Emails not deleting from 'Mail' ipad email client

[#1]

HI -I tend to look a th my emals on my ipad via 'Mail'.  I have noticed that when I delete them from there they do not actually delete from my plusnet mailbox with the result that my mailbox is now clogged up with too much mail.  This used to work fine -I have checked all the setting which also seem fine.

Hs anyone any idea how this can be fixed?

Many thanks

[#2]

Hello @btn

Thanks a lot for reaching out and I'm really sorry for the inconvenience caused here. Is your Mail client on your iPad set up via POP3 or IMAP? I'm guessing IMAP given that emails are remaining on the Plusnet server but some customers can select an option to keep emails on our server for a umber of days when set up via POP3.

[#3]

Hi

its set up via IMAP..

I am not sure if there is anything I can change to make it delete message properly?  I am sure it used to do it but something has changed

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[#4]

Hi @btn, thanks for getting back to us. Having a look online I beleive there are settings which allow you once your device pulls a copy of the mail from the server side it will delete the server side for you. This freeing up space but also means if then you delete the mail in your client then it shouldn't return there after.
Having a look online at mac mail I've found the below suggestion on how to do this:

Mail > Preferences, click Accounts, select the account, click Advanced, then choose a different option from the pop-up menu below “Remove copy from server after retrieving a message.”
There may be other options if say you wish for the mail to be removed after x days.Once a copy is removed from the server side then this should make it so any deleted mail doesn't look to return.There may be other settings in your email client which basically change it so once deleted on the client it's deleted the server side also.

Alternatively, if you go ahead and set the email client up as POP3 via the settings seen below then this should also help with the problem you're seeing.
https://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/
 

I hope this helps and please do let us know how it goes.

[#5]

I have the same problem of emails not deleting from the server using iPad mail client.  Unfortunately I have also had a recurring message on my outlook on my windows computer which says 'your server  has closed the connection' this has been going on for a few months I have deleted the account and reinstalled it without any improvement but I thought it was because the computer was old however in preparation for my new computer arriving I deleted a large number of emails but it seems they had not deleted on the server on checking via webmail I was horrified to discover I has 2,500 emails still on the server.  I have not had an email from Plusnet to say my IN box was full although it obviously is and I have spent more than 12 hours deleting 1,500 messages via an almost pedestrian webmail however it keeps sending me systems management messages and basic email can’t ever access the server.  My daughter is an IT professional and is setting up my new computer and tried to set up a Divert to a different mail client but it won't do that either help please……

[#6]

Hi @JoyceMac, thanks for getting in touch and I'm sorry to hear you've had toruble when trying to delete mail recently. If your email client is set up as a IMAP account and you have the default client settings then the emails you're seeing are solely copies of what's on the server so deleting them from the client side doesn't remove them on the server side. There's a few things that can help with this and if you haven't already I'd advise looking through your mail clients options to see if there's and settings where you can have the mail removed from the server side after so many days.
Alternative to this, you could look at setting up the email client as POP3 which essentially has these settings by default and save the need to clear space on the server side as all the emails would be stored locally.
Steps on how to set up your client with the POP3 settings can be seen here: https://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/
 

If you don't wish to change any settings your side then I'd advise deleting the mail via webmail directly (https://webmail.plus.net/) as this will free up space the server side. If you take this route however then remember that emails deleted move to the deleted folder and need removing from there also to free up space.

[#7]

For those using iPads, check deleted emails are not sitting in the bin folder........................

[#8]

Deleted messages in my case are moved to deleted messages on the server not the local 'bin'

[#9]

I have been using Plusnet email for at least 6 years with both a PC using outlook for windows and and iPad using its mail client and I have never in all that time needed to delete anything using webmail.  Thank goodness as it is almost useless.  However something has changed in the last possibly 6 months and the perfect system I had for all that time is no longer operational.  I didn’t do anything to my settings so it seems to me that either Plusnet has changed something or my IN box has got corrupted on the server.  Deleting the account on the PC and reinstating it did nothing.  It constantly gives the message 'your imap server has closed the connection' when I tried to delete messages.  The iPad is set as imap as I want to also have my mail  on the PC. The advanced settings send deleted messages to the deleted messages folder on the server to be deleted after one day or that is what it is set at.  

