Emails disappearing from Inbox (webmail)

[#1]

I've recently noticed emails regularly (daily) disappearing from the bottom of my Inbox list when viewed on Webmail, which I have not deleted.

I currently only have 5 messages showing, earliest being 17th September, more have disappeared this morning. 

I use POP3 access on two devices to download email regularly throughout the day as I always have, neither of which are set to delete on read, and historically this has always been fine. Indeed after downloading the currently displayed messages they are still there, so POP3 settings are not the issue. I regularly manage email in Webmail daily, deleting unwanted messages to keep folder sizes  as low as possible. I am nowhere near 75% of the 1GB limit on my combined folder sizes (approx. 275MB total).

In practice it's not causing a huge problem yet, as I regularly download new messages, but I also want to keep certain things on the server for accessibility from any location via web browser, and messages randomly disappearing is unacceptable. 

Can anyone shed any light on why this is happening and how I may fix it? 

Regards

Rich

[#2]

I use POP3 access on two devices to download email regularly throughout the day as I always have, neither of which are set to delete on read, and historically this has always been fine

@rich-m are you sure you have the correct POP settings ? normally POP will automatically remove the message from the server once its download UNLESS you specifically configure it to 'leave messages on server'

I use POP3 access on two devices to download email regularly

Using POP3 on multiple devices is not recommended since each device will store local copies of the email, in addition sent email is only stored on the device from which it is sent.

[#3]

MisterW, thank you for reply, 

Yes I'm fully aware of implications of POP3 on various devices and limitations, it just suits how I want to use it, I want to selectively save to local devices, and sent mail locations I manage as necessary. 

Everything is set to leave messages on the server, as it has always been and until recently has worked perfectly well, I can then clean up my folders periodically on Webmail. If POP3 settings anywhere were set to remove messages, it would remove them all as they are read, but it doesn't, the most recent messages stay in inbox as expected, until I delete via webmail or they "mysteriously disappear" as has been happening recently. 

[#4]

Everything is set to leave messages on the server,

Is that 'until I delete them' or 'for up to xx days' ?

It would be interesting to try an an another email client set to IMAP to see if that shows the emails. Webmail is effectively just that, an IMAP client that happens to run on the Plusnet servers and interfaces to the user via a browser.

[#5]

"Delete email from server" - "Never" 

[#6]

From what you say, you are nowhere near the storage limit so it shouldn't be a issue of message being 'archived' due to that.

Essentailly we're left with a POP client not behaving as expected.

What email client are you using ? and has it updated recently ?

[#7]

Yea, fairly much my thoughts.. 

I will have to go back through everything initially and check that nothing weird has happened in the setup, or during an update or something as you say. I don't recall a Thunderbird update recently though  

I use Thunderbird primarily and whatever generic Sony Android Mail offering on mobile.  

[#8]

I use Thunderbird and although I primarily use IMAP I do happen to have a test account as POP3

I can't find "Delete email from server" - "Never" 

Under the 'leave messages on server' I can only see 'for at most n days' and/or 'until I delete them'

I'm running vn 128.2.3esr

[#9]

yes, indeed you are correct.. sorry I was just using the terms from the Android client which I had in front of me as an example, and to imply the T'bird equivalent, which as you say is "until I delete them" 

However I will check later, just to make sure that hasn't changed.

[#10]

What's the Android client ? that's also set for POP is it ?

TBH I've never used POP on an Android client.

I used to operate similarly to you in that my main desktop (Tbird on Linux) was set to POP3 'leave on server' and then my other clients ( K9 on Android & Tbird on a windows lappie) were set to IMAP.

I have my own domains, two in fact, one was originally hosted by Plusnet the other by Ecohosting. When I came to move my PN hosted domain it was a bit of a nightmare due to the POP 'leave on server' . Having transferred all the existing email from the old server to the new one, the POP3 client when configured for the new server of course, saw all the emails as 'new' and promptly downloaded them all again! Fortunately Tbird has a pretty good add-on that can spot and purge duplicates.

It was following this that I decided that totally IMAP was really the way to go. I now periodically archive email on my main desktop to local folders in Tbird to give a locally backed up copy.

When I came to move the Ecohosting hosted doamin last year, it proved much simpler now everything was IMAP, I just transferred the emails from one server to the other using Imapsync , changed the incoming/outgoing servers in my various email clients , job done! Everything was as it was before!

[#11]

Android client here is nothing specific, just whatever Sony supply in their default installation bundle, I only use it as a transient thing whilst on the move to see daily traffic and the occasional send, so rarely keeping much stored on the phone. Yes, currently POP. I have no need to be sync'ing many devices, just download and maintain locally at home. However back to my original reason for posting here, I do like to be able to selectively leave stuff on the server for "anywhere" access by web browser, which obviously is not currently happening..  

[#12]

Frankly the use of a POP3 client where multiple devices are accessing the same mailbox is inviting difficulties. Yes, using IMAP might mean the user has to think a little about managing server storage and implementing a proper archiving strategy … but that does leave the user in FULL control and not exposed to the vagaries of an email client designed in the early 1990’s for single client connections.

Personally I would never contemplate using a POP3 client. There is no benefit of doing so, which cannot be done better via an IMAP client with a planned archiving strategy.

[#13]

I only use it as a transient thing whilst on the move to see daily traffic and the occasional send, so rarely keeping much stored on the phone. 

So presumably you delete emails on that client to not keep much stored there. I'd be unsure what effect that would have on messages left on the server, it may 'mark' then as deleted and then they really actually get deleted later.

[#14]

So presumably you delete emails on that client to not keep much stored there

Yes exactly that, just as I always have for some years

[#15]

@Townman I lost all inbox emails last week in Outlook on my pc. But not on my phone (Edison client). Webmail had gone too but Plusnet managed to get that working again (something to do with columns). I still can't get Outlook inbox to fill on my pc or laptop. I tried Edison for Windows on the pc and that couldn't connect either. In Outlook my settings are imap.plus.net 143 and relay.plus.net 25. Root folder set to inbox.