Will Android Email App Keep Messages in Inbox?

[Hjiorst]

Hi All:

This may sound lame but I only have experience with the MetroPCS email app, and it does this really dumb thing: Whenever it checks for new emails, it deletes everything in the inbox. I can manually save some messages to a "save" folder, but space is limited. Furthermore, if I am auto-checking emails every three minutes, for example, if I don't check my inbox every two minutes, any new messages that I haven't checked and saved will be lost. I believe that spave is very limited on my Samsung Finesse anyway. All of these quirks means I can't auto check email and in general it kinda sucks.

I am upgrading to a newer, better phone (still with MetroPCS) explicitly to improve my email service, but I can't find any mention of this topic on the web. I seriously doubt that an Android model would do the same thing, but I have to ask:

Will I be able to constantly receive new messages in my inbox without having previous messages deleted, just like a regular email application on my computer?

I am thinking of getting a Samsung Admire. The price is good, and it has Gmail and the Android email app available, plus it seems that there are other email apps I can download and use.

Would anyone care to enlighten this noob? Advice? Better email apps?

Thanks.

 

[alostpacket]

Depends a bit on your email service provider. But generall one easy way to fix this issue without too much tech mumbo jumbo is to set your email up as IMAP and not POP3.

If you use Gmail, this probably isnt an issue at all.


As for Exchange corporate email servers I'm not sure (havent used one in awhile) but shouldnt be a problem i think

 

[Hjiorst]

I thought whether it was Pop3 or IMAP was decided by the service provider. Can I change that? And why should that make a difference, since my computer at home is Pop3 and it doesn't delete my inbox? Are you just guessing that's the problem?

I am not using Gmail. I'm talking about a work email account, with the company's domain, etc.

My question is: Does this happen to you with your work email account on Android?

Or, Does this happen to you with @Metromail app, and did you solve the problem?

I can't find anyone discussing this annoying feature of @Metromail, and that causes me to wonder.

 

[chanchan05]

Using Gmail, Hotmail and Ovi on the stock app on Galaxy SL. Well, the app only loads the latest 25 emails to keep the memory used low I'd think, but you can load older emails on demand.

 

[Hjiorst]

So what you're saying is, it DOES clear your inbox when loading, and reloads the last 25 messages, rather than leaving the previously loaded messages on there?

Or, did you mean, only the latest new messages? Meaning all the previous messages are deleted from the inbox? Even if you only have one new message?

 

[chanchan05]

It keeps the latest 25 loaded for quick browsing. They aren't exactly deleted from inbox (by deleted I understand that as even when you view on a PC, they're gone). When you scroll down to the last loaded messages, you have a button that says "load more messages" if you want to view more than the last 25.

The latest 25 messages are kept cached, whether read or unread.

 

[Hjiorst]

(Returning to this after a Xmas break!)

Okay, this is the important question:

Does the phone/app cache the previous email on itself (the phone's memory), or is it always downloading from the server when loading the first 25, the next 25 messages, etc? Because my company email service does NOT save the emails on the server, once they've been downloaded. They are deleted immediately. (This is the cheap option with the hosting service, and the option that keeps all emails on the server is more than twice as expensive.)

This is they key, I fear. Because if the phone app is relying on the messages always being on the server, this is a problem. But I can't be the only person who has email service like this. So there must be a solution.

This has never been a problem with checking email from a computer, because the computer stores all the messages until I delete them. Furthermore, I do have it setup to send a copy of every email received to another folder for archiving (so I can check via webmail if I have to), but that will not be checked by the app, of course.

The problem would be if the phone app empties the Inbox and then retrieves whatever the top 25 emails are, rather than collect whatever is new and add them to the list, like my computer does.

 

[chanchan05]

Once the email is read, it is cached. But a reboot, or the mail going past the 25th mail would delete the cache. It only keeps the email cached if its been read and stays in the top 25.

My advice would be, if you want to keep the mail, would be one or more of the following:
1. Sync your mail to Outlook on your PC. Whats in there stays there if you set it to never delete.
2. Set your corporate mail to automatically forward a copy of all received mail to another email account, like your personal Gmail.

 

[Hjiorst]

So, there's no way to cache more messages, or turn off the deleting of past emails altogether?

That's a bummer. I don't get much spam, but enough that I can see my phone loosing important emails right when I might need them most.

Perhaps I can set up an auto-save for all incoming email? That is, create a filter for all messages that put them in a separate folder upon arrival? Can these phone apps do that?

And, yes, I do have all email collected and saved on my home computer. I just need to come up with a reliable mobile email system that won't lose my emails if its left unattended while auto-checking for new email. What you're describing sounds better than what I am currently using, but I am hoping to find a delete-proof email app that won't lose anything until I delete it myself.

 

[chanchan05]

I don't think there are any email apps that will store emails received indefinitely due to the nature of the device having very limited storage, as compared to desktop computers. The apps are designed to use minimal space usage as much as possible.

The only work around I could think of is to create a rule in your work email to forward a copy of all received emails to another email address which you can use as an archive, and set the phone up to have access to both accounts.