Mail will not leave a copy on the server

Then stop usiing the built in Mail program and get one that works correctly.

You can try removing the preferences files to sort out this problem. Follow the steps for the same:

1. Close Apple Mail.
2. In the Finder choose Home from the Go menu.
3. Open the Library folder.
4. Open the Preferences folder.
5. Move the "com.apple.mail.plist" to desktop.
6. Launch Apple Mail

Do as you like. I was just expressing my opinion about the built in Mail app. If you search these forums for mail problem you will get a long list. Some get it to work as they want, other not so.

This is a User to User forum. Apple does not reply to posts. For that you have to call them and if outside the 90 day free support period you pay to talk to someone. Or if you have Applecare it is free for 3 years.

The Library folder is actually hidden in Mac OS X Lion. I do not know why, but Apple has made this change.

Unhide the Library Folder, the Apple Way

1. With either the desktop or a Finder window as the front most application, hold down the option key and select the Go menu.


2. The Library folder will be listed as one of the items in the Go menu.


3. Select Library, and a Finder window will open showing the contents of the Library folder.


4. If you close the Library folder's Finder window, the folder will once again be hidden from view.

Disco_Ian,

I am having a similar problem. With apologies for the long reply, I'm hoping this might help you, but also identify others who can resolve the problem.

I have used Mozilla Thunderbird as my desktop mail client for years, reading Yahoo mail and Gmail. I use "rules" to direct messags to offline files. But all of my email also stays on the servers so I can access them when away from my home computer.

This week, I read that Mozilla was essentially planning to stop support of Thunderbird. So I decided to try Apple Mail. Everything set up fine, including the import of my offline archives. But when I established filtering rules, every message that was moved from the Apple Mail inbox to an "on my Mac" folder was deleted from the Gmail and Yahoo servers. Before I realized what was happening, I lost a *ton* of mail that I would have liked to remain on the servers.

The accounts were set up as Imap by default. I experimented by re-setting them up as POP accounts. But, oddly, I had the same problem, at least with Gmail -- even when I used the specific setting that says to keep mail on the server.

So ... bottom line:

1. Disco_Ian: You might try Thunderbird. Even if it's no longer supported, it works!

2. Anyone else: Can you give suggestion on how to set up Apple Mail so that I can file messages on my home computer, but keep them on the server?

Thanks,

-Andy

Been using Mail from the first version of OSX, and I consider it the best email client for Mac.

It sounds like the preferences are corrupt. Did you set these accounts up anew when you made this change in workflow? Or did they exist even then? If you purge the com.apple.mail plist you will need to have saved emails to On My Mac mailboxes or risk losing them as the account is set back up. But if you ignore any prompts to import anything, and only add back the accounts when you launch Mail they should be preserved.

A way to safely test this is with a New User Account on each Mac, and as that new User set one of these accounts up to test this behavior.

Ernie

Andy,

Yours is likely a different problem as Gmail and Yahoo are not purely POP or IMAP, but with their interface allow access as such. For example, unless via browser access you change a setting, Gmail will only offer a message via POP to the first computer to access it. But there is a setting to allow mulitple computer to access as POP. I don't have Yahoo, and cannot explain what can be done there.

Not many people are using Gmail as POP anymore, but with IMAP wanting to move message to On My Mac mailboxes will remove them from the server because that is how IMAP is designed to work.

Ernie

Actually Mozilla is not stopping support, they are slowing down support. IMHO Thunderbird, that is what I use, is a complete email programs as it is. Could it be better, maybe but not sure how.

Actually you are incorrect about leaving emails on the server when accessed Gmail by POP. I accessed it for years with Outlook Express and then Win Live Mail and with both on different Win PCs using XP and 7 and could always get the same email on all my system. That is becasue both Outlook Express and Win Live mail had a setting that actually worked to leave email on the server for X number of days. Thunderbird is the same as when I first started using it I set it up for POP access to Gmail on both Win PCs and my Mac.

As for Mac Mail being the best email program for a Mac that is just an opinion. Just like what I posted, an opinion.

EDIT:

Your assumption that if you download the complete emails to your computer from Gmail using IMAP that it removes them from the server is incorrect also. At least with Thunderbird.

I just did a test and disabled my Ethernet connection, No WiFi on the computer I am using right now, and could still read all the emails in all my Gmail folder on my computer. Then nwent to my mac and opened Thunderbird and it download all the same I had recieved this morning on my other computer.

Now with Mac mail that may be the way it is and you might bnot be able to change that. Another reason why Mac Mial ******* (I added the stars. Insert what you like).

You have apparently understood nothing I have said.

With POP access they remain on the server, but may not be presented to the second and subsequent accessing devices. See:

http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=13273

Note "Choose what to do with your messages after your POP client or device receives them." This login is via browser access. It is separate from any setting that can be made in any email client.

Insofar as IMAP, a command to move from the Inbox to an On My Mac mailbox will remove the message from the Inbox, of an IMAP account, but with Gmail it will still be on the server in the All Mail folder. Just tested this with my Gmail account and it works exactly as I say above.

Ernie

That is not my experience. And that link says nothing about it only allowing access to any email by one client.

In the mail program, other then Mac Mail it seems, if you check Leave Mail on Server and select a number of days that email stays on the server for that number of days.

Have no idea how the Mac Mail "On my Mac" works but it sound like a very stupid option. To my knowledge all other email programs do not delete emails from the server when they are downloaded using IMAP. That is the whole point about IMAP.

We seem to have different opinions. That is fine. Have a good day