Mail won't keep sent messages

Question

Mail won't keep sent messages

Having been long frustrated with my AOL account, I recently decided to open an IMAP account with Mail. Everything works great with one exception: It successfully sends my emails and attachments, but doesn't keep copies of anything in the sent folder. I've tried preferences:Mailbox behaviors, unchecking and then checking the box to save sent messages on the server. Yet they still don't show in my sent box. I need to keep track of my outgoing messages, so this makes Mail worse than useless to me. What to do?
Phil Heald

iMac, Powerbook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Aug 27, 2007 4:54 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 27, 2007 6:39 PM in response to phil@philheald.com

Phil,

Welcome to the Discussions.

Have you selected to keep Sent messages on the server, with this IMAP account?

If so, is there a Sent mailbox in the Sidebar to the Mail window? If so, click to open it, click on Mailbox in the menubar, click on Use This Mailbox for, and if the choice of Sent is black, click to choose that.

Ernie

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Answer 2

fyngyrz

Level 1

13 points

Aug 29, 2007 3:22 PM in response to phil@philheald.com

I am having the same problem. I can send mail, but it isn't saved. I'm using a pop account in, smtp out. The mail does send, it just isn't saved.

Nothing ever appears in the trash, either, it just dissapears.

I just used OS X mail for the first time yesterday (been handling it with Eudora under Windows.)

I am pretty disappointed. This is very basic functionality. It really should be bulletproof.

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Answer 3

Lynn P

Level 1

0 points

Aug 29, 2007 6:35 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

I cannot retrieve my sent mail either. It shows up with the date & time sent but when I click on it to retrieve it says It has not been downloaded from the server and that I need to take this account online in order to download it. I tried Ernie's suggetion to click on "Use this mailbox" but all options from that are grayed out.

Also in efforts to fix this I rebuilt my "sent mail" and they all disappeared--even the date & time part. Help!

Lynn

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Answer 4

j.v.

Level 5

4,155 points

Aug 29, 2007 7:05 PM in response to phil@philheald.com

Possible work-around to consider:
• in mail prefs > composing, check and select "automatically BCC myself."
• make a rule that says if from equals your email address, move message to Sent folder
(note: my experence has been that in Mail Prefs > Account > Advanced,
you DON'T select "Don't keep copies of any messages for offline viewing")

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Answer 5

Aug 30, 2007 6:57 AM in response to fyngyrz

Saving messages sent works fine in Mail for almost everyone, and your experience, given the use of a POP account is very odd. In the Finder open Home/Library/Mail/the POP account folder. Look to see if there is a Sent Messages.mbox folder (proper) or perhaps only a folder named merely Sent Messages? If the latter, rename to be Sent Messages.mbox, and this should work, assuming in Mail Preferences/Accounts/Mailbox Behaviors you have properly selected to have Sent Message kept and never be deleted.

Ernie

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Answer 6

Aug 30, 2007 7:29 AM in response to Lynn P

Lynn,

Hello, and welcome to the Discussions. You likely have a very different issue:

If you are running 10.3.9, as your info reports, you most likely have an Overstuffed Mailbox, meaning it has become large enough to be a problem for Mail to properly index. Read the User Tip linked below:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=121837

How large is this mailbox when you check it?

Ernie

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Answer 7

Lynn P

Level 1

0 points

Aug 30, 2007 9:37 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Thank You! Finally! Re-naming it Sent Messages.mbox worked!
Lynn

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Answer 8

Oct 21, 2007 7:06 PM in response to phil@philheald.com

I have the same problem, but it seems only with e-mails that I send with attachments. The e-mail is sent okay, but is not uploaded to the .Mac server and so does not appear either in Sent Items in Mail or in the Sent Items folder in .Mac webmail. Like the OP I also changed e-mail accounts - in particular from a POP account - perhaps this is screwing things up...

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