Only receive some mail. Ditto when sending....

Question

Only receive some mail. Ditto when sending....

Just upgraded from OS 9 & Outlook Express to Tiger & Mail 2.1. I've seen mail issues discussed here, but not quite this particular issue. Which is:

Althought the inbound and outbound mail server settings for Mail 2.1 are set pretty much as for Outlook Express (SBC Yahoo DSL's help info tells you exactly what your settings need to be), for some strange reason, I'm only receiving some email. I thought maybe it had to do with the domain that was sending the mail (like, @att.net), but I don't really see a pattern. Bottom line: there are certain, specific friends who regularly send me email and I just never get it.

I am able to receive it on my Mac at work, however. Now, that's a different email address (my work email address) and we have a firewall and use Groupwise.

To compound the issue, I've noticed that some of my Mail 2.1 sent emails don't seem to get to their destinations once I send them. And in this case, I'm just sending to friends, most of whom don't have firewalls or other s/w that would block my email.

I don't know if these two issues are related.

With respect to the first issue--receiving mail--I also notice that not only is some of the mail being sent to me not (apparently) arriving via Mail 2.1, it's also not out there if I then go to SBC DSL Yahoo's webmail server and try to view it that way. It's not in my bulk (spam) folder either.

My only conclusion there is that the mail I'm not receiving is in fact being downloaded to me when I run Mail 2.1, at which point it leaves the server, which would explain why I don't see it out there if I later try to find it via webmail. But in that case, where would that inbound mail be going? Because I sure don't see it in my inbox (or anywhere else) on Mail 2.1.

If anyone has suggestions, I would very much appreciate it!

IMAC Mac OS X (10.0.x) Tiger

Posted on Aug 31, 2006 8:14 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 31, 2006 11:24 AM in response to Dallas Viewer

DV,

In the info you list, you have both 10.0 for the OS, but also say Tiger -- they are not the same thing -- please clarify.

Does your ISP offer any SPAM filtering service, and might SPAM filtering at the server level explain problem both you and your recipients are having?

Ernie

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Answer 2

Aug 31, 2006 1:15 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

Ernie,

It's 10.4.6 Tiger. Sorry for the confusion.

SBC Yahoo DSL does offer spam filtering at the server level, but it's set to dump suspected spam into a bulk folder and leave it there for a month before deleting it.

Right now, if someone says they sent me an email, and it doesn't seem to arrive, I go online and check the Bulk folder via webmail, to see if the errant emails were dumped there by the ISP. So far, the only email showing up there is indeed spam.

Likewise, SBC Yahoo DSL service offers additional junkmail filters beyond the spam detector. I have three very specific filters set up:

"If SUBJECT line contains "dallas_viewer@sbcglobal.net", then delete the message." (I have never received an email with my full address in the subject that wasn't spam. And since there are so many spam emails of this type coming in, I'd just as soon let the ISP filter delete them right away, rather than let them take up room in my already burgeoning Bulk folder.)

The other two junkmail filters are also specific to spam:

(1) If FROM = CUSTOMER SERVICE and SUBJECT contains "PLEASE CONFIRM", then delete the email.

(2) If SUBJECT contains "WANNA", then delete the email.

So, the ISP is not spamming the emails from my friends that are going missing, and the three junk mail filters I've set wouldn't have caught them either, as far as I can tell. So I'm stumped.

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Answer 3

Aug 31, 2006 1:56 PM in response to Dallas Viewer

DV,

I have no direct knowledge, nor experience, but seeing the underscore in the Username portion of your address made me suspicious. Limited Google search, returned:

https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/source/gnome-system-tools/bug/49296

and

http://www.mail-archive.com/desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com/msg36305.html

I do not know where, if at all, this might enter into your situation. I will continue to think about this.

Ernie

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Answer 4

Aug 31, 2006 2:17 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

Ernie,

Okay, I lied and seem to have obfuscated the issue.

Dallas_Viewer is not my actual sbcglobal.net name--I used it in my post because it's my handle here on the forum, and I didn't want to give my actual email address on the forum.I thought substituting "dallas_viewer" would work.

My real email address does not have underscores, special characters, or anything like that. It's along the lines of janedoe@sbcglobal.net.

Just want to add that I really appreciate all of your suggestions and time.

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Answer 5

Aug 31, 2006 2:37 PM in response to Dallas Viewer

DV,

LOL!

Clarify the Rules you outlined -- where do delete? As they download to Mail?

Click on View, and check whether Show Deleted Messages or Hide Deleted Messages is presented, and whether the type is gray or black?

Ernie

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Answer 6

Sep 6, 2006 1:11 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

Looks like while I was online at this forum last week, someone else in the family had a little chat with either Yahoo DSL tech support (or it could have been Apple; I'm not sure which). Here's an update:

1. The tech said to go into Mail 2.1, clear out the POP, SMTP, and other settings, and RE-TYPE them. Makes me wonder if, when upgrading from 9 to X, Mail 2.1 automatically pulls data from your Outlook Express settings, but not cleanly. Why else would I need to re-type everything?

2. My SBC Yahoo DSL account is only a couple of months old. The technician said that something (maybe the account itself) was "blocked" and he would remove the block. I'm not sure how it's possible the account was blocked, since some emails were being sent/received successfully. And nowhere did I see anything on Mail 2.1, OS 9 Outlook Express, or Yahoo's online webmail--whether in Options, Preferences, Tools, etc.--that would lead me to think that there was a "block" on anything. No rules, no settings, etc. So what "block" did the tech remove? Guess that's not a question for this forum. (If I'd been on the call, I'd have asked him.)

Anyway, upshot: Some email that I was not successfully sending/receiving is now working. But not all of it.
But I'm thinking maybe--maybe--the remaining issues do not have to do with Mail 2.1.

Is there a definitive list somewhere of Mail 2.1 known issues? I would be indebted to whoever can point me to that list/document!

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Answer 7

Sep 7, 2006 11:14 AM in response to Dallas Viewer

This looks like a rules issue to me.

What are your settings in Preferences > Accounts > Advanced > Remove copy from server? If they are Right away, choose After one week instead, and check whether the messages that don't show up in Mail appear on the server now.

Alternatively, try this:

1. Quit Mail.

2. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/Mail/.

3. Locate MessageRules.plist and move it to the Desktop. If there is a file called MessageRules.plist.backup, move it to the Desktop too. You may also see MessageSorting.plist files there; this is where Mail 1.x stored the rules, and they are no longer used by Mail 2.x, so just move them to the Trash if you see them.

4. Open Mail. As a result of removing the rules file, the junk filter will be disabled now. You may want to either tell Mail to go offline immediately after opening it, or shut down the Internet connection before opening Mail, to prevent it from downloading anything until the junk mail filter has been enabled again.

5. Go to Mail > Preferences > Junk Mail, enable junk filtering, and configure it however you wish.

6. Go online again if you went offline in step 4.

If the problem persists after doing this, then you know the rules have no bearing on it, and you may move the files on the Desktop back to the ~/Library/Mail/ folder, overwriting any files Mail may have created anew there (quit Mail first).

Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user's home folder, i.e. ~/Library is the Library folder within the user's home folder.

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