Old mails appearing out of nowhere

[cheeryble]

Hi

This is Mac OSX

I just got home and opened my Macbook Air.

As usual after a short while the mails started appearing, as well as in Mail, in a little box in the top right corner which I think is a sort of heads-up box.

This showed the mails which were arriving, but then, and this has happened lots of times before, it shows a mail which in this case was sent from me to me nearly four years ago.

It can be a bit disturbing and I wonder why it happens.

Any ideas?

Edited April 15, 2015 by cheeryble

[phetphet]

You probably need to delete them from your email providers server.

Go to Mail>Preferences>Mailbox Behaviours for the particular account you want to remove them from.

[RichCor]

How are you retrieving the emails, POP3 or IMAP?

Either uses databases to keep track of what's already been viewed. Client-side POP3 databases can easily get corrupted during an error state.

As Phetphet wrote, the old emails will stick around unless you set your client to delete them from your email provider's server.

[cheeryble]

You probably need to delete them from your email providers server.

Go to Mail>Preferences>Mailbox Behaviours for the particular account you want to remove them from.

Thanks Phet phet

but isn't a pretty nice to keep all old mail for looking up in future if necessary?

I've can remember several occasions I've looked up old stuff.

[cheeryble]

How are you retrieving the emails, POP3 or IMAP?

Either uses databases to keep track of what's already been viewed. Client-side POP3 databases can easily get corrupted during an error state.

As Phetphet wrote, the old emails will stick around unless you set your client to delete them from your email provider's server.

I looked it up in Mail>Prefs>Accounts>Account information and see I have IMAP for Gmail (my personal mail) and POP for more commercial stuff on another server.

I guess next time this happens I should check which server it's on.

I also guess maybe i could delete appearing emails individually as I've seen one......a draft actually.....appear several times over the months.

Thanks

[RichCor]

If you want the server to retain email you should check if your second provider offers IMAP access and switch to it.

from a PCWorld article on IMAP vs POP3

IMAP and POP3 basics

The key thing to know about the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is that it lets you view your email folders the same way on any device, as it’s all synchronized from a central server. With IMAP your inbox, sent, and customized folders look alike, and have the same content, whether you’re checking mail on your phone, tablet, or PC.

The Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), on the other hand, is specifically designed for downloading email from your email provider’s server to your local machine. Your actions aren’t synchronized with the server like they are with IMAP; it’s just a “dumb” download. Most (but not all) POP setups wipe email from their servers by default once you download it to your local device, although you can often configure your email client to leave your messages on the server as well.

...

It’s all about storage and privacy

The first reason you might want to use POP3 is if your main email account ... set limits on how much mail can be stored on their servers.

In those cases, it’s best to turn to POP3, so you can download your mail and wipe it off the server to stay under the storage quota.

Privacy is another reason to rely on POP3. In this post-Snowden era, many are uncomfortable with keeping personal data like email on a third-party server. Email sitting on a server you don’t control is wide open to access by law enforcement with the right set of warrants. Keeping your email on your devices, and off of third-party servers, means anyone who wants to look at your email has to come to you and not your email provider.

[phetphet]

Another way for POP that might work...although a bit long winded, is if you can also access your mail via a web portal, you can go through it all and selectively delete the stuff you don't want. That way the stuff you want to keep will still be on the server. Try googling your email provider + web portal. It might work. Just a suggestion.

Note: If you are using Apple's Mail, if you delete a message from one device, it should delete it across all other devices registered with same Apple account.

So if you delete a message from your Mac, it should also disappear from your iPhone.

And yes, it is nice, and sometimes necessary to keep old emails. I have some of value for various reasons that I would not want to erase.

Edited April 16, 2015 by phetphet

[cheeryble]

Richcor:

Thanks for a terrific answer.

That account I use for less personal mail is an old hotmail address.

I checked and they have IMAP as well as POP and I found a trick to install the account with IMAP on the Mac.

http://techpotato.ca/2013/getting-hotmail-imap-to-work-on-a-mac/

You know what though......when I look at the comments I might be raising a can of worms to alleviate what really is more of an annoyance than a big problem.

May be better of putting up with it occasionally eh?

PhetPhet:

Also thanks good idea but wonder again if the effort's worth it.

Both great responses though I need to get your brains on another problem I really MUST fix ....stay tuned I started a thread but it was never resolved satisfactorily I shall look it up and link here or repeat soon

Thanks again

[cheeryble]

Please check out my old post I just brought up again starting NOTES....

(Guess this may be more problematical hence no answers?)

Thanks and thanks again Richcor for the fantastic answer about pop-ups you gave previously.