Any Email Experts Here?

[#1]

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Using IMAP everywhere is a far simpler option. Emails are only ever ON the server and are simply sync’d to the device, so if you “delete” a mailbox on a device ... the emails remain in place on the server.

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Thanks guys, all 3 of my devices are running on IMAP settings so theoretically all emails should remain on the server then I guess. My phone is set to delete from device and server but that applies to all accounts on the phone. Maybe I should change that setting to device only to be belt and braces. Not sure how TBird deals with email I'll have to check.

Going forward I think maybe best course of action would be to create folders on a project basis as this is a work email but not sync these folders to the phone. When I feel confident that any group of emails is something I'd better keep hold of but not needed on a day to day basis I could put them in a folder on my computer and set up a back up regime for those folders so it's safe to delete them off my phone and reduce the clutter.

[#2]

Yes, if you use IMAP on all devices, then the "master storage" is on the server. If you delete an email on ANY device, then (I believe) that it will delete it on the server, and thus on all devices.

My problem is that I only trust myself: if I have important emails on a server, then (a) they are potentially accessible by others; (b) if the mail provider screws up, or goes out of business, I've lost my emails; (c) what do I do if I wish to move providers.

I use POP3 on my PC to download the emails are in my device, and make sure my emails are backed up.

[#3]

Yes I don't use IMAP, but I do use Exchange hosting which I assume is similar.

All your devices sync to the server, so if you delete it from one device it disappears from the others. I have my e-mails on my iPhone as well as PC and Mac. It does take a bit of getting used to, but now coming from POP3 hosting I like it.

The only thing I've noticed is it is very easy on an iPhone to delete an e-mail accidently. Luckily on Exchange it will go into the Deleted Items folder. So if you do you can check that folder as backup. Restore items if it was a mistake and you wanted to keep, or get rid of the ones you don't.

[#4]

Why not use IMAP on all devices and on the PC where you want to back up emails create a separate local folders account and set up a rule to copy all new emails to those folders.

[#5]

I use POP3 on all my devices with the option set to leave a copy on the server except for my PC where they are automatically removed once downloaded.

I find this works satisfactorily for me.

[#6]

Just come across a nice article that cleary explains POP3 vs IMAP vs MAPI (= Exchange):

https://www.howtogeek.com/99423/email-whats-the-difference-in-pop3-imap-and-exchange/

[#7]

@Mav

... and what happens to emails sent from the different devices ... ?

Yes multi POP3 can be made to work, but you really do need to know EXACTLY what you are doing. Multiple clients and IMAP is somewhat simpler, provides consistency... and emails sent from all devices are stored in the same location.

[#8]

@Townman

I rarely send emails from any other devices apart from the PC. Last time I did was months ago and, when I do, I BCC to an an account where I then download it on to the PC.

[#9]

@Mav,

Yes that is basically what I used to do.

Problem is if I collect e-mail from the main device, it is all deleted from the server. It’ll probably be cached on others I guess but then I think what if I have to refer to an older e-mail?

There are workarounds I know, and having Exchange took a little bit of getting used to (but nothing major).

Didn’t think I would go back to POP3.

[#10]

I'm generally 60/40 site/office based so I do a lot of emailing on the go. I've set up two local folders on my office desktop called "inbox backup" and "sent backup" and created a rule to copy to both of these respectively on send and receipt. I guess now when I delete from the phone now I'll still have a copy, thinking now though if I send from the phone it probably won't copy over on the pc. At home I just use the Pn webmail version, don't think I can create rules on there though other than create two similar folder on there and manually coy them over. TO be fair I rarely use my home computer for work emails.