved.
4. THE ONLY THING LEFT TO FIGURE OUT IS HOW DO I CONFIGURE SO WHEN I DELETE A MESSAGE ON MY IPHONE I AM DELETING ALSO FROM MY Computer at work?

(BTW in the above description I am referring to all wireless operation...not when syncing with iphone)

Any final helpful thoughts? Thanks again.

Deleting iphone email does not delete from computer

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