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sync POP email

I have an existing email address @comcast.net. This is a POP account. I know POP isnt set up to sync across devices...but does anyone know a workaround? I have an iPhone, MBP, and Ipad and would love to sync my email without changing my email address.

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Dec 31, 2012 8:15 PM

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9 replies

Jan 1, 2013 12:13 PM in response to slothlovechunk

Hi,


In Mail on the Mac go to the Preferences > Accounts

In the Advanced tab there is a check box that can be left unticked as this then leaves the Mail on the server.

(if ticked it "removes copy from server after receiving a message")


On the iOS devices ? Settings ? Mail Contacts and Calendars > (Select Account) > Advanced (you may need to scroll) it has a "Delete from Server" option which can be set to Never.



NOTE The Messages Category tag is about the Messages app.


User uploaded file
8:12 PM Tuesday; January 1, 2013

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"


 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Jan 1, 2013 9:01 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Nope, that did not work....


In Mail v6.2 on MBP I checked the box "remove copy from server after retreiving a message" and then set the drop down option to "immediately"


In Mail options on Iphone I set the "delete from server" option to "when removed from inbox"


When I send a test email to myself from a friends email address both emails load on phone and on mac as expected.


When I review the test email on iPhone it still remains in Mail on MBP in inbox as unread


And when I repeat the test email process and allow both to load on iphone and MBP again, then to go MBP and and delete the email there, it remains on iphone in inbox and as unread.


Thoughts???

Jan 2, 2013 11:49 AM in response to slothlovechunk

HI,


I actually have my box on the Mac version Unticked (it leaves the item on the server.)

I had the iPhone set to Never (remove) so it also leaves the message on the server.


I had understood that this was what you wanted - to display the same messages on multiple devices.


Having said that you could move closer to what you describe doing so that one login will remove those when downloaded (presuming that you would read them soon afterwards)


With two macs this may work if they are turned on at different times and "fetch" new mail individually.

With an iPhone that is connected all the time and fetching mail maybe more difficult.


My method does mean I do have to manually delete older emails from the servers involved from time to time.

Generally I have my three computer on but only one is logged in to Mail.

It does mean I can access Mail from my Laptop when travelling if required.



User uploaded file
7:49 PM Wednesday; January 2, 2013

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"


 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Jan 2, 2013 12:00 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Hi Ralph.

reading your post makes me remember the old times I used a POP account on 2 Macs. iMac Home and MBP on travel. Remember i left the mail on server, used iMac only at home and MBP only on travel. Before leaving home I used to delete the Mail folder on the MBP and copy all the Mail folder from the iMac to the MBP. Back Home I did the reverse.... It worked well for few years from say 2004 to 2006. The pleasure was to have all in sync, sent and trash as well.

It was a someway "brutal" way but ir worked. No idea if it could still be done: I have IMAP since 2006 🙂


Walter

Jan 2, 2013 12:55 PM in response to slothlovechunk

slothlovechunk wrote:


I have an existing email address @comcast.net. This is a POP account. I know POP isnt set up to sync across devices...but does anyone know a workaround? I have an iPhone, MBP, and Ipad and would love to sync my email without changing my email address.

Have your POP email forwarded to an Imap account, such as @icloud.com, synchronize that across devices.

Jan 2, 2013 12:58 PM in response to WALTER-MILANO-ITALY

HI,


I did have Gmail on POP at one stage.

I still have an old Dial-up Account I can "fetch" mail from. This one is still POP and I still use it the way I describe across the three Macs and an iPhone.


I must admit I rarely use the iPhone to read email and on my second iPhone I don't have the dial-up email set up on that iPhone.


As that account has become the "Spam" address I could set it to delete the Mail when fetched as this would reduce the work to clear the iPhone now and then.



User uploaded file
8:57 PM Wednesday; January 2, 2013

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"


 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Jan 2, 2013 6:09 PM in response to slothlovechunk

With ATT account, you can forward mail at the webmail site. I assume Comcast would have the same options in the settings at their website.


Gmail has free IMAP accounts as well as the iCloud option. Seems it would be better to just use one of those and just get away from the Comcast pop account. That would eliminate mail going through two providers which may double the chance for outages or lost mail. Just my opinion though.

sync POP email

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