Does the iPhone do IMAP syncronization? Not Mine!

The iPhone doesn't support ActiveSync.

Not exactly the "worlds greatest smartphone" as Steve put it is it?

William.

Mine works fine, but I'm not using an exchange server, just a regular imap server. If I delete some mails on my Mac, then go to my iphone and go into the inbox or relevant folder on that account, it says "checking for mail" and within a few seconds the emails I deleted on the Mac disappear on the iphone.

I'm using manual checking and generally don't use the "check every xx minutes" except in unusual circumstances. But perhaps you're not waiting long enough for it to sync up? If you have it checking every certain number of minutes, you might have to wait until the next checking time. If manual, it should take just a few seconds when you go into the inbox or relevant folder.

Hmmm, I don't see this problem on either of the two IMAP accounts I sync with. If I delete or move mail on the desktop the next time I sync the iPhone the deleted messages disappear from the inbox. If I then go to the mailbox I moved messages to they are downloaded. So it's likely not a general problem, but something not quite right in your configuration.

The i-phone does not sync properly with either POP or IMAP servers.

IMAP: If I read on the i-phone or delete using a PC (from IMAP server) the phone is in sync. However, if I delete an email on the i-phone it will NOT get deleted from the IMAP server and will still show up when I log onto my PC.

POP: Even worse.. will not sync at all. The messages are basically copied to the iphone and no sync is done at all. Reading or deleting in the i-phone or PC are not reflected in either.

Thanks Apple for causing me to manage my e-mail twice.. Thinking of a store refund and going back to my i-paq (which works great with both POP and IMAP servers)

Message was edited by: TexasDetour

Lawrence states that if he deletes or moves mail on the desktop the next time he syncs the iPhone the deleted messages disappear from the inbox. If I then go to the mailbox I moved messages to they are downloaded.

This is true for me as well using IMAP. However, if you delete using the i-phone it is not reflecetd back to the server. From my research they are marked as ready to delete but the i-phone never sends the IMAP expunge command to have the IMAP server actually delete them so they reappear on your PC when you log back in. My PC is using an exchange server interface, so I am going to try to set up an IMAP account, then force an expunge command to delete the already pending requests to see if that will provide temporary relief or write an interface to send the missing expunge command to the IMAP server..

The POP server is a totaly different one, since no syncing appears to work at all..

I think the problem might have something to do with settings on the imap servers themselves. The general default for deleting messages is to simply mark them for deletion, and NOT move them anywhere at all; that is, they're still in the inbox, only bearing a flag that says it's marked for deletion. On your computer, the interface generally sees emails that are marked for deletion and simply does not display them, so they look like they've been deleted. On a mac, you can set it so that when you delete you actually are moving the messages to a different folder which you call trash, or anything else you like actually (though whatever you choose to call it, the mac will show it as "Trash". This is set in prefs, or if you right click on a folder and tell Mail to "use this folder for trash".

If you can make the settings on your imap server to do the same, that is, to move messages marked for deletion to a trash box, that might take care of the problem some folks are seeing.

When I delete from the iphone, my mac mail shows the emails in the Trash, as does the iphone itself if I look in trash. I then empty the trash on my mac every couple of days, and that's the equivalent of expunging messages marked for deletion on the server.

I hope this provided something useful....

TexasDetour wrote:
POP: Even worse.. will not sync at all. The messages are basically copied to the iphone and no sync is done at all. Reading or deleting in the i-phone or PC are not reflected in either.

This is why IMAP exists. The POP protocol itself has no concept of synchronization; this is not the iPhone's fault. You have two options with POP when you configure it; to leave messages on the server after download or to remove them from the server after download. You can also set rules on when they are removed from the server if they are not to be removed immediately. For example, you can set the iPhone to leave on the server after download and delete from the server when you delete from the inbox, and this actually works. POP is a very old-fashioned protocol that dates to the time when no one thought you would have more than one computer.

TexasDetour wrote:
POP: Even worse.. will not sync at all. The messages are basically copied to the iphone and no sync >is done at all. Reading or deleting in the i-phone or PC are not reflected in either.

What you describe is the way POP mail works. I doesn't synch.

I'm not sure what to suggest about your IMAP account. My .Mac account seems to stay in perfect synch.

If I delete email on the phone it doesn't instantaneously disappear from the computer. But in a few minutes it's gone.

Matt

Thanks for the post, this helps to explain the behavior and explains some of my debug findings. The e-mails are marked for deletion and not actually deleted (or moved to trash).

My config is a bit more complex.. On my PC I use an exchange server and on the i-phone I am using IMAP (work provides both server interfaces). Since deletion isn't really happening and only a flag is set with the e-mail staying in the inbox , the exchange server discards the flag and downloads the e-mails as "read" e-mail and I have no way of telling that something was marked for deletion. I then have to go back through all of my e-mail again.

I created an IMAP account on my PC and saw the e-mail come marked for deletion (strike-through). Unfortunately at that point, the exchange server would grab the e-mail as new (actually marked as read) and download to my PC.

I am guessing that my i-paq (which doesn’t have this issue in the same situation) is perhaps issuing an expunge command to the IMAP server which moves them into the IMAP-Trash (which is synch’d to my i-phone). It is now removed from the server “inbox” (if you will) and therefore not seen by the exchange server.
I expected a function called “delete” to actually delete the e-mail (or move to trash). Perhaps it should be called “mark for deletion” as this is what it really does.
I am wondering if I can somehow create a workaround by issuing an expunge command to my IMAP account to move the marked e-mails to the trash. This would remove them from the “inbox” so that the exchange server doesn’t grab them and make i-phone e-mail useful. My coding skills are pretty rusty these days so I am hoping I can find a pretty simple example to use. Will keep you posted on the progress.. Thanks for the insight..

On my i-paq my e-mail I beleive that my e-mail wasn't completely synch'd. If I deleted on my i-paq it was not deleted from the POP server. However, if I downloaded my e-mail from the POP server (into a local office .pst file) the i-paq ,ust have re-synched with server as it would then remove all of the e-mails that were downloaded to my PC, now matching my POP server.

Message was edited by: TexasDetour