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Missing emails - not junk

Mike6
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎10-05-2012

Missing emails - not junk

Hi,

I have had a number of emails that were sent to me but haven't arrived. Neither I nor the sender gets any notification. The emails are not in the junk folder. Is this over-zealous spam filtering? Is it outside Plusnet's control? I don't want to turn the filters off but I would much prefer at least some notification that an email has been zapped. Is there anything else I can do? I add the senders to my whitelist once I know there's a problem, but I don't want to add every possible sender.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Michael

17 REPLIES 17
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk

If emails are rejected due to the reputation of the sending mail server the sender should receive a non-delivery report provided by their mail server.

Those making it through that stage are handled according to your settings on the spam tab of Manage My Mail (log in to Member Centre, click Email settings, then click Manage My Mail). If you find you need to whitelist a lot of addresses you could try turning off "Discard obvious spam". That should stop emails being deleted without warning.

Have you reviewed the hints in the Spam Protection Guide?

David
Mike6
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎10-05-2012

Re: Missing emails - not junk

Thanks for the reply David. I did try turning off 'discard obvious spam' at one time, but - guess what - I started getting lots of obvious spam! Thanks for the link - useful tips and explanations.

 

Just to clarify, every single email sent to me that makes it to Plusnet's servers, apart from the 'obvious spam' should be delivered to me, unless I specifically block a sender?

spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk

Let's assume blacklisting doesn't apply. If you have catch-all turned off only messages to a valid mailbox, alias or redirect should be accepted. If they are accepted and not discarded as obvious spam (and ignoring redirects) I would expect them to appear either in the appropriate Inbox or spam folder. If tagging with [-SPAM-] is set you might get tagged messages in Inbox if they are scored as slightly spammy (eg level 4 or 5) and you have a lower level set on the filter (eg level 1-3).

Apart from "obvious spam" no messages should simply disappear.

I assume you have Plusnet virus protection active (on the Manage My Mail spam tab). If anything fails virus checking it will be quarantined but you should receive a notice to that effect.

David
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
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Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk


@Mike6 wrote:

I have had a number of emails that were sent to me but haven't arrived. Neither I nor the sender gets any notification. The emails are not in the junk folder. Is this over-zealous spam filtering?


Approaching this from a different direction, let's assume they do arrive in your Inbox. How would you then access the messages? Using webmail? Using email clients on one or more computers? Using email clients on tablets or phones? Which protocols, POP3 or IMAP? Do these clients do any junk mail filtering> Do the devices run antivirus software that might be quarantining messages? Are there any family members other than yourself accessing the mailbox?

Lots of questions I know, but one or more of them might be key to the problem.

David
Mike6
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎10-05-2012

Re: Missing emails - not junk

Thanks again David. I'm reassured by your comments that emails (other than 'obvious spam') don't just disappear. That was my main concern. I do have 'catch-all' on and I access email in various ways so there's lots to check. It's also possible that senders do get notifications but don't see them.

mort7890
Pro
Posts: 580
Thanks: 92
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎28-06-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk

So if they do not just disappear can someone explain an e-mail problem just happened. I received e-mail on my mobile and I kept it in my in box, it also appeared on my tablet but it has not arrived on my desktop. The e-mail has an attachment which I needed to transfer other data to as a reply so where has it gone? it is not in my junk mail and I can still see it in my webmail but not on my desktop which is very strange. E-mail received before and after are on my mobile, tablet, webmail and desktop.

spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk

Which email program/client are you using on your desktop PC? Is there a setting like "do not download messages larger than nnMB" and the message exceeds that?

Since you can still see it on webmail you could download the attachment from there if necessary.

David
mort7890
Pro
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Registered: ‎28-06-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk

@spraxyt

Outlook 2016 no setting for "do not download large messages enabled", had no problem from this person before and yes got the attachment from webmail. However still would like to know where it went to.

 

Jack

spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
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Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk

Since the message is visible in webmail and on your mobile it doesn't appear to me that it's gone anywhere - still where it should be on the email servers. It seems that Outlook 2016 simply does not see it, or has done but has chosen, or been told to ignore it. At the moment I've no idea if ignoring is possible or how it might be set.

Have you tried the traditional way of fixing anything electronic - close Outlook and shut the laptop down, then start up again?

 

David
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk

I have recently seen similar to this using OL2016 with a mail server other than Plusnet.

I "moved" some email accounts on to another computer to keep them separate from my personal stuff.  On doing a sanity check between the two, I noticed that the new machine had more UNREAD emails in it than the old one did for the same inbox (one less email which was on the 'old' machine but showing as read).

Could this be what you are seeing here in an UNREAD email filter?

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

mort7890
Pro
Posts: 580
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Registered: ‎28-06-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk

@spraxyt

So it is still on the e-mail servers?? cannot see ignoring one e-mail is possible.

Yes tried all the usual fix anything electronic except giving it a kick.

Contacted the e-mail sender they sent a reply which I received okay on all. Very puzzled.

mort7890
Pro
Posts: 580
Thanks: 92
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Registered: ‎28-06-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk

@Townman

@spraxyt

Tried to forward to myself from tablet with cc & Bcc but still not received. So went to webmail, opened the attachment (PDF) and sent that to myself and got it, so it cannot be that outlook cannot get it I just think the server has done something with it.

spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk

What webmail lists and displays is the content of your mailbox on the server, so if webmail shows it then it's on the server - it doesn't have storage of its own for keeping things.

That doesn't apply to the email clients on your phone, tablet and desktop; these have their own storage files whose behaviour depends on the protocol used (POP3 or IMAP) for server access and other settings.

Which protocols do you use on phone, tablet and desktop?

David
mort7890
Pro
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Registered: ‎28-06-2007

Re: Missing emails - not junk

@spraxyt

Webmail shows it so it is on the server then is the server discriminating my desktop with this one e-mail/attachment. All other e-mails around this one I have got and some with attachments. I use POP3 on all my devices.

 

Jack