Mail: Sent folder on iPhone not synchronizing

[desertman]

I just noticed that the (unified) All Sent folder on my iPad for my two IMAP email accounts is since about 10 days out of sync. The All Sent folder on my iPhone (with the same email addresses) is OK.

Does anybody have an idea what the cause for this might be and how it can be fixed? Thanks.

 

[BrianBaughn]

If your settings are identical on both devices for everything Mail related it's possible that deleting and re-adding the accounts may be the only thing that will work.

 

[desertman]

I did that already and and did not help. However, I found out that that on the server of my mail provider are two folders with sent messages. One is called "Sent Objects" and it contains the current sent messages, and another one is called "Sent Messages" and it contains very old sent messages.

The weird thing is that my iPhone recognizes the correct folder (Sent Objects) as folder for sent messages while my iPad uses the wrong folder (Sent Messages) for this. Both devices have iOS 11.3 installed and until recently both devices used the correct folder for sent messages. I have now deleted the wrong folder (Sent Messages) directly on the server but the iPad still does not want to use the correct folder (Sent Objects) to show the sent messages.

The questions now are, why is one iOS device with iOS 11.3 doing it right and another iOS device with iOS 11.3 doing it wrong and how can that be corrected? (My Mac is also doing it right.)

 

[BrianBaughn]

If you send a message from the iPad where does it land, IMAP folder-wise?

 

[desertman]

Excellent question! A message sent from my iPad lands

- on the server, in a newly re-created folder Sent Messages (in the folder My Folders)
- on the iPad where it should, in All Sent
- on the iPhone, also in a newly re-created folder Sent Messages (in the section for that email address, not in the section for the unified folders)
- on the Mac, also in a newly re-created folder Sent Messages (in the section for that email address, not in the section for the unified folders)

The weird thing is that two messages sent from my iPhone and from my Mac land (in the same way) not everywhere in the same folders:

- on the server, in Sent Objects (where they should land)
- on the iPad, in the same newly re-created folder Sent Messages (in the section for that email address, not in the section for the unified folders)
- on the iPhone, in All Sent (where they should land)
- on the Mac, in Sent (where they should land)

This is getting weirder and weirder. Mac and iPhone are basically doing it right, the iPad is doing it wrong. Why is one iOS device handling this different than the other iOS device?

[doublepost=1522940217][/doublepost]... and when I send a message from the server it also lands in the "correct" folders for sent messages on the server, the Mac and the iPhone and in the "wrong" folder on the iPad.

 

[BrianBaughn]

You never confirmed your settings are the same for all devices.

In iOS, check Settings>Accounts & Passwords>*youraccount*>Account>Advanced.

 

[desertman]

Ha! That was it. On the iPad the folder for sent mail was set to a different folder than on the iPhone. I corrected that and now everything seems to be OK again and perfectly synchronized between iPad, iPhone, Mac, server.

I definitely did not change the sent folder on the iPad 10 days ago when the strange behavior started (I never changed anything in the Advanced section on iPad or iPhone). I have no idea how this happened. Possibly with one of the iOS updates? However, why it then happened on the iPad and not on the iPhone, too, will probably remain unknown.

Thanks for your help, Brian.