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Level 1

9 points

iPhone Mail does not poll IMAP subfolders for server-side processed e-mails

Hi all,

This is a wrap-up thread for an issue raised several times in various locations on these fora and others. This issue applies specifically to IMAP accounts other than GMail/Yahoo.

The iPhone Mail app does not check for new e-mails that have been moved automatically by server-side rules from the INBOX to IMAP sub-folders; it only checks for new e-mails in the INBOX folder. As a result, the overall new e-mail count is off and one has to manually open each and every subfolder to force a resync and show any new e-mails they may contain, which can be extremely tedious and frustrating.

A similar issue exists in Mail.app and a workaround was provided in the form of a plugin ( http://macapps.perniciouspenguins.com/imapcheck/). I have been unable to find any workaround for the iPhone Mail app though. In both cases this is a lack of basic IMAP functionality.

Please contribute to this thread if you are experiencing the same issue in order to make it more prominent, and thus increase its odds of being either fixed in a later update or worked around by someone smarter than me 😉

iMac 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.5), 2 Gb RAM

Posted on Jan 21, 2008 11:54 PM

81 replies

Mar 20, 2008 3:36 PM in response to fforde

I guess I'd better throw in mine. I have over 1.5 GB in my OST. The LAST thing I want is all of that on the iPhone.

Mar 25, 2008 11:47 AM in response to teedeepee

My request submitted...

This does make the device impractical to use in a business setting. But perhaps Apples only answer to that will be the iPhone enterprise software.

Mar 25, 2008 12:00 PM in response to Dick Chase

I am SO disappointed! I have been using my phone in an Enterprise business setting since June 29, 2007, and now you tell me that it is impractical, and I am only imagining I have been using it in that setting?

MarianLi

Level 1

0 points

Mar 27, 2008 4:11 PM in response to teedeepee

Hi All

Thanks Teedeepee for your help on this issue, I already submit my letter, lets hope that this can be fix soon!

Regards

vitch

Level 1

0 points

Mar 29, 2008 1:43 PM in response to teedeepee

+1. Actually, more like +1000000!

I just bought an ipod touch for the express reason of being able to download all of my IMAP email onto it in the morning to then read/ deal with on the commute to work. The mail app is basically useless to me unless it checks folders other than my inbox as my mail is all sorted into folders serverside...

Ideally there should be an interface where you choose which folders to subscribe to and those folders are automatically checked with the frequency given in your "auto check" settings.

It would also be good if nested folders could be opened and closed so you didn't have to see all folders in your folder listing... Or if certain folders could be hidden from view.

In the meantime anyworkarounds would be greatly appreciated (other than clicking through each folder which might have some messages).

Thanks to teedeepee for putting this thread together and gathering all of the info and momentum in one place. I'll be sending feedback to the iPhone team now as well in the hope of getting it fixed...

vitch

Level 1

0 points

Mar 29, 2008 1:51 PM in response to teedeepee

I just found that there is also a feedback form for the ipod touch so I submitted my feedback there:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipodtouch.html

It probably goes to the same people at Apple but it might help submitting it to the correct one...

May 30, 2008 10:29 AM in response to vitch

I've also been annoyed by this lack of basic functionality, and have submitted feedback. Incidentally, I seem to have the same problem with my Gmail account. Thanks, teedeepee!

teedeepee Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 13, 2008 7:27 AM in response to teedeepee

July 2008's iPhone firmware 2.0 does not resolve this issue -- not surprisignly considering that we should probably expect this to be addressed in Apple Mail before being ported to the iPhone.

I guess we need to continue sending feedback to get this considered...

Jul 13, 2008 3:09 PM in response to teedeepee

I'm confused.
I have this problem on my iPhone, I also do server side filtering of my messages and it's very annoying to have to manually check every folder on my phone to see if i have new messages.

But what do you mean it has to be fixed in apple mail? It works just fine for me in mail.app on 10.5

Though I do still prefer thunderbird.

teedeepee Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 14, 2008 6:29 AM in response to loveturtle

Loveturtle, are you sure you see the proper behavior in Mail.app?

I use Mail.app v3.4 (Mac OS X 10.5.4) and I still need to force a full resync (or rely on IMAPcheck to do it for me) to receive server-side processed e-mail.

Hopefully when this gets addressed in Mail.app it will also be on the path for the next iPhone Mac OS release.

sschwar4

Level 1

8 points

Jul 14, 2008 7:39 AM in response to teedeepee

This is a huge issue in the corporate environment. You can't go through each folder and hit the sync button each time just to see if new mail is there.

If I remember right, the iPaq had this feature several (more than 4) years ago.

Jul 16, 2008 8:16 AM in response to sschwar4

I see the same behaviour as Loveturtle in Mail.app, which is why I was confused that the iPhone mail behaved differently. Thanks for creating this thread. I've already spent a significant amount of time investigating other possible sources for a solution to this problem. 10.5.4, Mail 3.3...

Jul 16, 2008 11:12 AM in response to chuwright

Correction, it doesn't work in mail.app either, without a manual refresh. I too will continue report this issue, it was one of the main reasons for purchasing an iPhone, not as critical on mail.app as manual refresh partially addresses the issue plus there is a know workaround.

igrok-mac

Level 3

947 points

Jul 17, 2008 8:16 AM in response to teedeepee

I'm sure it sounds good to have this "fixed" on the iphone, but I'm still worried that it would take a LONG time to check my hundreds of folders, not to mention the battery drain. Again I hope this option could be turned off.

One suggestion in the meantime, though. You could add a step to your server-side rules so that all mail that is getting moved to a different folder also be copied into a new folder called something like "temp". Then you'd only have one folder to check after the inbox to see if anything new came in, knowing that the "original" was moved to its proper folder. Delete after reading, or just clear out the temp folder every day from your phone or from your computer.

Just a thought.

Jul 25, 2008 12:38 PM in response to teedeepee

Thank you for bringing this up on these forums. I also find it incredibly irritating that it does not poll IMAP sub-folders. I have server-side filtering set up, and most of my emails are sent to sub-folders.

Please apple, it's easy to fix.

Kind Regards

iPhone Mail does not poll IMAP subfolders for server-side processed e-mails