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

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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

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Answer 1

teedeepee Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 22, 2008 1:14 AM in response to teedeepee

Some of the threads related to this one that I found (none provides a solution):

On apple.com:

* IMAP Folders ( http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6406947#6406947)
* Exchange email folders and sub-folders: iPhone only pulling main "inbox" ( http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6406941#6406941)
* IMAP - How to poll sub-folders (not GMAIL/Yahoo) ( http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6406940#6406940)
* Mail not checking for new messages in IMAP subfolders ( http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6406938#6406938)
* Imap Slow or not responsive ( http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6406937#6406937)
* Iphone Mail Only Shows "Load X More Messages" ( http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6407082#6407082)
* IMAP: Only updates Inbox? ( http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6407083#6407083)
* Any way to get the mail app to get updated message counts for other folders ( http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6407118#6407118)

Elsewhere:

* Help iphone mail subfolders IMAP ( http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=391027)

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Answer 2

Nosamwe

Level 1

0 points

Jan 23, 2008 1:09 PM in response to teedeepee

Here's a vote to fix this issue... kinda defeats the purpose of auto-check. I have emails coming in from multiple departments and clients, all filtered to subfolders. Only a small percentage of emails remain in my inbox, and typically those are junk and solicitations. Really, my inbox only holds emails that are unimportant to me, with all the important ones set to filter to an appropriate folder. So, I'm effectively stuck in manual check mode.

Thanks for wrapping up all these threads...

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Answer 3

teedeepee Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 24, 2008 1:31 AM in response to teedeepee

Thanks Nosamwe for your comment. I have sent feedback to the iPhone team through the page http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html and will continue to do so on a regular basis.

I encourage everyone who has the same issue to do the same. Below is a text that you can easily copy-paste in the feedback form:

{quote:title=teedeepee wrote:}Hello,

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 as it defeats the purpose of the "auto-check" feature.

This issue applies specifically to IMAP accounts other than GMail/Yahoo.

A similar issue exists in Leopard's 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.

A wrap-up thread was created at http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1355852 to gather comments from other users who feel this feature should be implemented.

Thank you,{quote}

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Answer 4

Nosamwe

Level 1

0 points

Jan 24, 2008 12:32 PM in response to teedeepee

I have also submitted feedback and will continue to do so...

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Answer 5

Jan 24, 2008 1:41 PM in response to teedeepee

I'm having the same issue. Certainly makes it impossible to manage IMAP accounts through the iPhone. It's simply not reasonable for me to have to go through each folder to see if something new arrived there.

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Answer 6

igrok-mac

Level 3

947 points

Jan 24, 2008 1:52 PM in response to teedeepee

I understand your issue here, but if a fix is forthcoming I hope it's an option that can be turned OFF. I have over a hundred folders in a nested hierarchy in my imap account, and I don't use server side rules because I don't want to have to expand parent folders to dig for new email. Furhter, I'm sure Mail.app can check over 100 folders for syncing purposes without too much delay, but on the iphone on an EDGE connection, that would certainly take far longer than I want.

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Answer 7

putling

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2008 5:46 AM in response to teedeepee

I'm just adding my voice to the chorus - this is something that definitely needs a fix. And it doesn't seem like that complicated an issue.

One of the whole reasons for getting an iPhone and using a .Mac account was to have access to my mail in real-time. One of the whole reasons for using Mail Rules has been to make it easier to sort & access my mail. Not having these two things work together (and to know that this wouldn't an issue if I'd just kept my $ in pocket and gone with a free Yahoo or Gmail account) is, well, a little disheartening.

Thanks to teedeepee for the "letter body" - I sent one off this morning and will keep doing it with the hopes that it will at least get someone to say "oh, hey, yeah... that's a good point..."

-=D=-

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Answer 8

MLadd

Level 3

709 points

Jan 28, 2008 11:34 AM in response to teedeepee

Thanks again to teedeepee, I just submitted my feedback also.

This is a very basic feature to subscribe to folders and have them updated automatically as mail arrives, or organized using server side rules.

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Answer 9

Jan 28, 2008 2:59 PM in response to teedeepee

This is happening to me with my Yahoo account as well. I sort incoming emails through filters with Yahoo into different folders. I'm not seeing notification of new email to these folders.

I notice that you say this topic is for non-Yahoo mail. Does that mean there IS a fix for Yahoo mail?

Thanks.

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Answer 10

teedeepee Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 29, 2008 2:00 AM in response to tinabgibby

Hi tinabgibby,

You are correct and I was wrong -- the issue also applies to Yahoo! server-side processed e-mail, as I just confirmed myself by testing with a Y! account. Notification only appears for new e-mail in the Inbox, and not the sub-folders unless one forces a refresh by opening them manually.

So I guess we're all in the same boat 😟 and I can only encourage you to send feedback to Apple so that we reach critical mass (see above) and get this issue resolved once and for all.

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Answer 11

Jan 30, 2008 9:51 AM in response to teedeepee

Thanks, teedeepee... I submitted feedback to Apple about this problem. Hope it gets fixed soon.

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Answer 12

Feb 11, 2008 10:10 AM in response to teedeepee

I'm having exactly the same problem.

Thanks for packaging this problem up nicely. I've submitted your pre-written letter to the iphone support guys...hopefully they will fix this soon.

Charles

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Answer 13

Feb 20, 2008 5:57 AM in response to teedeepee

I have also added feedback in this regard and hope the next upgrade introduces this functionality. Without it, the mail application is hardly useful to me.

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