Sent mail sometime NOT going to sent mail folder.

Question

Level 1

1 points

Sent mail sometime NOT going to sent mail folder.

Mail has recently started showing an odd problem. I'm using IMAP and my own email account hosted on a server.

About 40% of the time when I send mail from my Mac the sent message takes a long time (a minute or more) to send and doesn't get stored in the "sent" folder on my server. The email is sent and received OK.

The next mail will work perfectly and gets stored in the sent box on the server.

I don't see this issue when sending to the same account from my iPad or iPhone.

Last week my hosting was moved to a new server - I had hoped this would resolve the issue - but the problem remains.

So the common factor is the mail app.

Any suggestions?

Imac 21, Mac OS X (10.6.2), IPad Iphone 3GS Mobile Me

Posted on Mar 23, 2011 11:40 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 27, 2011 1:12 PM in response to Lemez

Hi Lemez,

I can’t really help, but am experiencing the exact same behaviour. I also use IMAP and Mail.app with my own hosted domain. It never happens when sending from the iPhone, but sometimes does when using Mail on the Mac. I noticed that it seems to be happening more likely when the sent message contains an attachment. I will file a bug report at https://bugreport.apple.com/ and will also send feedback via http://www.apple.com/feedback/

I searched these (and other) forums and didn’t find a solution, so I suppose it’s a bug in Mail.app.

Björn

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Answer 2

Lemez Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 27, 2011 2:52 PM in response to Björn Herrmann

Hi Bjorn

Thanks for making me feel sane! I was thinking it was only me 😉

Let's hope Apple pick up the issue asap.

Cheers

ML

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Answer 3

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Mar 27, 2011 2:57 PM in response to Lemez

To both posters, it is not a bug, it is because you have yet to correctly 'map' (subscribe) to and assign mailbox tasks (sent/drafts/trash etc), there is considerable literature regarding how-to for various mail systems (especially Gmail) so go to it.

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Answer 4

Lemez Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 27, 2011 10:49 PM in response to Csound1

Csound - don't think this is about mapping - I've already done that work when I set up the mail box 2 years ago - and I'm not using Gmail.

This problem has begun happening recently (in the last 2 months) and the issue occurs randomly. So some mail goes to the sent folder and some not...

ML

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Answer 5

Mar 28, 2011 1:20 AM in response to Lemez

Yes, that is not the problem! Mailboxes are assigned and it works most of the time. Please read completely before replying...

This bug happens regardless of the used mail provider.

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Answer 6

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Mar 28, 2011 6:55 AM in response to Björn Herrmann

I'm happy you know what the problem is.

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Answer 7

Lemez Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 29, 2011 10:27 PM in response to Csound1

Csound - why are you so intent on stopping our thread from progressing?

We DO NOT know what the problem is... that is why we have asked for help.

We know what it is no - however our issue remains.

This is anyone out there an shed any light - we'd be very grateful - thanks.

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Answer 8

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Mar 30, 2011 6:05 AM in response to Lemez

My suggestions were to be in regard to your mailbox mapping (I know you did this but things change) but as you are sure it is not the issue they are of no use to you.

Others may have other suggestions.

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Answer 9

Mar 30, 2011 7:05 AM in response to Csound1

I support lots of Macs at different clients. The first time I noticed the sometimes-not-in-sent behaviour was with an Exchange Server 2003. It was too old for Mail (needs 2008+) to use Exchange as the mail protocol so we set up IMAP access on the server. For a long time I believed that the disappearing sent mails were happening due to this constellation. But in the meantime it turned out that it happens with other generic IMAP servers as well. That’s the reason why I believe in a bug in Mail.app. Of course I might be wrong, but it’s my best bet yet...

The main problem is that you can’t get those mails back via Time Machine, because they disappear instantly while sending. It’s highly unlikely that backupd is running just in that short time frame.

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Answer 10

Mar 30, 2011 7:24 AM in response to Björn Herrmann

Control-click on the Inbox of this IMAP account and choose Get Account Info. In that resulting window check the number of messages in every listed folder and compare those to those in Mail. Be sure to look in any folders appearing far down the Sidebar to see if any messages are there.

It might be possible that mapping would be lost, but if so you should be able to tell from the above examinations.

Ernie

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Answer 11

Lemez Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 30, 2011 8:01 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

The mapping is ok and always has been - the only folder with a difference between the server and the mac is the sent folder which makes sense given the problem I and Bjorn have been at pains to explain...

The issue is the random non-placement of sent items in the sent folder on the server. This happens maybe 20% of the time for me. When it occurs the mail send takes a very long time (a minute for a simple text email)...

So still at a loss.

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Answer 12

Mar 30, 2011 8:05 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Hi Ernie,

I just compared all of my 3 IMAP accounts’ INBOX+SENT and the count is in all 6 of them identical to what Mail is showing at the top of its window. So everything is in order here.

Björn

PS: I can confirm that it happens only 10-20% of the time and that the sending activity in the lower left corner is shown longer than usual when the problem happens.

Message was edited by: Björn Herrmann

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Answer 13

Mar 30, 2011 8:05 AM in response to Lemez

Does it happen on both Macs? Are you always on the same connection to the internet?

Ernie

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Answer 14

Lemez Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 30, 2011 8:07 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Hi Ernie

Mine only occurs from my iMac... It does not occur on my iPhone or iPad. Sometimes I use my IOS devices on the same connection - sometimes not.

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Answer 15

Mar 30, 2011 8:11 AM in response to Lemez

Since your profile info also lists a MacBook, I was thinking about only the two Macs?

Is the iMac cabled, or connected via Airport?

Ernie

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