Help Emails "missing" from Inbox

[kellyar17]

Hi
I'm new to the forum because I'd be really grateful for some help with a problem I'm having with my new HTC Desire S.

I recently set up the Mail app to receive emails from my ntlworld.com address using the POP settings from Outlook (please excuse my non-technical wording etc - this is my first smart phone.....!). It seems to have been receiving emails ok but I noticed today that the emails I'd read and deliberately left in my Inbox to save have disappeared. Is there any way of getting these back as I'd kept them for a reason..... I've looked online at the Virgin Media website and also on Outlook but these messages haven't downloaded to either of these.

I can't find anything in the phone settings that relate to this - does this mean the phone just do this of its own accord. If so, why don't HTC get it sorted because it's so annoying.

I've been googling this problem and found someone recommending using IMAP settings to resolve this issue. What does this mean and would it work for me? How do I set this up and does it need setting up in Virgin Media, Outlook and the phone?

On another note (not really an android problem but I'll ask anyway, just in case), is there a way of sorting photos into folders or albums on your phone? At the minute, mine are all in the standard album and I can't see a way of making another......

Thanks in advance for your help and apologies again for not being very technical but this has annoyed me and I'm keen to get it sorted.

Kelly

 

[notebook]

You said you were using the Mail app - do you mean 'Mail by HTC'? There is an app called 'Mail' on Orange phones, but I've used Mail by HTC in my answer as I don't use 'Mail', although it should be similar-ish to most mail apps.

Your problem sounds like a combination of two things.

Firstly, if your NTL account is POP then you may have it set to delete email when it's been accessed via another client, such as the email app on your phone. Secondly, the app on your phone will have a setting so that only a certain number of emails, or those a certain number of days old, will be kept, e.g. email more than 7 days old will be removed automatically from your phone.

So, you need to check your NTL account for POP/IMAP settings and your phone's email app to see when it removes emails from your phone. This setting only removes the emails from your Inbox on your phone (to save space), not from your NTL server.

The emails that have disappeared should still be in the Trash/Deleted folder of your account, unless you have it set to permanently delete mail immediately.

IMAP is generally held to be a better system for managing an email account across various devices and clients. The email server is updated with whatever you do with it from any of the IMAP devices you use to access it. What you do with one device or client will show up on all the others. E.g. if you create a folder or email, then you can access it from any other IMAP device/client. Similarly, if you delete an email from anywhere then it will show as deleted on any device you use to access your account's server. With this in mind, you might want to back up your emails regularly before deleting them. Using a PC (Outlook) is probably the best way to do this.

To set up for IMAP, you first need to make sure your NTL account is set to allow IMAP access from other email clients. Then you create or change the accounts on your phone and Outlook, and any other device you use to access your NTL account, to work using IMAP. Finally, check the settings on your phone's email app to establish how often it removes emails from your Inbox.

Regarding sorting photos: your best bet is to download a file manager app from Android Market, something like Astro File Manager or ES File Explorer. It will work like Windows Explorer.

 

[kellyar17]

Hi Notebook
Thanks very much for your reply below....... apologies for not responding sooner but I've recently had a baby so been a little busy!!!

So I never got around to setting up IMAP for my emails as you suggested but after my HTC Desire S completely crashed during the week and being advised to do a factory reset, I've lost all my emails etc so thought it about time to sort it out (in the hope if it has a major crash again, all is not lost.....).

Further to your message below, I've just been online at Virgin Media and changed to the IMAP settings according to their instructions. I've also done this in Outlook Express, again in line with Virgin's instructions. Next, I've tried to set up the Mail app on my phone (for the first time since it crashed) with these IMAP settings but can't seem to do it - could this be because I'm not at home using my usual wifi (I'm using wifi at my parent's house)?

Also, I'm having problems with Outlook Express and my GMail account - Outlook seems to recognise it but it won't download any messages from this account. I've been onto the Virgin Media email settings and added this as another account in "Send Mail As" and "Get mail from other accounts", but the "Get mail" option states it is POP. Do you know how I resolve this problem with GMail within Outlook Express before I then (hopefully!) set it all up on my HTC Desire mail program?

I'd really appreciate any advice you might have to help me with this - accessing emails on my mobile and not only in Outlook with POP is all a bit new to me......! And I don't want to set it up wrongly .......

Thanks very much, Kelly

 

[kellyar17]

Just FYI, here are links to the help topics I've been using on virgin media's website:

Emails from other accounts:
Can I receive mail from my other email accounts in Virgin Media Mail?

Setting up IMAP:
Knowledge Base

And this is one of the messages that appears on Outlook Express:

Header download for the '[Gmail]' folder did not complete. Could not select '[Gmail]' on the IMAP server. You might try refreshing your folder list to synchronize with the IMAP server. Account: 'imap.ntlworld.com', Server: 'imap.ntlworld.com', Protocol: IMAP, Server Response: 'NONEXISTENT] Unknown Mailbox: [Gmail] (Failure)', Port: 993, Secure(SSL): Yes, Error Number: 0x800CCCD2Header download for the '[Gmail]' folder did not complete. Could not select '[Gmail]' on the IMAP server. You might try refreshing your folder list to synchronize with the IMAP server. Account: 'imap.ntlworld.com', Server: 'imap.ntlworld.com', Protocol: IMAP, Server Response: 'NONEXISTENT] Unknown Mailbox: [Gmail] (Failure)', Port: 993, Secure(SSL): Yes, Error Number: 0x800CCCD2


Kelly

 

[notebook]

Congratulations on the baby!

Let's sort out your phone first, then we can go back to the others as needs be. Generally, it shouldn't matter which wifi you're using.

First confirm you've set things up as far as the Virgin Media site instructs you to:

'Enabling IMAP

You can retrieve your Virgin Media Mail messages with a client or device that supports IMAP, like Microsoft Outlook or Windows Mail.
To enable IMAP in your Virgin Media Mail account:
Sign in to your Virgin Media Mail account.
Click Settings at the top of any Virgin Media Mail page.
Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
Select Enable IMAP.
Configure your IMAP client and click Save Changes.'

Then on your phone:

Mail by HTC > Accounts list > New account > Other (POP3/IMAP) > Enter your Virgin Media email address and password > Next > Under Protocol select IMAP > Scroll down to enter the IMAP server address, it should be, according to Virgin Media, imap.virginmedia.com > Enter SSL for Security and 993 for Server port > Next, and this will verify everything is set up.

Hopefully, your Virgin Media emails should now start appearing on your phone. If not, check Menu > Settings > Accounts & sync > and make sure your Virgin Media email account appears in the 'Manage accounts' list and that the sync icon next to it is green. If it isn't, touch the account on that list and check both boxes, then press 'Sync now'.