Windows Mobile 2003 IMAP Woes - Anyone Else Have This Headache?

[Jason Dunn]

Every morning, I wake up and pick up my iPAQ 4150. I turn it on and, using WiFi, pull down my Pocket PC Thoughts email messages using Pocket Inbox and my IMAP account. I'll read, delete, and move messages to different sub-folders. I'll usually do several send/receives during this time. Usually, it will only download new messages, and by all appearances it will look like everything is OK. However, more often than not (I'd say 80% of the time), I'll sit down at my main PC, fire up Outlook 2003, and it will download all the messages that I'd already processed - and they won't even be marked as read. Sometimes this behaviour will happen on the Pocket PC - messages will be downloaded even though I just deleted them. This cycle can continue several times - I delete messages, do another send/receive, and all those deleted messages are downloaded and marked as unread. It's worth noting that I see the same problems in all the email accounts I have on the server (PPCT, <a href="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com">SPT</a>, <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com">DMT</a>), but not when checking my two IMAP accounts on Exchange servers.<br /><br />This behaviour happens with "Empty Deleted Items" set to IMMEDIATELY and ON CONNECT/DISCONNECT. This setting seems to have no impact. Sometimes I'll do a TOOLS > EMPTY DELETED ITEMS, but that has no effect on the problem either. Our server is running Linux Redhat 7.3, and the IMAP server is UW IMAP 2001a. This is a very popular mail server, so if I'm having this problem, I have to think others are too.<br /><br />Vote in the poll and give me your feedback if you've ever seen similar issues - or, better yet, know what the solution is, because it's driving me insane. :evil:

[JoeThielen]

I've got the same deal.

Makes me mad because this is one of the reasons I switched from POP3 to IMAP in the first place. I use fetchmail on Linux to grab my POP3 mail from my real mail server. Then I point all my mail clients at the Linux machine via IMAP to read the mail.

I've got a Mandrake 9.0 server with IMAP 2002 I think. Also has SpamAssassin. If you're not using it, GET IT :).

I eventually stopped trying to do anything besides reading/writing mail with the PocketPC. I do wish that I could have them marked read, move to folders, etc...

I'm using a HP2210 BTW.

[fmcpherson]

I think it depends on the IMAP server. At home I have my own IMAP server that I run using Mercury/32 (http://wwwbzs.tu-graz.ac.at/software/pegasus/de/history/merc32/v210pv.html) and I can delete email by tapping Tools, Empty Deleted Items.

I also use Fastmail (http://www.fastmail.fm) and no matter what I try to do I cannot delete email from their IMAP server.

[Dave Beauvais]

With the two IMAP servers I use, the Pocket PC is essentially useless. I don't even bother checking those accounts very often since I'll just have to go back and do it all over again next time I'm at a PC. Figures that it works properly with an Exchange server, though. :roll:

[Jason Lee]

I had this problem on 3 of my 2215's along with many other OS problems. I had to exchange 4 times before I got one that mostly worked. The problems I have now with Inbox are WM2003 problems not HP problems. I tested on all WM2003 devices in stores. There were BIG changes made with Inbox between 2002 and 2003. As far as I can tell almost all of them are for the worse. Used to if you setup a pop account it would work kinda like imap by "syncing" the folder contents. With WM2003 pop pulls EVERYTHING from the server to the PPC. What good does that do me? Now all my mail is stuck on my ppc. The only way to get it back it to forward it to my self at another address!!!

Here's one for you. Create an imap account and call it SMSU. It doesn't matter what any of the other settings are. It can be your own imap server or total bogus info so long as the account is named "SMSU". Now try to compose and send a new email... Can't can you? The send button flashes to the "wooshing" letter then the cursor jumps to the to address line. It has something to do with the name on the account. It has done it to me with several other names not just "SMSU". Haven't discerned a pattern yet. I have to call my University acount "Bearmail" to get anything to send.

That's just one of my many WM2003 troubles...

