Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

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shakushinnen
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Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by shakushinnen »

Hi,
Occasionally, an inbox mail is deleted, even though I have it highlighted as important. (I use my inbox as an appointment reminder.) There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why this happens. Is there a way that I can tell SeaMonkey NOT do remove mails, until I specifically tell it to?
Thanks,
.... john
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DanRaisch
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by DanRaisch »

How is the account set up in Thunderbird, as POP or IMAP? Find out using menu path Tools->Account Settings->Server Settings->Server Type at the top right of the dialogue.
Have you checked the retention setting? Right click on the name of the Inbox folder then on "Properties" then on "Retention tab".
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shakushinnen
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by shakushinnen »

Hi Dan,
Thanks for replying. I'm using SeaMonkey's embedded email client. The 'Inbox' folder is called just that. It's setup as a POP account. The Inbox Folder Properties Retention Policy shows a box with the description "Keep messages, including their originals on the server" This box is checked. Under this heading there are 4 greyed out options, which show if the box is unchecked.
The four options are:
- All messages
- The newest XXXX messages
- Delete messages more than XX days old
- Always keep flagged messages
At some point "All messages" and "Always keep flagged messages" have been checked.
.... john
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DanRaisch
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by DanRaisch »

OK, sorry. I did mean SeaMonkey. Although I use Thunderbird the same basic details will apply.

Those settings should cause all messages to remain in the Inbox folder, but also check that retention policy tab as I described above.
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shakushinnen
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by shakushinnen »

Hi Dan,
I right clicked on the folder "Inbox" and that's how I found out what I reported above.
Did you want me to do that with "xxxxxxxxxx@rogers.com", the account folder? If so, it takes me into 'account settings' which does not say anything about 'retention settings'. However, on the 'server settings' tab I have "Leave messages on Server .... until I delete them" checked.
Is that what you mean?
....... john
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DanRaisch
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by DanRaisch »

No, the retention policy info is in the context menu associated with the folder, not with the account name.
How many messages are in that Inbox folder?
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Andy Boze
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by Andy Boze »

BTW, while you're there, you'll also notice a Repair Folder button under the "General Information" tab. You might want to try that, as a damaged folder can account for messages appearing to be missing.
But then again, I may be wrong.
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shakushinnen
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by shakushinnen »

Hi Dan,
There are 4 messages in my Inbox.
..... john
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shakushinnen
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by shakushinnen »

Hi Andy,
I'll try that, but this has been going on for a year or two, which would mean a couple, if not more, incarnations of SeaMonkey; and I assume that each update would correct the previous one's faults??
........ john
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DanRaisch
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by DanRaisch »

The Repair Folder function has nothing to do with which version of SeaMonkey you are running. It deals with the completion of the message deletion process in the profile. If you've had this profile in use for years, the Inbox folder could have developed file corruption that could be addressed by the Repair process.
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shakushinnen
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by shakushinnen »

OK. I'll give it a try.
Is folder repair recommended as a routine?
...... john
P.S. Repairing the folder added another 15 messages. I'm guessing that these came from the servers cache. (None of them appear to be new) Anyway. I'll try to remember to let the forum know if this fixed the problem.
LordOfTheBored
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by LordOfTheBored »

shakushinnen wrote:OK. I'll give it a try.
Is folder repair recommended as a routine?
...... john
P.S. Repairing the folder added another 15 messages. I'm guessing that these came from the servers cache. (None of them appear to be new) Anyway. I'll try to remember to let the forum know if this fixed the problem.
They could also have been present in the damaged mailbox file. There is a LOT of content in mailbox files that doesn't show.
amrad
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by amrad »

Hello John,

Do you compact your mail folders on a regular basis? When you move or delete a message from the Inbox (or any mail folder), the message is still in the Inbox but is marked so as to not be displayed. When you compact the Inbox, those moved or deleted messages will be completely deleted. If the size of your Inbox (as shown in in Windows Explorer) is very big but only a small number of messages are in the Inbox, that means that there are many messages that have been moved or deleted from the Inbox, but still remain until it's compacted. That applies to all mail folders.

The additional messages that appeared when you 'repaired' the Inbox, would have been messages that you had previously moved or deleted but had not compacted the Inbox. It is generally recommended not to store messages in the Inbox, because it is the one that gets used the most and is, therefore, more likely to be corrupted than other mail folders.

Regards,

Dave.
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shakushinnen
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by shakushinnen »

Hi,
This morning I opened my inbox, only to find that one of the mails (flagged as important) that was there yesterday when I shut it down, is gone.
Hi Dave,
The mail compacts when it reaches the save 50 mb preset.
So, is there a way of safely storing my 'appointment' mails somewhere in SeaMonkey mail, where they will not be deleted?
..... john
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DanRaisch
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Re: Prevent Inbox mails from being deleted

Post by DanRaisch »

If that "Automatically compact when nn MB will be saved" is actually set to 50MB it's way, way too high. Change that to 10 or even less and you'll have less chance of losing messages.

Right now it sounds as though that Inbox folder has some file corruption going on. Move all of the messages in the Inbox to a new sub-folder of Local Folders created for the purpose. Then close SeaMonkey and navigate to the profile folder. In the sub-directory of the Mail directory, locate the file Inbox (with no extension) for that POP account and rename it Inbox.old. Restart SeaMonkey and a new, empty Inbox should be created. Move any messages you must have in the Inbox from that sub-folder of Local Folders and then compact the Inbox folder by right clicking on the folder name in the left hand pane and selecting "Compact" from the context menu.
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