Outlook and iPad syncing, IMAP and iCloud

[ejp]

I'm trying to get my iPad email working and syncing with a Dell laptop (Outlook 2003) and it works fine using POP3 with ATT/Yahoo aka att.net but of course no syncing on deleted emails. I just created IMAP accounts all on 3 devices: tower (Outlook2010), laptop (Outlook2003), and the new iPad3/4. Been using POP forever, never IMAP and no problems ever with POP. Provider is ATT/Yahoo.

Some questions:

1. What do multiple accts in Outlook accomplish if not perhaps to allow someone like me to transition from POP to IMAP and still be able to reflect back on old POP email? Until now I've never seen a need for more than 1 account. Maybe different accts for different email providers? I only have 1.
2. We ran with POP for a few days on the iPad and I thought I saw bi-directional syncing with deletes with some test emails sent from the tower (different email ATT addr), but then the syncing suddenly stopped. Did I imagine it? Email downloads worked fine with and without "leave email on server" checked. Saw no difference with syncing between the two modes.
3. How can I unilaterally switch to IMAP on the PC/iPad side when there is nothing in the Yahoo account settings to specify to use IMAP? only 2 POP setting in the Yahoo OPTIONS tab: 1 that says "access att.net via POP" and a 2nd that says "forward att.net to another email address", with "store and forward" specficied. I'm using the last setting and have been for over a year with no problems.
4. When I send myself test emails to laptop/iPad accounts (same email addr), they arrive as follows: (IMAP set as default all 3 devices)
   
   1. Tower (unique emaill addr, Outlook2010) - hits old POP inbox only, not IMAP inbox.
   2. Laptop (same email addr as iPad, Outlook 2003 - same as Tower, hits old POP inbox, not IMAP inbox.
   3. iPad (same email addr as laptop) - HITS IMAP INBOX, NOT POP !!! BUT SELF DELETES AFTER ABOUT 10 MINUTES AND GOES TO TRASH FOLDER !!!
   
   
5. Once I get this working, I need to look at syncing contacts and calendar which I understand I need Outlook 2010 and iCloud for, right? Does iCloud require the same IMAP stuff I'm trying to get running now so this is not wasted effort? OR, is there any hope for syncing contacts/calendar if I have Outlook 2010 on the laptop? Only care about syncing laptop and iPad (same email acct.).

Can someone please 'splain me what's going on and how to get out of this quagmire?.....thanks!

[Diane Poremsky]

Do you have Outlook set to delete from the server? Is there anything in the IMAP mailbox on the computers?

After setting up the IMAP account in Outlook, you should remove the POP3 version of the account from outlook.

1. You don't need (and shouldn't have) one account configured in Outlook as both pop3 and imap. It just creates confusion.

2. I think what you were seeing wasn't what you thought you saw. Deleted items will be removed from the server (if configured to do that) so what you saw wasn't anything unusual.

3. I don't think you need to enable anything to get imap (I didn't) - its default for mobile access. You just need to enter the imap server names in outlook.

4. This behavior looks like Outlook is deleting mail from the server after downloading it using POP3. That would account for it disappearing from the iPad too - it's deleted from the server and imap is a server-based account type, where the device has an identical copy of the mailbox.

5. you'll need to use the iCloud to sync calendar and contacts. Syncing calendar and contacts doesn't use imap - although when you set up the iCloud it will probably add an imap account to outlook for your apple id. (It did for me, but my apple id is a me.com account.)

[Vincenzo]

1. When I send myself test emails to laptop/iPad accounts (same email addr), they arrive as follows: (IMAP set as default all 3 devices)
   
   1. Tower (unique emaill addr, Outlook2010) - hits old POP inbox only, not IMAP inbox.
   2. Laptop (same email addr as iPad, Outlook 2003 - same as Tower, hits old POP inbox, not IMAP inbox.

1. 
   
   1. This seems to say IMAP is not set up correctly. Did you set it up like this?Mobile Mail Help | - SLN3361 - Setting up IMAP on your mobile device--

[ejp]

Thanks for the thoughtful replies! Will ponder, digest, experiment then report back. I suspect Diane is right about POP deleting from server as I did have "leave on server" disabled/off. My only hope is I can leave POP account in place, just not default, so we cans old email ( dedicated hoarders).

I'm also going to install Outlook 2010 on laptop to remove that variable.

Can I get advice on this. Do I need to remove Outlook 2003 first via add/remove or will the 2010 installer just overlay it? don't want to risk loosing contacts/calendar info.

Thanks,
ejp

[Diane Poremsky]

You can remove the pop3 account and that will leave the pop3 data file in the profile - if you want, you can move mail back to the server or move mail off the server into the pop3's data file.

Installing Outlook 2010 should remove Outlook 2003, but doesn't always. I recommend uninstalling it first. Your profile won't be touched.

