Some mail on server will not download to client

[Alex Ethridge]

Expecting a reply that was late, I discovered the reply was on the FutureQuest mail server and will not download to my Thunderbird. Just as a test, I sent myself a test mail and it downloaded fine.

What would cause this and how can I prevent it?

Also, I would like to get that mail downloaded to TBird. It is a text mail absent any attachment. I do not use mail filters or any kind of blocking. I don't have a Junk folder, either.

[Kevin]

Are you using POP3 or IMAP4?

[Alex Ethridge]

Pop3

[Kevin]

That is probably the problem. POP3 was designed to download simple emails to a simple single client. It tends to fall flat when used by basic 1990s era clients.

[Bob]

Hello Alex,

Have you tried resetting the messages in that account as New, from your CNC Email Manager? Then try accessing from Thunderbird again.

If that fails then possibly the message is malformed and Thunderbird simply cannot handle it, this usually occurs with Outlook more often but it has been known to happen with Thunderbird as well.

-Bob

[Alex Ethridge]

As a test, I just ran Eudora and it downloaded just fine to it.

I recently changed to Thunderbird as I now have multiple e-mail addresses.

This is not a good thing. What might I be able to do about this? I need all my mail saved in one place, not scattered between local and net.

[Kevin]

I also use Thunderbird. I also have several email addresses. All of them are accessed via imap4.

I actually run my own imap server for most of them (because I want many gigs of email storage) but a decent imap client (like Thunderbird) can simply cache locally and it works very well.

POP3 otoh became obsolete about the time that HTTP became popular. It is only still supported because there are clients that haven't yet become compatible with the late 1990s.

[Alex Ethridge]

By the way, both TBird and Eudora are using POP.

[Alex Ethridge]

I set up a TBird IMAP account and the message downloaded.

I have continued to use POP because it was what was there in the 90's when I started using the internet and I was not even aware of the term "IMAP" until a couple of years ago, let alone what it meant.

I'm still not aware of what it means or how it is different from POP.

[Melissa]

Originally Posted by Alex Ethridge

I have continued to use POP because it was what was there in the 90's when I started using the internet and I was not even aware of the term "IMAP" until a couple of years ago, let alone what it meant.

I'm still not aware of what it means or how it is different from POP.

Hi Alex,

IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol. (POP stands Post Office Protocol.)

Typically with POP, email messages in the inbox on the server are downloaded to your local computer and then usually removed from the server.

With IMAP, the messages are stored on the server and accessed from there (they are not removed from the server unless you explicitly delete them). IMAP allows you to have access to the same folder structure and messages for a mailbox when you manage your email from multiple machines (since the folder structure and messages are stored on the server).

Hope that helps,
Melissa