Edit: I have given up for now and almost exclusively use npopw (http://www.wibble-wobble.com/wince/npopw/) I only use Inbox to move emails to folders... but I guess that is what you are having trouble with... :(

[VanHlebar]

I am using the public release of WebIS Mail that Alex released a couple of weeks ago to get my mail on my Axim X3i. I am experiencing the same issues with this app and I thought it was his applicaiton. I now wonder if it isn't his app, but something to do with WM2003?

-Eric

[that_kid]

Well I haven't had this problem but i've run into a few others. When using imap with an fresh from hard reset windows mobile device(ipaq 3970,5455 and 555) I had trouble downloading some attachments to the ppc. When I opened the msg and clicked on the attachement then do a send/recieve I would only get a small amount of the attachment. I had to keep repeating the send/recieve action so I could get the attachment. I ended up going through the registry of my 5555 and changing some settings(can't remember what) but now it works fine. The strange thing is that this was happening on all these devices using imap sessions from exchange 5.5 and 2000. Not sure what was up with that, all I know is that it's annoying.

[manywhere]

I have not yet had the problem, but I've seen people describing the same problem. The only "workaround" I know is to move the mail you want to delete to Deleted Items. And that's not supposed to always work... :?

I personally use SSL-IMAP to check my university email and it works nicely. Although, I've only gotten the problem that it also downloads the other folders in my home directory -- and I've got no idea of how to configure the server to not do so... :( (Can anyone enlighten me on that point, perhaps?)

On my desktop, I check my mail via SSH and using Pine. That's a no brainer -- it always works as it should! :mrgreen:

[Jason Dunn]

:grumble: You know, I was really hoping it was only going to be something strange with our server - I'm shocked I haven't seen messages about this, or seen this issue raised anywhere. Were we all in denial about how much Pocket Inbox sucks at IMAP on a non-Exchange server? :roll:

[alex_kac]

I am using the public release of WebIS Mail that Alex released a couple of weeks ago to get my mail on my Axim X3i. I am experiencing the same issues with this app and I thought it was his applicaiton. I now wonder if it isn't his app, but something to do with WM2003?

-Eric

Hm. Nope :) Has nothing to do with WM 2003.

Those issues with WM2003 are with Microsoft's IMAP transport. Our IMAP code is 100% different from MS and we only rely on the internet winsock API, which has nothing to do with it.

Its most likely that our code is still just buggy, and MS left theirs that way too. Its also probably just the fact that in IMAP with its complexity, many developers hit the same problems in their development. The best IMAP implementation I know is Mulberry...the worst is Outlook. Its not easy to do IMAP and many developers just don't go far enough into it.

Now beta 2 of WebIS Mail 2.0 actually had the first integrated IMAP lib in it...one that we wrote from scratch ourselves. So it was bound to be buggy. The good news is we're prepared to take however long it takes to get it as close to right as reasonably possible.

[brian_r_baker]

My mail server is Exchange 2000 and I still have some of these problems using Windows Mobile 2003 -- mostly regarding re-downloading deleted messages. I also use IMAP on my MPx200 SmartPhone, but I haven't seen the problem there.

[racerx]

Using the IMAP client connecting to an Exchange 2000 server and I don't have any problems at all. Now POP is another story - it won't delete my messages from the server when I kill them on the PPC. That's one major reason why I use IMAP.

[carphead]

I use Mdaemon (excellent IMAP Win32 Server). I have fairly similar problems with deleting email. Never had the problem with re-downloading files.

Best thing about Mdaemon? It's the excellent WebMail, it has a theme designed for Pocket PC! :D

[vargon]

I use Redhat 8 and WU IMAP and don't have that issue. But it seems like your problem might be something else. I don't know which icon you're clicking on the Pocket Inbox toolbar to check your mail, but there are two... one is Connect and the other is Send/Receive Mail.
Let's suppose you're clicking the Send/Receive Mail button in the morning. That will download your messages and sync up your Inbox to the IMAP server. Now you move around your messages, etc. If you don't click the Send/Receive Mail button again, the changes aren't synced back to the IMAP server which is why when you get back to your desktop, it looks like you didn't do anything. The easy fix to that problem is to click Send/Receive Mail again when you're done.
Now suppose you're hitting Connect instead. Since I use the former method, I can't speak with any certainty, but again it will perform the change locally before syncing it back up. Pocket Inbox could be buggy I suppose (shocker!) and not inform the server of the changes. In that case, when finished sorting, I'd click the Disconnect button and then the Send/Receive Mail button.

