Where is the semicolon?

Sorry - I wasn't specific. I can get the : when typing emails. But when I go into email Settings I need to put "recent:" in front of my username so that I can recieve all my latest emails (they are currently a week out-of-date). When try this the : dissapears. Why would that be?

Sorry I mean colon (:) (not semi-colon). But the problem is stil the same

Hi Demo,

No, doesn't work. You try it. Go to:

- Settings
- Mail, Contacts, Calendars
- Click on one of the Accounts
- Go to the 'Incoming Mail Server' section
- Tap on the 'User Name' box (and short blue/cursor/line appears - as you say)
- Now try to find a colon (or even a semi-colon) on the keypad

You won't (well not on mine anyway)

It's there if you go into 'Host Name' or 'Password' BUT NOT in 'User Name'.

But I needed to type:

recent:

before my username (well with my service provider anyway) to get latest emails. They are NTL (now part of Virgin Media) and they are a pain on other issues.

But why would Apple take the colon & semi-colons out a this point. Seems more trouble than it's worth.

I HAVE GOT ROUND THE PROBLEM THOUGH:

I borrowed a friend plug-in/remote keyboard (cost him £60!) and managed to input what I needed with that - so works fine now.

BUT WHAT A HASSLE!

It's a bit like not being able to empty the Inbox all in one go. For a company who pride themselves on great design and ease-of-use they do seem to miss the obvious things.

Thanks anyway

well, several reasons:

1. We share 5 accounts in the family on one iPad. Sometimes people want to keep private who has sent something (might be a reply from Amazon saying what is being delivered for someones present). At present you have to tap on each individual email & delete manually. THEN youy have to go to Trash to delete all in one go.
2. In 'normal' PC email situations (with a mouse, etc) you can easily/quickly highlight a whole batch of emails in one go and delete (or move all together). There is no equivalent method with the iPad.
3. I'm used to clearing my inbox on my PC when I want to. You get used to doing certain things certain ways.
4. For example I might want to clear the iPad inbox in one go in the morning so that on that day I only have those that have come in since cleared.
5. I just want the option of doing it! It's not there when I want it. Some interaction designer at Apple must have decided not to offer this - WHY?
6. If you Google this issue (as I did to see if it was just me being weird) you will see it's one of the most common complaints.

I lay a wager that they have this facility on the next iPad. But for a company that prides itself on good design and the 'user-focus' they do miss the obvious sometimes (like the colon/semi-colon frustration).

Apart from these things the iPad is great and I suspect I'll now be informed I shouldn't be using it like a PC!

Re:
Point 1; thanks - wil do
Point 2: Yes I realise this but still 'clunky' with all that tapping next to each email. When you're used to being able to click on an email then press shify and highlight ans scroll-over a whole batch in one go it seems slow.
Point 3: Yes, I do keep emails in my Inbox for some time (those I want to). But sometimes I could have 20 or 30 in one batch I want to scroll-over and delete in one go i.e. junk mail or messanger confirms from my daughter's Facebook accounts which we monitor occasionally to check nothing coming in sinister. Usually I jusat click/scroll the whole lot & bin them in one go. We're really using email on the iPad as back-up - not the primary point of contact.
Point 6. I agree not a top priority but it's not just me. You can delete the whole lot from the trash, so why not just offer this upfront so save all that tapping for people like me that know they've already read all their emails on the PC.
For example, if deleting emails all in one go wasn't considered a user-requirement then why offer this in the trash mode in the first place? All i'm saying is bring it forward.
Another quick option would be - for example - where you could click a dedicated button (like delete or whatever) then use you finger as a mouse/pointy thing and literally scroll your finger from top to bottom of the emsils in the Inbox (until they're highlighted?) - ten go to the next page and keep running your finger down ans delete them that way without all that slow tapping.
With a bit of in-built intelligence the software might get wise after the 2nd page and ask the question "DO YOU WANT TO DELETE ALL THE EMAILS IN YOUR INBOX?" Now that's the sort of user-focussed-friendliness I would of expected from a company like Apple!

Hi Chris CA,

I did finally get round it by borrowing a friends external kepad (cost him £60) and inputting the "recent:username@ntlworld.com" in the username box in this way. It accepted it and it solved another problem I had (with not getting the most recent emails). The iPad accepted the colon in this way. But it theoretically cost the equivalent of £60 to achieve this (or via some other hassle 'cut & paste' method.

if it accepted it via an external keypad, why not put it in as an option in the first place - even at several sub-levels down would have been fine. If a certain protocol situation won't accept the colon (or whatever) I'm sure it would tell you that you were doing something you shouldn't.