Deleted emails keep coming back

Do you also use the same accouint on another device?

Matt

Try checking prefernces on the iMac to see how it's handling deleted messages.

Matt

Ron,

You're welcome.

I'm glad I could help.

Matt

Come on Apple! I don't care what my email settings are. If I delete an email on one device, I do not want to see that email on that device again. I cannot think of any situation where anyone would want this. I have never had this problem with my Windows PCs. Either explain why someone would want this or explain why a company that can create a digital assistant that translates my voice questions to text, analyzes them, and responds, can't figure out that I've deleted an email.

This would happen with any computer/phone, or with Apple. It has nothing to do with the phone, it's how POP accounts work. If your settings don't delete the message from the server when the message is retreived by a device it stays on the server to be fetched by any other email client (such as your phone). POP accounts don't sync changes on one device back to the server like IMAP and exchange accounts do.

I program computers for a living. I have some idea of how the different email protocols work. I don't care if the same emails show up on other devices. In fact, that is exactly what I want to happen. I want to check my emails on all my devices but I want one device to be my official record of all emails I have received. I do not want to delete them from the server until that device has received them. My questions were why would anyone want to keep receiving the same emails they deleted from a device on that device and if nobody wants this why can't Apple find a solution? I have never had this issue with my Windows PCs and I think I did not have this issue with my IPad until several months ago when it started happening.

Rouaan wrote:

My questions were why would anyone want to keep receiving the same emails they deleted from a device

They wouldn't.

why can't Apple find a solution?

I don't think it's a problem that Apple needs to solve.

From the sound of it, you may be using a POP account and, as mentioned earlier in this thread, that is not ideal for dealing with mail on multiple devices. You may also have conflicting preferences on your devices for how deleted messages are being handled.

Matt

And as I mentioned earlier, I don't care what my settings are. This is a behavior that no one would want so why do it.

I just did a test. I turned off the "delete from server" setting in Thunderbird on my PC. I sent myself an email. I received the email and deleted it. I then clicked the button to get emails from the server. The email did not come back.

I then did the equivalent thing on my IPad and got the same result. The email did not come back. I went to my IPhone, received the email, and deleted it. 'Same result, exactly what I would expect.

What I do not expect is for me to check my emails a week from now and to get my test message back. In the 25+ years that I have been receiving email, I have never seen this happen before. The only thing I can think of is that maybe it has something to do with the setting to delete emails after x days. Maybe if they get deleted from the trash folder, Apple's email client thinks they are new again. Again, I have never had this problem with my PC.

Rouaan wrote:

And as I mentioned earlier, I don't care what my settings are. This is a behavior that no one would want so why do it.

You're right.

Apple's got it all wrong. Stick with your PC.

Matt

Hello? Is there anyone out there who has experienced this problem and has a solution for what is clearly a bug in Apple's email client?

Can you at least tell us if you have a POP or IMAP account?

Look, I appreciate you're trying to help but you obviously have not experienced this problem and do not have a solution for it. If you delete and email from a POP server on a client, it is not suppose to show up on that client again 5 days later.

I check my email on my IPad nearly every day and this does not happen every day. But, I checked my email today and got 5 days worth of emails that I am pretty sure I had already deleted from my IPad. I am pretty sure that I have checked my email on my IPad sometime over the past week and not gotten the same emails back. I rarely check email on my Lenovo notebook PC because it is pitifully slow. I use it as my official record, though, because my Apple devices can't print to my HP laser printer. I also need a PC to periodically back up my Apple devices.

I don't think I noticed a problem with my Apple devices until a several months ago when it first started happening. I only mentioned that this doesn't happen on my PC to emphasize the fact that this is not how POP is suppose to work.

thanks so much, Matthew. problem solved for me too.