iPad Pro Mail - IMAP erratic Inbox behaviour (Outlook account)

[LB22]

Hello guys,

I have a last gen iPad Pro (system & apps up to date) on which I use Mail to get my emails. My main email account is a Outlook (formerly Hotmail) account, with an additional alias, so I did set up this account as an IMAP account (and not an Outlook/Exchange account) so that I could use this alias.

The initial set up is completed without trouble after a few searches on these forums: the inbox is working properly, I have access to my alias, I can see all the subfolders of the inbox, new mails are coming in tha "all inboxes" or "outlook inbox", everything works fine.

But once I close and open the app again, I notice that sometimes all the inbox subfolders are present, and sometimes they are just not there anymore. Closing and reopening the Mail app is sometimes enough to get them back (or to lose them)...

But more annoying is the fact that after a few hours/days, I notice that new emails are not coming in the "Inbox/all inboxes" folder, but only on the greyed out "inbox" folder of the Outlook account, which make them invisible and unreadable. They do not appear in any other folder, including the "Inbox" upper folder where they usually are, and where I can read them (Réception in this case, as my OS is in French). Once this happens, this problem is permanent, so it seems independant to the "inbox subfolders disappearance".

You can see the problem in the pictures below: in both cases, new emails are coming in the greyed "inbox" folder where before they were received in the "Outlook Reception" folder. In one case you can see the subfolders, in the other you cannot.

I tried to uninstall and re-install the IMAP account, but I always get the same behaviour: at first, the mailbox works perfectly, maisl are coming in the "Outlook Réception" folder, I can see all inbox subfloders, ... And a few hours later, all new mails are staying in the greyed inbox folder and the inbox subfolders are appearing erratically.

I'm guessing there is a an access path problem between the IMAP server and the app, but my knowledge stops here... I let everything blank in the IMAP inbox path settings, as recommended on several forums, to get access to all inbox subfolders.

I don't understand why it works at first and then it stops...
Am I missing something here ?

Many thanks for your help,
Cheers

 

[AutomaticApple]

Hello guys,

I have a last gen iPad Pro (system & apps up to date) on which I use Mail to get my emails. My main email account is a Outlook (formerly Hotmail) account, with an additional alias, so I did set up this account as an IMAP account (and not an Outlook/Exchange account) so that I could use this alias.

The initial set up is completed without trouble after a few searches on these forums: the inbox is working properly, I have access to my alias, I can see all the subfolders of the inbox, new mails are coming in tha "all inboxes" or "outlook inbox", everything works fine.

But once I close and open the app again, I notice that sometimes all the inbox subfolders are present, and sometimes they are just not there anymore. Closing and reopening the Mail app is sometimes enough to get them back (or to lose them)...

But more annoying is the fact that after a few hours/days, I notice that new emails are not coming in the "Inbox/all inboxes" folder, but only on the greyed out "inbox" folder of the Outlook account, which make them invisible and unreadable. They do not appear in any other folder, including the "Inbox" upper folder where they usually are, and where I can read them (Réception in this case, as my OS is in French). Once this happens, this problem is permanent, so it seems independant to the "inbox subfolders disappearance".

You can see the problem in the pictures below: in both cases, new emails are coming in the greyed "inbox" folder where before they were received in the "Outlook Reception" folder. In one case you can see the subfolders, in the other you cannot.

View attachment 1723473 View attachment 1723474

I tried to uninstall and re-install the IMAP account, but I always get the same behaviour: at first, the mailbox works perfectly, maisl are coming in the "Outlook Réception" folder, I can see all inbox subfloders, ... And a few hours later, all new mails are staying in the greyed inbox folder and the inbox subfolders are appearing erratically.

I'm guessing there is a an access path problem between the IMAP server and the app, but my knowledge stops here... I let everything blank in the IMAP inbox path settings, as recommended on several forums, to get access to all inbox subfolders.

I don't understand why it works at first and then it stops...
Am I missing something here ?

Many thanks for your help,
Cheers

Does it work in other mail clients?

 

[BrianBaughn]

My guess is that you wouldn't have an issue if you didn't have subfolders inside your Inbox.

At some time in the past I'm sure I had some sort of issue putting subfolders in the Inbox…so since then I don't.

