Michael Graubart

Q: Sent mail does not always show in 'Sent' folder

I use the Apple Mail app. and have three mail accounts: BT Internet (IMAP), gmail (IMAP) and my college (Morley College) account (Exchange). When I send a message from my BT account, it sometimes happens that the progress bar shows that it is being sent, then the 'Whoosh' sound indicates that it has been sent, but when I check in the BT 'Sent' folder it is not there (and is still not there after hours or days). I have now checked with one of my contacts to whom I sent mail that failed to show up in 'Sent', and it actually did arrive, but it is still not confidence-inducing when sent mail does not show in the 'Sent' folder.

 

This does not happen with my gmail and college accounts, which suggests that the problem lies with BT and not with Mail, but I should be very grateful for any information and/or advice about this problem.

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Oct 8, 2014 8:30 AM

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Q: Sent mail does not always show in 'Sent' folder

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  • by apple-pip,

    apple-pip apple-pip Nov 26, 2014 9:19 AM in response to apple-pip
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 26, 2014 9:19 AM in response to apple-pip

    ... just to add - I've noticed that those rogue sent mails seem to hang around in the Mail Activity progress bar for an awfully long time - quite a few seconds before the whoosh.

  • by Simon Coxall,

    Simon Coxall Simon Coxall Jan 7, 2015 12:42 AM in response to apple-pip
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Jan 7, 2015 12:42 AM in response to apple-pip

    I'd just like to reply to this discussion. I have had exactly this issue for some time. I do not have a BT email account, just a Yahoo one. Sometimes mail takes a long time to actually go, and then doesn't show up in the sent folder. It was an issue when I was using Lion on my macbook, and is still an issue now with a new mac mini, and Yosemite. So the problem would appear to be with Yahoo, as BT uses Yahoo for email (or did).

     

    As far as I know, the mail does actually arrive.

  • by TAlbaugh,

    TAlbaugh TAlbaugh Jan 11, 2015 7:09 AM in response to Simon Coxall
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 11, 2015 7:09 AM in response to Simon Coxall

    I just posted about this issue elsewhere (random mails taking forever to send, then never appearing in the Sent mail folder) as well. I think it is a MAIL issue, not a provider issue, as it seems to be a long-standing problem and happens to folks using all sorts of providers (I only have a Comcast account, for example, not Yahoo, Gmail, etc.). It is so annoying that I am contemplating switching back to Microsoft's 2008 Entourage (even though I run Yosemite on my laptop), which is what I was using before finally getting around to switching to Mail. Entourage was super old and I can't synch it across devices, but I never had problems with it.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jan 11, 2015 7:21 AM in response to TAlbaugh
    Level 9 (50,202 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 11, 2015 7:21 AM in response to TAlbaugh

    TAlbaugh wrote:

     

    I am contemplating switching back to Microsoft's 2008 Entourage (even though I run Yosemite on my laptop), which is what I was using before finally getting around to switching to Mail. Entourage was super old and I can't synch it across devices, but I never had problems with it.

    Mail clients don't sync, mail systems do. It makes no difference whether you use Entourage or Mail.

     

    POP accounts do not sync, IMAP accounts do.

  • by TAlbaugh,

    TAlbaugh TAlbaugh Jan 11, 2015 7:26 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 11, 2015 7:26 AM in response to Csound1

    Good point. I should have said that my ancient version of Entourage can't be used on other devices -- have to use a different app to access mail on iPad, etc. That's the one thing I've liked about Mail; I can use the same app on more than one device, which made things easier for me.

  • by santiphoenix,

    santiphoenix santiphoenix Aug 26, 2016 4:09 AM in response to Michael Graubart
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 26, 2016 4:09 AM in response to Michael Graubart

    I have had the same problem, including the same futile troubleshooting, for about half a year. Often, sent emails do not get stored on either server or locally, other times they do. Most of the times, the not stored messages are thos with attachments, but I tested with several Emails and there seems to be no trigger (like attachment size). Sometimes, clicking on the little reply arrow will show the reply despite it not being present or searchable in the sent emails folder. It's driving me nuts, because I'm never sure if I actually sent something or not, and because I keep forgetting whom I sent which document to. Ironically upgrading the icloud space didn't solve the problem. I have always been happy with Mail, but recently it is more than frustrating to deal with the sent Emails. If one more person suggests to me in person (speak, my husband) to tick the "store sent emails" box in the program (which would be a hole if it could dent in from being clicked on), I'll snap.

     

    Has anyone figured out another approach to it, and how to get to the root of it? Ijust sent two Emails, one of which showed up and the other didn't. Is it maybe a problem of allocating space to the respective mailboxes? I don't see an option to give Mail more space - it could have it all if it needed it. Thanks in advance!

  • by santiphoenix,

    santiphoenix santiphoenix Aug 26, 2016 4:10 AM in response to santiphoenix
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 26, 2016 4:10 AM in response to santiphoenix

    I should add that the missing mails mirror the server space exactly. Rebuilding is not the issue, the mail randomly not being stored is.

  • by santiphoenix,

    santiphoenix santiphoenix Aug 26, 2016 4:18 AM in response to apple-pip
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 26, 2016 4:18 AM in response to apple-pip

    I've watched it being processed, sent, and then it was gone. So ******* frustrating. Where do they go? Why don't they come back? I can't set myself in BCC forever, that's irritating in the inbox, too.

  • by Michael Graubart,

    Michael Graubart Michael Graubart Aug 26, 2016 4:58 AM in response to santiphoenix
    Level 2 (275 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 26, 2016 4:58 AM in response to santiphoenix

    I gave up on BT Yahoo! internet quite a long time ago for various reasons, including the frequent occasions when it will not accept my password, though I still have the account. I now use gmail. When I first set it up in Mail, I found that there were two or more 'Sent' folders and multiple ones of one or two other folders as well, and sent mail and deleted mail tended to get lost between the alternative folders — and sometimes lost altogether.

     

    I then searched the web and found a long, comprehensive article on Apple Mail and gmail, which included instructions on how to rationalize all the mail boxes in Mail. I followed the instructions, and have had no more of these problems. Whether any of this is relevant to other email providers or not I do not know, but (as I have not kept the URL where I found the article) I shall post this message here, then try to find the URL again and, if I do, also post it here.

  • by Michael Graubart,

    Michael Graubart Michael Graubart Aug 26, 2016 5:22 AM in response to Michael Graubart
    Level 2 (275 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 26, 2016 5:22 AM in response to Michael Graubart

    Further info: I could not find the website, but I have found a TidBits article which brings most of this all up-to-date for later versions of OS X. This is the link:

    http://tidbits.com/article/14219.

  • by Michael Graubart,

    Michael Graubart Michael Graubart Aug 26, 2016 5:30 AM in response to Michael Graubart
    Level 2 (275 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 26, 2016 5:30 AM in response to Michael Graubart

    I've found it: it was also a TidBits article: https://tidbits.com/article/10253

  • by santiphoenix,

    santiphoenix santiphoenix Aug 26, 2016 5:45 AM in response to Michael Graubart
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 26, 2016 5:45 AM in response to Michael Graubart

    Thank you very much, I appreciate it. Will read through them when the kids have gone to bed. The irritating thing is that this malfunction also appeared with Apple's own iCoud IMAP server - the one where you'd suppose it works best with. Sicne I have Gmail etc., too, though, I'll work myself through it, crossing thumbs! Thanks again for turning up the links.

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