Email - iPad vs. iMac

Is the email account in question added to all 3 devices?

Is the email account set to IMAP or POP3?

POP3 accounts will downlaod email to the first device that queries the server. IMAP syncs email actions so all devices are up to date and get all email always. This also means deleting email on one device deletes on th server and on any other device accessing the account.

You can idenitfy the email account type by either the hostname in its advanced settings or the port it uses.

Settings ➜ Apps ➜ Mail ➜ Accounts ➜ Select the account ➜ Account Settings ➜ Advanced ➜ Incoming Settings ➜ Server Port.

993 and 143 are IMAP, 995 and 110 are POP3.

Do note, some IMAP accounts may not show server settings though.

The configuration of each device - in either using IMAP or POP3 mail settings - will significantly impact how your devices will interact.

If all devices are using IMAP to access your email account(s), all devices that access your mail account(s) will remain faithfully synchronised via your Mail Providers mail servers; each device will have a copy of the mail messages that remain stored on the mail server until deleted.

If instead devices are using POP3, mail messages may be downloaded (and deleted) from the mail server by the first device that accesses the mailbox. If some devices are using POP3 and others using IMAP, you see potentially unexpected results. While it is possible to use a mix or IMAP and POP3 clients, this requires considerable care with configuration if issues are to be avoided.

Consistent and reliable management of Mail can be achieved across multiple devices by ensuring that all devices are using IMAP. If you must use POP3, you must ensure that POP3 is configured on each device to "download and leave a copy on the Server" - and not "download and delete".

You probably connected some email accounts to the iPad, but not to the other devices.

The use of POP3 e-mail (as opposed to IMAP e-mail) can also cause problems in a multi-device environment (The first device to see an e-mail may delete the server copy before the other devices see it.)

chocobill wrote:

Thanks, It looks like my 3 accounts, 2 Gmail & 1 iCloud, are all set to IMPA. It also looked like we were trying to use both Gmail on the website and the Apple Mail app on my wife's iPad. Could that have added to our problem?

Gmail is by default IMAP as is iCloud. Accessing through the Gmail website should not affect what happens with the Mail app.

Are you sure the Mail app is not maybe filtering emails or uinsg a different category view?

Hard to say what is happening, since we can't see what you see, but you can try for instance ot send an email from iCloud to Gmail and verify if it arrives on the iPhone or Mac before checking anywhere else. Then checking on the iPad and see if that removes the email from th eother devices.

Again, on your iPad, check Settings > Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts > Fetch New Data. iCloud should be set to “Push” there, meaning you will receive iCloud email almost immediately.

This setting should be on your iPhone as well.

iCloud email offers this capability. Gmail does not. For Gmail, the Fetch frequency affects how often email is checked.

Well, we know absolutely nothing about your particular setup except what you told us. Examples of a few pertinent facts we don’t know:

• Are more than one email account involved?
• What email service provider(s) is/are involved?
• Are the same providers set up on all devices?
• Have you checked push/fetch settings?