Hopefully one of those will help... =)
AG

[Dave Beauvais]

I think the root of the problem is that on all the IMAP servers I've used, messages aren't actually deleted, they are simply "marked as deleted." In most cases, they remain in the Inbox or whatever folder they were in until you "purge" deleted items. There is no capability in the PPC Inbox app to do this and for whatever reason, it doesn't recognize messages that have been marked for deletion. (Most IMAP-capable e-mail clients will show "deleted" files with a strike through them.)

I think the problem is Inbox just has a half-assed IMAP implementation that was thrown in almost as an afterthought. It sure seems that way, at least.

[Jason Dunn]

Let's suppose you're clicking the Send/Receive Mail button in the morning. That will download your messages and sync up your Inbox to the IMAP server. Now you move around your messages, etc. If you don't click the Send/Receive Mail button again, the changes aren't synced back to the IMAP server which is why when you get back to your desktop, it looks like you didn't do anything. The easy fix to that problem is to click Send/Receive Mail again when you're done.

I wish it was that simple, but yesterday I spent 10 minutes testing every possible combination of Send/Receive and Connect, and it was the same thing every time - so this isn't the solution. :cry:

[Jason Dunn]

In most cases, they remain in the Inbox or whatever folder they were in until you "purge" deleted items. There is no capability in the PPC Inbox app to do this and for whatever reason, it doesn't recognize messages that have been marked for deletion.

I think you might be right, but what doesn't make sense to me is why it doesn't just delete it immediately if you've set up Pocket Inbox that way? It should send the "Purge" command the next time you do the Send/Receive command...

[Dave Beauvais]

... It should send the "Purge" command the next time you do the Send/Receive command...
As we all know, there are many things in this world that should work a certain way but simply don't. ;) Once SSL connections were added in WM2003, this IMAP fiasco and not being able to authenticate to an SMTP server using a specific username and password are really the only complaints I have about Inbox.

[CrashX]

Excuse me while I dig up the past... :)

Is this still an issue with IMAP? I'm thinking about getting the HP 6315 as a replacement for my Sidekick (this will be my first PPC, but not my first PDA), and mobile email is a very important factor for me. I won't be syncing email with a desktop, so I'm hoping the IMAP functionality now works as it's supposed to. Can anyone provide an update on this?

Also, is there a limit to the number of IMAP email accounts that can be added in Pocket Outlook? I have four that I need to check regularly, and at least another five that I'd like to check if possible. If there is a limit, and it's a small one, can anyone recommend a better PPC email client that supports IMAP?

Regards,
Rich

[Jason Dunn]

Is this still an issue with IMAP?...Also, is there a limit to the number of IMAP email accounts that can be added in Pocket Outlook? I have four that I need to check regularly, and at least another five that I'd like to check if possible. If there is a limit, and it's a small one, can anyone recommend a better PPC email client that supports IMAP?

Yes, it's still an issue. The workaround is to click CONNECT, do your read/delete/move, click SEND & RECIEVE, then click CONNECT again to disconnect. You need to click connect to force the connection to the IMAP server since Pocket Inbox isn't connection-state aware.

I believe the limit is eight accounts total, and one of those is the ActiveSync account...so you'd have seven IMAP (I think). I've only tested this with five accounts total.

WebIS Mail is the only other email tool I'm aware of.

[CrashX]

Yes, it's still an issue. &lt;snip> WebIS Mail is the only other email tool I'm aware of.
Hi Jason,

Thanks for the info. I actually bought my first PPC yesterday afternoon, an hp6315 from T-Mobile, and WebIS Mail was the first thing I installed. So far it seems to work (almost) perfectly, marking messages as required on the server.