Problems accessing email in Outlook

[#1]

I added one of my IMAP folders using webmail on Saturday and it appeared in Outlook when I opened Outlook today. The emails in the IMAP folder are in Outlook too, but I haven't changed the root folder, so it is shown:

Inbox [empty]
  Drafts [empty]
  Sent [empty]
  Trash [empty]
  IMAP Folder 1 [with emails]

After changing the root folder setting in Outlook (and the timeout setting and keep emails for setting), I have:

Inbox [empty]
Outbox [empty]
Search Folders [empty]

It's finished saying "synchronising", but I'll give it time and see what happens.....

Other PlusNet email accounts (which were not archived by PlusNet) are working fine in Outlook.

Thanks again for your help.

[#2]

I closed down Outlook and opened it again, and the folders are now shown again (in a slightly different way, because I have set Inbox as the root folder).

I clicked on the IMAP folder that I created years ago. Outlook said "Synchronizing" briefly, but no emails appeared. I clicked on "Sent". Outlook has been saying "Synchronizing 'Sent'" for a couple of minutes, but no emails have appeared yet......

I'll leave it open for a while, because it won't close down properly if it's still synchronising.

[#3]

After synchronising for about 10 minutes, it stopped with no error message, but no emails either.

I clicked on Send/Receive All Folders. This took about 15/20 minutes, but still ended up with no emails in any folders.

I added another IMAP folder to the list of subscribed folders using webmail. The folder appeared in Outlook, but with no emails.

I tried right-mouse-click and Process Marked Headers on the "heading". This took another 15/20 minutes, but still ended up with only the folders and no emails.

Before PlusNet deleted my emails, everything worked fine. Since it restored them, I have had problems with this account (I didn't change any settings until I had problems). Since then, the only time I have had emails is in the Sent Items folder and a manually created IMAP folder, but when I didn't have the root folder set to Inbox.

Changing the root folder to Inbox has made synchronisation take scores of minutes (as I would expect), but somehow still ended up with no emails.

There are no large attachments in any emails, but there are many emails.

I think I'll try the 1&1 transfer tool. If this works OK, I'll just stop using PlusNet (unless you have any other suggestions to get the PlusNet email working). I've contacted MS support, but this hasn't got anywhere yet.

[#4]

I'm still hoping to get my PlusNet account working with Outlook, but am still not having any luck.

I still have the "Mail to keep offline" set to 1 month and Server Timeouts set to 10 minutes.

I saved a half-written email to the Drafts folder using webmail, and it appeared in the Drafts folder in Outlook without a problem. I deleted in from the Drafts folder and emptied the Trash using Outlook, and it is no longer in the Drafts folder in webmail.

When I click on "Inbox" or "Sent Items" in Outlook, I get the synchronising message for a while, but no emails ever appear.

I tried another test email from Outlook, but Outlook is waiting ages to not synchronise Inbox before trying to send the test email.....

[#5]

The test email is in the Sent Items in Outlook (but there are still no other emails in there) and in the Sent Items in webmail (along with older emails). The test email arrived in the Inbox in webmail, but there are still no emails in the Inbox in Outlook.

[#6]

Microsoft has suggested clicking on "Filters applied" at the bottom left hand corner, clicking "Clear All" in the dialogue box that appears, then closing and opening Outlook.

This hasn't solved my problem, but I thought I'd post it here in case it helps someone else.

[#7]

Opening Outlook today, emails suddenly appeared in the Inbox. My guess is that PlusNet corrected a problem on its servers, because there were no emails in the Inbox when I last closed Outlook. It's a bit slow, but it works OK (except for the manually created IMAP folders, but I'm not that bothered about them). I still have the setting set to only synchronise the last month. I'll change that when I'm convinced it's OK, which might bring back emails in the IMAP folders.

Just in case it helps others in the future, I'll paste the advice I received from Microsoft and PlusNet. I don't think any of it helped my situation, but it could help others. I didn't follow PlusNet's advice, because I don't think it's very good advice, but I'll include it here anyway.

--------------------------

From Microsoft:

1) Send an email from a different email account to the problem one with a subject of ABCDEF and then search for ACBDEF using Outlook.

2) Right-mouse-click on the problem account, select IMAP folders, then click on Query. Unsubscribe from Inbox, close Outlook, reopen Outlook, and then subscribe to Inbox.

-----------------------------

From PlusNet:

1) Use POP3 because "POP3 is the standard".

2) Use unsecure server settings:

Username: Your Username on your account (If you are using an additional mailbox then the username is- username+mailbox )
Password: Your mailbox password

POP3 Incoming mail server: mail.plus.net
POP3 Incoming mail server port: 110

Or

IMAP server(if IMAP is used): imap.plus.net
IMAP server port: 143

SMTP Outgoing mail server: relay.plus.net
SMTP Outgoing mail server port: 25

SSL: Off for both incoming and outgoing (this may be classed as security on the client you are setting this up on)

---------------------------------------------

PlusNet's advice sounds very bad to me, but I'm no expert.

[#8]

Sounds like that is all very confused.

POP3 is not "standard".

POP3 and IMAP are very different approaches to accessing email, confusing the two will cause a good deal of difficulty.

POP3 only shows the INBOX and by default empties the INBOX from the server, so that if the mailbox is access via webmail (which is an IMAP client) there will be no mail to see.

The correct settings (for IMAP which will show all folders) are...

• Incoming
  • Server: imap.plus.net
  • Port: 993
  • Encryption: SSL/TLS
• Outgoing
  • Server: relay.plus.net
  • Port: 587
  • Encryption: STARTTLS

There is the possibility that the IMAP root folder will need to be specified - use inbox