Is pop email just an online reader?

[bpjen]

Okay, first let me say thank you for starting this forum. Looks like it is going to be a great resource...

I am another BB user trying to move over to the Droid, and have encountered something with email today.

Is the pop email service on the Droid just an online email reader? The reason I ask is what has happened today. Let's say I get a couple emails on the droid. I read them, one I want to keep on the phone, the other I delete.

I check email later on my computer. Get the same 2 emails.

Go back to the droid, and the one I wanted to keep on the phone is gone! So I do a test, and sure enough, as soon as I download an email onto the computer, and it is off the server, it is no longer on the droid.

So my question is, is there a setting on the droid to fix this, or is the only fix to keep the message on the server, even when I download it to my computer?

thanks in advance.

 

[drew]

I'm experiencing the same thing...also with a POP3 account. My BB pearl never did this before...any ideas?

 

[Mark5047]

POP 3 is a 'store and forward' technology. Typically when you read a message it is removed from the mail server, although you can mark your client to leave a copy on the server. If you have multiple devices accessing the same mail box it is a good idea to leave a copy on the server. I would check the settings on your PC email client as well and make sure it is set to leave a copy.

 

[drew]

I totally get that concept (when it works). The only options i have for the account as far as deleting from the server are: "NEVER" and "ONLY WHEN I DELETE FROM MY INBOX".

Let's say I'm checking every 15 minutes on the Droid, but Outlook is constantly open on my machine. Under this scenario, the Droid recognizes an email, but as soon as Outlook grabs it, it is no longer on my phone. Essentially, it's not storing a copy on the phone, like it did with my Pearl and it acts like a "viewer".

 

[drew]

I suppose in a weird way I answered my own question by changing when I delete from the server. With my BB it was better because it always stored it to the phone and I had a choice to delete the message either from just the handheld, or the handheld and the server.

 

[bpjen]

After trying to read about this a bit more, I believe it is because it is not true push technology for the pop3 email. It doesn't push the email to the phone, as bb's do, and as the droid's gmail does, it just gives you the ability to see what is in your inbox. Even after I read an email once, and tell it to "show pictures", when I read that email again, I have to "show pictures" again- it isn't storing any of the email contently locally.

 

[SwordOfWar]

From what I have heard, it seems third party emails do not work nearly as well as the integration with GMail.

I prefer the way GMail is handled on my phone. I'm not sure if it saves it on the phone or not, but all my emails are synced between the website and the phone. So if i read or delete an email from the phone, it looks the same on the pc's browser.

Google's web interface is much better than using clients like outlook or thunderbird, in my opinion. You also dont have to wait for all your email to download, since it streams it like normal webpages.

In the past, it has helped users by suggesting they have third party email accounts froward their mail to a GMail account, and use just the GMail account for viewing/syncing. This is probably the easiest way to get similar functionality like you want, while keeping your phone synced with everything you do on the computer.

Unlesss you need some outlook express features for business or something, I strongly recommend just using the web interface of GMail. Its really pleasant I think. Great customization and features make it feel better than a client =]