[GFitzy]

User 'had' ~28,000 messages (~140 MB) imported from his Eudora client's(v6.0) IN mailbox. Everything seemed fine for a few days but now the Mail app cannot show the message contents, instead it states, "The message from xxxxx concerning “yyyy” has not been downloaded from the server. You need to take this account online in order to download it." The xxxxx and yyyy are my edits of the original message to conceal the sender and subject matter. The Mail app IS online when it generates this message! Hundreds of formerly read messages are now marked that way. They are still on the corporate server but Mail refuses to re-read them even when I mark them as 'Unseen' on the server. This is probably due to the MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded file.

So, the initial question is how can I get the messages re-read into the IN box?

Second, is there an upper limit for the size of the Mail In box?

Lastly, when the user attempted in vain to "Rebuild" his IN box, Mail deleted ALL of the messages! Is that supposed to happen, seems like a strange type of 'rebuild'.



-gfitzy

[Moose]

Ordinarily, I hate to blame the user, but there are two things going on here:

1) The user needs to learn how to use folders for organizing mail. Leaving everything in INBOX is not the way to go.

2) POP3 + leave mail on server + 30k messages = Somebody loses eventually.

POP3 is designed as a protocol that allows for local mail storage. Your mail reader connects to the server, authenticates, downloads the messages, deletes them, and then disconnects. If the "deletes them" step doesn't happen at least regularly, you run into problems like this.

IMAP4 is a much better protocol for most people today. It allows you to have access to exactly the same mail with exactly the same folder hierarchy from any computer in the world.

If your user's mail server allows him to store 30,000 messages on the server but doesn't support IMAP, that's just miserable. I know "find a different provider" isn't an option, but perhaps asking for IMAP support (if it is not presently available) is. If IMAP can't be had, then definitely pay attention to items 1 and 2.

[GFitzy]

The IMAP solution is one I may explore.

As for changing the way 'this' user behaves with regard to organizing the incoming mail . . . . . we'll see! He was surprised to find out that his situation was unique. That others make extensive use of filters and folders to organize the incoming messages.



-gfitzy