Problems with metronet.co.uk email

[#1]

And if asking if my father can read email via web mail. Then yes he can, only a few emails in his inbox. When he tried to send an email, it gets sent, but can't be saved to the sent colder ...

[#2]

Thanks for confirming that @summers. On the online mailbox, how many emails are in the sent folder? Are there also a bunch of emails in any of the other folders?

[#3]

It’s not just a matter of numbers but the size of attachments.  A handful of emails with high resolution photos or large documents attached can soon ‘blow’ a 100MB storage limit.

[#4]

The inbox has about 10 emails in it, two with attachments (Christmas pictures). All other folders are effectively empty.  The total size as mentioned before is 23.9MB, most of which is in the two emails with attachments.

So 100MB storage limit has not been exceeded.

[#5]

Thanks for getting back to us @summers

I'm really sorry to see you're still having issues with your father's Metronet e-mail address.

As far as I'm aware we have no plans to discontinue this. I've also checked the account and I can't find any problems there. 

When logging into webmail.plus.net, can you go to Settings at the top right and then click the Folders tab then make sure all the folders are ticked? Afterwards, go back to the Mail view, and check if you can see anymore e-mail plus the sent mail. 

Let me know how it goes.

[#6]

Thanks @Gandalf - I'll try this when went up at my parents. Alas father isn't tech savvy, so won't be able to do this. Really just looking for a way for him to get emails sent to his metronet email - he is moving people across to his new gmail account, but as ever misses some.

Anyway I'll update this thread when tried.

[#7]

No problem @summers, keep us posted on how things go.

[#8]

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@summers wrote:

Thanks @Gandalf - I'll try this when went up at my parents.

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If he would permit it, you could log into his mailbox yourself.

Alternatively take a look at Microsoft's Quick Assist - it very simply allows one to take remote control of another computer.

[#9]

Yes - the main thing is I need his password. I may phone when I finish work, as wouldn't want it sent any other way.

Oh yes - previously got the inbox size via an MTA (Thunderbird) over IMAP; just asked it to sh ow me the total size ...

[#10]

Bingo @Gandalf 

Turns out some hidden directories. As well as "Deleted", he had "Archive" "Deleted Items" and "Deleted Messages" - the latter had 519 old messages in it - clearing these out, and looks like he can receive emails again.

Have to wonder how father got all these directories. I using thunderbird with IMAP only ever get a few, e.g. "Drafts" "Sent" "spam" "Deleted".

Anyway will probably still transfer to his gmail email for sending, but at least he can still collect any emails sent to his old metronet account again.

[#11]

Cheers for the update @summers 

Ah those pesky hidden directories. From what I've seen IMAP clients can create extra folders, I don't fully understand it. @Townman may be able to explain. I'm glad to see you've got to the bottom of the issue though. 

If you have further issues or there's anything else you'd need help with, feel free to get back to us.

[#12]

That’s all very interesting and now known, readily explainable.

IMAP clients might only show SUBSCRIBED to folders, not all the folders on the server. The webmail client usually shows everything.

Not all IMAP clients are made equal, some will correctly identify existing folders, subscribe to them and use them for the appropriate purpose. Others just ignore what’s there and create new folders. Win10 mail is notable for that. Confusion can occur between webmail and other IMAP clients as well. Sometimes Outlook requires the root folder to be specified to display all of the inbox subfolders.

I do not know what causes any of this but simply have observed such over the years.