I have deleted 1,500 messages over the last two days but luckily for me they have not appeared in the deleted messages folder to require further deleting although there were 240 messages in there which may be from the iPad.  

I question why I have not received a IN Box full or usually 75% full message as I have received previously as my husband's mail also uses the account?  

[#10]

I agree something seems to have changed in the last few months as I never had a problem before. My deleted messages were in the ‘bin’ but when I delete them from there they still don’t get removed from my plusnet inbox ( as viewed by webmail) which has resulted in a big build up of messages and warning that I have used up the majority of the space allocated to me.  I also wish to keep using IMAP as I access my emails from multiple locations - a pc and at work.  It’s just that until recently ‘mail’ on my iPad was far easier to use than Webmail which is painfully slow.

Could someone from Plusnet investigate why the messages won’t delete properly from’Mail’ -I notice when I deleted the contents of the ‘bin’ today the whirly loading symbol was on continuously and hasn’t stopped yet - so maybe it is having trouble communicating with the plusnet server?

[#11]

Using webmail I've found moving unwanted messages from inbox or deleted messages to deleted items folder (trash under another name)  will be deleted on the next logout, provided clear trash on exit is ticked. This option is the maintenance section  of the server settings menu. Don't know if it's just me but I seem to get a lot of courier-imap server errors...............

[#12]

---

@BD wrote:

If your email client is set up as a IMAP account and you have the default client settings then the emails you're seeing are solely copies of what's on the server so deleting them from the client side doesn't remove them on the server side.

There's a few things that can help with this and if you haven't already I'd advise looking through your mail clients options to see if there's and settings where you can have the mail removed from the server side after so many days.

Alternative to this, you could look at setting up the email client as POP3 which essentially has these settings by default and save the need to clear space on the server side as all the emails would be stored locally.

---

Sorry this advice is flawed.

1. With IMAP configuration, deleting emails in the client WILL "delete" emails on the server - that is the essence of IMAP client and server they are in total sync.  The exact means by which an IMAP client does a "delete" might be variable and may require follow-up actions on the server.  "Delete" can take three forms...
   1. MOVE the item to the deleted items folder - in the case of Mail on iPads, this can be either the SERVER deleted items folder or a local folder on the iPad - see advanced settings MAILBOX BEHAVIOURS
   2. MARK AS DELETED in which case the item remains where it is but has its "deleted" flag set on the server - iPad mail does not do this - Outlook 2010 and prior used to work like this.  The actual delete action happens later by the folder being PURGED or COMPACTED.
   3. DELETE instantly - does what it says, no move to deleted items as a safety net - many IMAP clients perform this if SHIFT is pressed with the DEL key ... this does not work on iPads
2. On iPads running IMAP, the reference to removing mail items after so many days refers to items previously DELETED (that is MOVED to the deleted items folder).  However to some extent with Plusnet mail servers that is somewhat nugatory as the DELETED items folder is pruned weekly of all items deleted more than 8 days ago
3. POP3 is a totally different way of working, wherein ALL mail items are removed from the server and only stored locally.  It is NOT a suitable way of working if one wishes to access email from multiple devices.  Even with deferring removal from the server's inbox after a few days, it is still not a workable solution.  SENT items are only ever stored locally on the POP3 client and are not accessible on other IMAP devices.  Mixing POP3 and IMAP clients is only likely to give rise to more confusion

There appears to be pronounced performance issues at the moment ... I will go ask questions!

[#13]

Thanks for getting back to us, I am really sorry for the issues being experienced and for the inconvenience this is causing.

The issues you're having may be due to an ongoing issue we are aware of impacting IMAP servers. Whilst I appreciate this may not be convenient the best thing to advise at the moment would be to delete mail via webmail or use a POP account.

I am really sorry for the inconvenience caused in the meantime.

[#14]

Now this seems more like the true reason for my problems but it doesn’t explain why it has been going on so long without being resolved.

[#15]

Thank you Townman for your clear and concise explanation of how IMAP servers operate.  It seems that Plusnet know there is an issue but have not found a solution.  At least I now know that it is not me…. that’s a step in the right direction!