I know I did some research at the time (always do). Although I don't think I ever found a guideline saying such subfolders are ill-advised I believe I found that enough other users saw problems using them.

 

[LB22]

Does it work in other mail clients?

I didn't try because I want to stick to Apple Mail app. But my Outlook account works perfectly from the internet Outlook client, and if I configure my account as a Outlook account in the Mail app, it works flawlessly, with subfolders also, except that I can't choose which alias my mails are sent from, which is very annoying. I wish Apple addressed this problem in the first place !

My guess is that you wouldn't have an issue if you didn't have subfolders inside your Inbox.

At some time in the past I'm sure I had some sort of issue putting subfolders in the Inbox…so since then I don't.

I know I did some research at the time (always do). Although I don't think I ever found a guideline saying such subfolders are ill-advised I believe I found that enough other users saw problems using them.

Yes, problem is that my Outlook account and thus my subfolders were there way before I got my iPad, and they are very useful on other plataforms/clients. Just to be clear: these subfolders weren't created on the iPad, they are the subfolders I created on my outlook account (on the web client). So the Mail app is just trying to get them from the server I guess.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Yes, problem is that my Outlook account and thus my subfolders were there way before I got my iPad, and they are very useful on other plataforms/clients. Just to be clear: these subfolders weren't created on the iPad, they are the subfolders I created on my outlook account (on the web client). So the Mail app is just trying to get them from the server I guess.

When or where they were created makes no difference.

If you move the folders out of the Inbox do they lose their usefulness?

 

[LB22]

When or where they were created makes no difference.

If you move the folders out of the Inbox do they lose their usefulness?

Honestly I have never tought about that, as it is a classification of my received emails, that I would like to keep available on any device I visit. So I don't really know where else I could put them but for sure they cannot be local folders.

Do you think this would resolve the main problem of the received mails going into the greyed inbox and not into the reception box as usual ?

 

[BrianBaughn]

Honestly I have never tought about that, as it is a classification of my received emails, that I would like to keep available on any device I visit. So I don't really know where else I could put them but for sure they cannot be local folders.

Do you think this would resolve the main problem of the received mails going into the greyed inbox and not into the reception box as usual ?

Right. I wasn't thinking local folders at all. If you just create a new folder under the Outlook.com account it will appear on all devices.

I'm not sure how you email is set up and don't really understand the French enough to figure out the folders.

 

[LB22]

Right. I wasn't thinking local folders at all. If you just create a new folder under the Outlook.com account it will appear on all devices.

I'm not sure how you email is set up and don't really understand the French enough to figure out the folders.

Yes, and that's exactly what I'm looking for, so we are on the same line here.

As for the setup, I will try to send you a print screen, but I basically used all standard parameters from Outlook for SMTP and IMAP servers and ports configuration.
I let the IMAP Path Prefix field empty. I start to think that the problem comes from there but I have no clue what else should I do.

This is all I can tell...

 

[BrianBaughn]

Looking at your folder list in the images above I'm thinking you should rename the folder that you created and named "Inbox"…at least as a troubleshooting step. Your "Réception" box would be called "Inbox" if you were using English and your "Inbox" folder might be causing confusion at some point…either in iOS or with the server.

Name it something other than a name the server reserves for its folders.

 

[LB22]

Looking at your folder list in the images above I'm thinking you should rename the folder that you created and named "Inbox"…at least as a troubleshooting step. Your "Réception" box would be called "Inbox" if you were using English and your "Inbox" folder might be causing confusion at some point…either in iOS or with the server.

Name it something other than a name the server reserves for its folders.

Strangely/unfortunately/sadly, the folder named "Inbox" (the greyed out one) is the only one I didn't created, it is the one coming from Outlook server... And thus, it is the only one I cannot delete or rename, even on Outlook web client... Shame.

 

[BrianBaughn]

A stock Outlook.com account set up as IMAP (My iPhone is on iOS 13.6.1) should look like this (in US English):

This is what I see at the webmail interface:

Any folders other than these would be folders created by you, either directly or indirectly.

Have you tried creating another folder ("New Folder") and moving those Inbox subfolders to "New Folder" to see if that loosens up what you can do with your folder named "Inbox"?