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Naplander · Jul 27, 2006, 11:41 AM

Arrrgghhhh!!!

I have been having problems with the mail app. It refused to delete messages off the POP server once I had downloaded them, and after trying various different ways to fix this - decided to delete my account and set up a new one.

BAD IDEA BUDDY!!!

Without warning me, the damn app deleted my entire inbox and all my sent items. Over two years of e-mails vanished!!

I wish there was some kind of warning about this. I know on Windows it doesn't do this...

*sigh*

mchladek · Jul 27, 2006, 01:07 PM

Ahh ... the benefits of IMAP. Depending upon your server settings you may be able to save a good portion of your messages. That is if you didn't set up your account to delete messages once downloaded to your machine.

Macola · Jul 27, 2006, 04:13 PM

The majority of folks use POP. This is a serious problem that Apple should fix.

himself · Jul 27, 2006, 05:02 PM

You also need to make sure that in Mail preferences, you set up your POP accounts to not automatically delete mail form the server, unless you want it to do that. Otherwise, it will (by default) download you email to your computer and delete it from the server. Which is one of many reasons why I despise POP, and I wonder why anyone even uses it. IMAP is so much better and much more flexible.

Having said that, I wouldn't expect Mail.app to behave any differently than it did... if you're going to delete your email account from the app, why would it want to keep the messages for an account that will no longer exist? Maybe it should have given you a warning before proceeding (if it didn't), but that's it.

Big Mac · Jul 27, 2006, 09:32 PM

It definitely should prompt that it's going to erase the account entirely, including all mailboxes, folders and mail.

Thinine · Jul 27, 2006, 09:47 PM

This just seems to be a big "duh!" to me.

Apfhex · Jul 27, 2006, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by Thinine

This just seems to be a big "duh!" to me.

It is, but it would be nice and more user-friendly of Apple to include a warning. Not everyone may understand the workings of POP mail or that Mail.app will delete messages from the server (depending on the preferences). The best solution, actually, would be to keep messages on the server by default (this may already be so, I can't remember).

Mr. Blur · Jul 28, 2006, 12:23 AM

Originally Posted by Naplander

Without warning me, the damn app deleted my entire inbox and all my sent items. Over two years of e-mails vanished!!

Okay, I can maybe agree with some kind of warning because as others have said, not everyone grasps the nuances of how pop mail works even though to some it seems so obvious.

But I also have to questyion something else here - 2 years worth of email in your inbox and sent mail folders? I don't think that is very good management/organization of mail items. You know - the program is capable of creating other folders to store your mail in a more organized fashion and if you'd have done so your losses would have been a great deal less.

TETENAL · Jul 28, 2006, 01:38 AM

Originally Posted by Naplander

Without warning me, the damn app deleted my entire inbox and all my sent items.

You got no warning? Or you ignored it?

pheonixash · Jul 28, 2006, 05:06 AM

Originally Posted by Naplander

Arrrgghhhh!!!

I have been having problems with the mail app. It refused to delete messages off the POP server once I had downloaded them, and after trying various different ways to fix this - decided to delete my account and set up a new one.

BAD IDEA BUDDY!!!

Without warning me, the damn app deleted my entire inbox and all my sent items. Over two years of e-mails vanished!!

I wish there was some kind of warning about this. I know on Windows it doesn't do this...

*sigh*

Well as the user above posted you do get a warning. And MS Outlook 2003 does do this, if you delete the account. That's the whole point of deleting the account. Otherwise what is really the point of deleting it? You could simply exclude it from Sending/Receiving, and it would appear to be gone. If you delete the account it deletes everything associated with the account. I think that's normal behaviour!

Naplander · Jul 28, 2006, 05:50 AM

Sorry guys, but this is a problem that Apple should sort out. It's a very strange way for the app to behave.

http://forums.macnn.com/archive/t-203204.html

And it doesn't delete everything associated with the account. I still have folders where I have archived messages intact. I just lost my sent items (very important) and some messages in my inbox.

I quote:

"My point is that this is not a good implementation, as other mail programs (on both the Mac & PC) leave the messages alone if you delete the account settings...which is sometimes necessary in routine troubleshooting."

OreoCookie · 07:15 AM

It deletes your Inbox and your Sent folder. If you have moved messages to other folders, they are not touched. However, you have still disregarded the warning and apparently you don't have a backup of your e-mails either.

Backing up is one of the most important things to do when you have a computer! You can lose data in so many different ways, software bugs, hardware failure or the user himself.

I don't think you are correct to assume that (all) other e-mail apps on Windows and MacOS X leave the mails alone if you delete the account. The Bat for instance doesn't. I'm not sure about Outlook, but last time I've installed Outlook 2003, accounts showed up separately, so deleting them would also delete all mails belonging to that account I reckon.

pheonixash · Jul 28, 2006, 06:10 AM

Originally Posted by Naplander

Sorry guys, but this is a problem that Apple should sort out. It's a very strange way for the app to behave.

http://forums.macnn.com/archive/index.php/t-203204.html

And it doesn't delete everything associated with the account. I still have folders where I have archived messages intact. I just lost my sent items (very important) and some messages in my inbox.

I quote:

"My point is that this is not a good implementation, as other mail programs (on both the Mac & PC) leave the messages alone if you delete the account settings...which is sometimes necessary in routine troubleshooting."

I use MS Outlook 2003 on my ThinkPad, and I was once having trouble receiving all my messages from a particular account, so I decided to set up the account again. So I deleted the account, and it DELETED EVERYTHING FROM THE INBOX and other folders like SENT ITEMS, which had mails associated with that account.

You say you have messages you archived. The whole point of archiving is your making copies of the emails and saving them on your hard drive, dis-associating them with the account. Which is why they didn't get deleted but stuff from your Inbox and Sent Items did.

Also, the article clearly states that Apple Mail by default keeps a copy on the messages on the server, so even if you decide to delete your Apple Mail account, there is still another copy. You chose to turn off this option, and also dis-regarded the warning which specifically said that your action will delete all the e-mail. I think that is well within convention. You're getting a warning, what you want the computer to forbid you from deleting stuff?

jasong · Jul 29, 2006, 09:20 PM

I'm with the group that says you screwed up, not Apple. You were given an explicit warning that said exactly what bad things would happen if you proceeded, and you proceeded.

In the future, if you are done with a mail account and don't want to delete the account and lose the special folders, simply go to preferences > accounts, select the account and click advanced, and uncheck Enable this account.

I've deleted many accounts from Mail and have yet to lose a message.