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Splitrail

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 26, 2021
907
1,112
I don't get it, and I've gone through the settings multiple times and I'm not finding a solution on my own.
I set up centurylink e-mail today on my 13 pro.
It's my only email program, I've been using it for years on my PC.
All seems to go well, and still does, EXCEPT..............
For some reason, the emails in my inbox are deleting themselves, yet they are still on my PC as always.
After receiving an email on the iPhone, and coming back to review it later (minutes later), it's gone from the inbox and any folders (not found in "junk" or "trash").
Is there maybe a setting that controls this, maybe that I'm not understanding or overlooking?
 
Last edited:

Splitrail

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 26, 2021
907
1,112
I don't get it, and I've gone through the settings multiple times and I'm not finding a solution on my own.
I set up centurylink e-mail today on my 13 pro.
It's my only email program, I've been using it for years on my PC.
All seems to go well, and still does, EXCEPT..............
For some reason, the emails in my inbox are deleting themselves, yet they are still on my PC as always.
After receiving an email on the iPhone, and coming back to review it later (minutes later), it's gone from the inbox and any folders (not found in "junk" or "trash").
Is there maybe a setting that controls this, maybe that I'm not understanding or overlooking?
Forgot to mention, I'm using the "mail" app that came on the phone.
Has anyone had any problems with this app?
What apps are you using to access your e-mail program from your phone?
 

Lee_Bo

Cancelled
Mar 26, 2017
606
878
I’m using the same Apple Mail app with one Gmail, one iCloud, one Outlook and one church email address and I’ve never experienced this problem.

If you haven’t found any issues on your phone, I would log into your webmail account and look at all the settings there. Maybe there’s a setting for mobile access?
 

Splitrail

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 26, 2021
907
1,112
Thanks.
I have e-mail through centurylink.
When you say "webmail account", do you mean my account with centurylink?

That may be good advice, but if I can send and receive e-mails on my phone (which I can), that must mean that I am accessing my account.
The problem remains that after a short period of time, the e-mails disappear from the inbox, even though they were received successfully. :confused:
 

Splitrail

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 26, 2021
907
1,112
Could there be a problem with the app?
Someone suggested deleting my e-mail account from the app. then deleting the app, then reinstalling the app, then reinstalling the e-mail account.
I'm SO perplexed by this!
 

Splitrail

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 26, 2021
907
1,112
Is the email account being set up as IMAP? An IMAP email account in iOS Mail should just reflect what is present at the server.
Thanks!
IMAP.
What I'm trying to do is figure out how to retain the messages in my inbox without them self deleting.
This is the way I'm used to it and have been for a decade on my PC using centurylink and microsoft outlook.
The e-mails in my inbox remain there until I intentionally delete them manually.
This is a new phone, first "smart phone", and it's just been a few days since I added my decade old e-mail account to it, so it's not like anything has changed with the phone since adding the account.
This has been a consistent "issue" since adding the e-mail account from moment one.
The centurylink account is a POP/SMTP system, if that's of any significance.
I'm an old cuss, used to that, and would like to have them remain on my phone as well, until I manually delete them.

Might I need to change a setting at centurylink to fix this?
 

Splitrail

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 26, 2021
907
1,112
I’m using the same Apple Mail app with one Gmail, one iCloud, one Outlook and one church email address and I’ve never experienced this problem.

If you haven’t found any issues on your phone, I would log into your webmail account and look at all the settings there. Maybe there’s a setting for mobile access?
Access doesn't seem to be the problem.
Keeping my messages in my inbox after receipt is the problem.
They appear for a few minutes, then disappear entirely.
They are not in the junk mail or trash folders, they're GONE!
All of the sent e-mails remain in the sent folder.
 

Puonti

macrumors 68000
Mar 14, 2011
1,567
1,187
IMAP.
...
The centurylink account is a POP/SMTP system, if that's of any significance.
Do you by any chance have your desktop email client configured to use Centurylink's POP email server instead of IMAP?

If yes, then due to how POP works as soon as your PC downloads a received message it's removed from the server.

This might then be triggering your Mail app on the phone to also remove the email, since it's been removed on the server (and that's how IMAP works - changes are synchronized between clients).
 
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Splitrail

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 26, 2021
907
1,112
Do you by any chance have your desktop email client configured to use Centurylink's POP email server instead of IMAP?

If yes, then due to how POP works as soon as your PC downloads a received message it's removed from the server.

This might then be triggering your Mail app on the phone to also remove the email, since it's been removed on the server (and that's how IMAP works - changes are synchronized between clients).
THAT make every bit of sense!
Now I have to find out how to get around this somehow. :confused:
How do I keep the message from being removed from the server?
OR, might there be an alternative app for the iPhone that acts like the PC and retains the messages in the inbox?
 

Puonti

macrumors 68000
Mar 14, 2011
1,567
1,187
The solution is to make sure that all email applications you're using to receive messages through that email account are configured to use IMAP for receiving messages. If there's even one application using POP, it's going to mess things up.
 

Splitrail

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 26, 2021
907
1,112
The solution is to make sure that all email applications you're using to receive messages through that email account are configured to use IMAP for receiving messages. If there's even one application using POP, it's going to mess things up.
Thanks so much!
That's a bit beyond me to do on my own, but I'll be in touch with my computer technician early this week and I'm quite sure he will be able to walk me through this.
The first thing was to find out where the problem is, and it looks like this is likely to be it.
I'll let you know the outcome.
Thanks Again!
 

Splitrail

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 26, 2021
907
1,112
Thank you all for your help with this.
As it turns out, the solution was basic & simple to solve!
The settings for Outlook in my PC for "Leave a copy on server" was set to not leave a copy on the server at all after receiving to the PC.
That has worked out for me using only the PC for the last 13 years or so.
But it didn't work for the phone.
We have changed it to the 14 day option, and since doing that, e-mails remain on my phone inbox until intentionally deleted (or 14 days - whichever comes first).
I learned a bunch from this, so it was by no means a waste of time or effort!
Thanks again!
Now, on to understanding organizing pictures and using iCloud to my advantage.
If anyone knows of a link "for dummies" regarding that topic, please post it.
DUH!
 
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