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

igrok-mac

Level 3

947 points

Oct 27, 2008 2:13 PM in response to teedeepee

I can see why we'd want to enable polling of all imap folders, but for those of us with a LOT of folders (I have more than a hundred) I surely wouldn't want all of them being polled all the time just for the battery's sake. But here's a workaround:

Create a new folder that's just for this purpose, which I'll call "a-mailrulecopies". The "a-" is there to force it to the top of the list.

Change your server-side rules to put a copy of all received mail into a-mailrulecopies before moving it to its assigned place.

On your iphone, all mail that's not been moved by a server-side rule will still be in the inbox. Any mail that's been moved will have a copy in a-mailrulecopies. So just check a-mailrulecopies to see what's there, and regularly delete all its contents since the originals will be in their assigned folders already.

No, it's not perfect, but at least you'd only have to check one subfolder for new stuff, and it won't affect the sorting of your emails.

Just an idea.

Oct 27, 2008 8:01 PM in response to teedeepee

Feature also needed badly here. I use the "sync mailbox" trick on Mail.App, but Thunderbird and others do IMAP IDLE support flawlessly.

Brand new iPhone 3G, and this is the biggest disappointment.

I have server-side filters that put thousands of mail messages in their appropriate folders for any IMAP client to "see", but only on the iPhone do I have to poke my finger at each darn folder to get it to update. Ridiculous!

Nov 1, 2008 12:54 PM in response to teedeepee

i just got an iphone for corporate use and was immediately disappointed to discover this huge problem. thank you, teedeepee, for making this post and the form letter. i submitted feedback as well.

apple, you need to fix this problem. it's huge. it's annoying. it hurts corporate adoption. i will certainly spread the word about this ridiculous deficiency. and i look forward to being able to say that it was only temporary.

Nov 1, 2008 4:08 PM in response to igrok-mac

Problems arise when you reply to one of these copied messages - if you then delete the copied message you'll have lost the link that you have replied to the original message...

But like you said, it's not a perfect workaround...!

Tim

Dec 19, 2008 11:58 AM in response to Tim Pentreath

I was hoping the mail.app would be fixed in 10.5.5, it wasn't, I hoped 10.5.6 would contain a fix, again disappointment! If they aren't prepared to fix it on their beloved Mac, I doubt an iPhone fix is anywhere near coming!

Mar 14, 2009 11:57 PM in response to teedeepee

Just adding my voice to the chorus on this issue. It's particularly odd that even the folders page actually has a refresh arrow on it - intuitively you would expect that to initiate a refresh of message counts on all folders, but no. 😟

Apple, please implement IMAP support properly on the iPhone!

cruisso

Level 1

0 points

Apr 21, 2009 7:20 AM in response to teedeepee

Its been well over a year since this thread started, and still no resolution from apple... I own a 3G, and have exactly the same problem, I am using imap to poll email from a zimbra server (since the phone is limited to 1 exchange-type account I cannot use that since I have it connected to my personal account at google) ...

Hence the urgent need for imap to work to spec, at this point, I am guessing I will change my filters to do the same as others have suggested, copy not move and delete by hand later (very tedious).
what can we do to get this fixed?????

cruisso

Level 1

0 points

Apr 21, 2009 7:26 AM in response to Scott P.

Try creating a Rule server-side to move emails to subfolders and see if the iphone configured through IMAP syncs those sub-folders automatically, what you are describing is a different scenario is not just your default inbox folder (even if its called a different name) its EVERY subfolder, there is no notification of new email, noway to know you have/could have potential important messages waiting for in there...

thanks.

cruisso

Level 1

0 points

Apr 21, 2009 7:31 AM in response to igrok-mac

Your argument lacks any really doesn't justify the flaw, even with hundreds of folders, we are talking about refreshing possibly the last 7 days of email, I do it all the time with the exchange connector in the iphone and there are no issues and no battery impact, this is what the device is supposed to do and what other smart phones have done for over 4 years even before the iphone existed, the functionality should be consistent with their other connectors. I love my iphone, but this is a ridiculous newbie limitation... even the simpliest clients in android, windows mobile, windows CE, do it... why can't they do it? Now, I have to request my corporate black berry again, cause the phone is not doing what is supposed to do as much as I love the interface and the apps this is not corp ready.

ark0n3

Level 1

8 points

Apr 27, 2009 5:08 AM in response to cruisso

Hi
this is a quite embarassing bug, as it can't be called another way.
No updates from Apple? Any news for 3.0 firmware fixes?

May 9, 2009 1:15 PM in response to ark0n3

here's hoping for a 3.0 fix. this particular issue is a major flaw and greatly hinders my ability to use my iphone 3g.

stacra

Level 1

0 points

May 20, 2009 1:45 PM in response to wexington

this most likely won't provide you the prettiest workaround but it can help aleviate some of the more tedious tasks of manually moving items around.

1. Setup your Exchange account on your iPhone.
2. Make sure all current rules are applied within outlook.
3. Change your rules to be client side rules only.
(very first step of setting up rules, "on this machine only")

This will only allow the rules to run when outlook is "Open" elsewhise the emails on the server remain in the inbox as long as you dont open outlook.
So when you leave the office at the end of the day make sure you close outlook down that way your emails will show up in your iPhone inbox regardless of where your rules place them. Now the next time you go to the office just open outlook allow the rules to run moving your emails to the proper folders and the next time you open your email on your iPhone they will be correctly ordered in their respective folders. I realize this is still a manual process but does (to some extent) make it a little less painful.

I hope this helps in some small way.

rlawsha

Level 1

0 points

May 26, 2009 5:08 AM in response to stacra

Sorry, I would not call that a solution except for a very few users with small amounts of email. Apple needs to solve this very soon. Going through Apple servers is not a solution, keeping all email in the INBOX is not a solution, manually pressing a button to sync is not a soltution. I manage hundreds of Cisco devices and Windows Servers for a large organization and the lack of this basic feature will keep the iPhone out of our enterprise in totality.

May 29, 2009 3:56 PM in response to vitch

I agree with Vitch. I use Exchange in a corporate environment, and having a fixed hierarchy of folders is very painful now in the iPhone. To get to any specific folder is minutes of swiping. I really need the ability to close a folder and all subfolders. I literally have hundreds of subfolders in my inbox, and managing that on my iPhone is virtually impossible.

Jun 17, 2009 4:53 PM in response to teedeepee

Just to let everyone know, OS 3.0 NOW SUPPORTS subfolder push.

go to your mail configuration > exchange account and you can specify what folders to push

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