topic Re: Loading emails in Email

Loading emails

jefisk2 — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 11:33:49 GMT

Emails take ages to load or fail to load at all. There are about 700 messages in my inbox. many important so I dont really want to delete them. I have had this problem for months and am now thinking about switching to another email provider.

Can anyone suggest a solution?

Thanks

Re: Loading emails

jab1 — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 11:41:42 GMT

@jefisk2 Are you using just webmail, or do you have a proper mail client?

Re: Loading emails

jefisk2 — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 12:01:40 GMT

Hi thanks for the reply. I just use webmail, not very computer literate so dont know what a proper mail client is. Cheers, John

Re: Loading emails

jab1 — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 12:19:56 GMT

Fair enough, @jefisk2 . By 'proper mail client', I mean something like Thunderbird Mail - there are numerous others, but because I have been perfectly satisfied with that program for around 25 years, I haven't bothered looking for anything else, so I'm a little out of touch.

The problem with using webmail is that you only get a limited storage space on the mail server, and if you do not manage your use, you hit problems.

Using a proper mail client means that you can fairly easily store whatever you like on your own machine, or, as I do, move important items to an external device, something which, AFAIK, is impossible on webmail.

As I said above, I have lost touch with what is out there, and even TB has changed in the intervening years, so I am possibly not the best person to advise further.

I will tag another Community member who has more knowledge, and hope he can help you.

@Townman - can you help here?

Re: Loading emails

Townman — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 15:36:12 GMT

The problem with webmail is that the display of the mailbox content is done in real time and any load related performance issue is very visible. Sort order can have a very detrimental impact on retrieval. See the thread discussing the issue at the top of the forum.

An email client syncs the server and client content in the background therefore if there are performance problems they are not so visible, often to the point of not being visible at all. Access via a client also allows reading and composition whilst not connected to the internet / mail server.

Using webmail or an email client does not address server storage limits. That needs diligent and efffective housekeeping and good email discipline. For example email is a messaging technology - not a document transfer and storage system. So many people use it to send photos and documents … and keep them stored there.

Some suggest configuring an email client as POP3 to “manage” server contents. Usually POP3 operation causes more problems than it solves.