[ejp]

Some new info/questions:

1. Enabling “leave on server” fixed the auto deletion in IMAP accts. New email hits and stays in IMAP accounts on iPad and tower running Outlook 2010.

2. Had wrong server addresses in setup on laptop Outlook 2003 - bogus info out there on the web...beware - now using "imap.mail.yahoo.com" - and laptop now getting mail in IMAP acct. even with Outlook 2003.

3. My email acct on tower is the main/primary ATT acct. and wife’s is secondary. Is there any reason I need to be IMAP with only one PC that I personally use? That is, no mobile device or 2^nd PC in the picture for me. Seems like a wash; IMAP vs POP even with just one device, right?

4. In the IMAP account settings, do I need to worry about Root Folder Path below? Seems to be working with the field blank. Would this let me move .pst to different drive? I like to keep email off of C partition in case I need to do an image restore (have not done it since moving to Win7).

5. I’m going to experiment with leaving the POP acct intact but with IMAP as default and see if I can get away with it.

6. HOWEVER, just discovered I can do a “move folder” from POP acct to IMAP acct with Outlook 2010. Wonder if this works with INBOX? Very large so have not tried yet.

7. I appear to have full syncing now with deletes between iPad and laptop. Need more time to be sure.

8. When I remove the POP acct. what happens to the folders? Seems to be no way to stop email from landing there even though it's not the default account.

9. When I delete email on Outlook 2003 IMAP, it just draws a line thru the entry. On 2010, it does an immediate delete. Any idea what's going on here? May be moot since I plan to upgrade to 2010 on laptop, but still curious.

10. in the IMAP account folder list there's a Bulk Email that seems to contain spam Yahoo normally traps before I see it. Any idea what this is for?

Thanks!

[ejp]

OK, now more questions (unable to find answers with a Google):

1. Outlook 2010 installed on laptop and working great! no problems. Old POP account retained for now, will remove shortly. So far, it appears to be simply a parallel email stream with IMAP with no apparent conflict. I know, you said remove it.....I will.

2. In IMAP acounts on both PC's, I see both a new TRASH folder along with traditional "POP type" DELETED MESSAGES folder. What's the difference? They both contain recently deleted mail, but not a 100% match. What if I delete one since they seem redundant?

3. Also see a new BULK MAIL folder containing Yahoo filtered spam. This is actually good as it saves me going to Yahoo to check for spam that is not spam. but wondering where this came from. Only see this new IMAP accts, not POP accts.

4. And, thorough testing reveals perfect syncing between iPad and laptop now under IMAP and Outlook 2010 on laptop !!! Deletes on one, then the other, and back and forth along with an occasional "undo" produce expected results! Next stop.....contacts and calendar syncing with iCloud.

Thanks!

[Diane Poremsky]

1. If it's not removing mail from the server and you aren't confused by it, you can leave the account in - you can also set it to not check mail. But it's somewhat pointless to have two identical accounts in your profile. Sending mail from the pop account won't upload the sent copy to the imap server, which could also lead to confusion.

2. If they are in 2 different data stores, you can't delete them. The Trash folder in IMAP is the server's trash folder. The other one is in the local data file. You could probably unsubscribe to the imap trash folder, if you have outlook configured to use the local one in File, Account Settings, double click on the account then More Settings.

3. It's a server-specific folder. IMAP displays all of the folders on the mail server, unless you unsubscribe from a folder.

4. Yeap... that is why imap is better, although it takes some getting used to.

[ejp]

ok, all working great but a couple lingering issues.

1. For my account with the only one tower PC I use, is there any reason to use IMAP? no other's devices to sync with. My email addr. is the main/primary email with ATT/Yahoo, the other (iPad & laptop) is the secondary. For this reason, when starting this project I initially thought I had to be IMAP too.

2. In the iPad email program there are now 2 IMAP accounts. the one I created initially with the name I invented, and a 2nd mystry one called "AT&T IMAP" that came from cyberspace. these 2 names exist under both the inbox section and accounts sections. Under accounts they are named: "@ ATT&T IMAP" (the @ is real), and ""Yahoo logo" IMAP Dec2012" ("IMAP Dec2012" being the arbitrary name I invented).

3. This may be unfair since this is an Outlook not an iPad forum, but on the iPad today in deleting email the deleted email entries listed in the inbox were renamed something like: "missing sender", "missing subject", or "no sender", "no subject". Other subsequent email deletes did not do this. After an hour or so they disappeared. any what this is about?

Thanks again for the great help! besides these minor issues, all is well!

[ejp]

Oh....

on the new mystery IMAP acct. maybe you explained it earlier here...

"5. you'll need to use the iCloud to sync calendar and contacts. Syncing calendar and contacts doesn't use imap - although when you set up the iCloud it will probably add an imap account to outlook for your apple id. (It did for me, but my apple id is a me.com account.)

is that what happened? I guess I can ignore it or delete it if it's redundant?