Outlook.com keeps downloading gmail messages

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andrew027

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#208793 28-Feb-2017 09:03

I've done some googling on this and haven't found anything that exactly matches my problem, so thought I'd try here...

I have two personal email addresses - xtra and gmail. As I have an Office365 account, I created an @outlook.co.nz email account and linked my two accounts to it - the xtra account set up using POP3 and the gmail account using IMAP. For about a year this has worked fine. I pick up all my emails through the Outlook apps on my Windows 10 notebook or Android phone, or through outlook.live.com/owa online. I know I still have to go to Yahoo/XTRA or Gmail to delete the emails there, and I do this every few weeks, but if I delete an email in Outlook on one device and empty the Deleted Items folder, I don't see the message when I open Outlook on another device.

While I was away over the weekend I got a message from Outlook saying:

Please update your credentials for the account [xxx]@gmail.com.
It looks like we don't have permission to get mail for [xxx]@gmail.com.
Our last successful sync was at [a date and time about two hours before the message was sent].

It gave brief instructions on how to fix it - basically just to go to Settings on Outlook.com, select Connected accounts and "follow the instructions onscreen". This ended up with me deleting the gmail account and adding it again. Now, whenever I delete an email in one of the Outlook apps, it stays deleted if it's from the xtra address but reappears a couple of minutes later if it's from the gmail address. It doesn't matter how many times I delete an email, it reappears until I go to Gmail and delete it there.

I note that in the settings on Outlook.com under Accounts > POP and IMAP there is an option for POP settings that says Devices and apps that use POP can be set to delete messages from Outlook after download and this is set to Let apps and devices delete messages from Outlook.

My theory is that if I can find a similar option for IMAP it should solve my problem, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Any ideas?

coffeebaron

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#1727466 28-Feb-2017 09:34

Connect to Gmail using pop, don't leave on server. Also in Gmail make sure "delete email when accessed via POP" is enabled.

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andrew027

1286 posts

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#1727542 28-Feb-2017 10:39

coffeebaron: Connect to Gmail using pop, don't leave on server. Also in Gmail make sure "delete email when accessed via POP" is enabled.

Thanks @coffeebaron. There's an option on the connected accounts screen to add a Gmail account (as opposed to "other account") which I was using, and this seems to set it up as IMAP by default. Hopefully this will fix it.

ANglEAUT

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#1727546 28-Feb-2017 10:45

@andrew027: ... I note that in the settings on Outlook.com under Accounts > POP and IMAP there is an option for POP settings that says Devices and apps that use POP can be set to delete messages from Outlook after download and this is set to Let apps and devices delete messages from Outlook ...

The way POP3 works is that email is stored on the server until your client downloads it and then you manage the mail locally. At the end of the day, the only copy you have is the one in your local client. This also means that no other client device can download the mail afterwards.

IMAP on the other hand is a set of "folders" that are always stored on the server and your client manipulates the folders on the server. Thus there can't be a "delete after download". The beauty here is that several different mail clients can see the mail folders and all show the same info. They are "in sync" because they only display the info on the server.

You should never have to go back into those accounts to delete the downloaded mail. Tell the system to delete after POP3 download. For IMAP both systems should show the same info.

andrew027: ... Please update your credentials for the account [xxx]@gmail.com.
It looks like we don't have permission to get mail for [xxx]@gmail.com. ...

The Google help pages displayed that several users where auto logged out during routine maintenance. Maybe you were one of those users? Or it could be that like APIs, you get application specific passwords and yours expired, so you had to re-validate the account. Oh, the joys of modern security & lazy people.

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coffeebaron

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#1727550 28-Feb-2017 10:49

Outlook.com email is now full Exchange server, with full sync across devices. Far superior to the Google hack of a mail system that doesn't follow the rules properly.

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andrew027

1286 posts

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#1727558 28-Feb-2017 11:11

coffeebaron: Outlook.com email is now full Exchange server, with full sync across devices. Far superior to the Google hack of a mail system that doesn't follow the rules properly.

Yes, I've enjoyed using it for quite some time, until I had this issue. Not sure why I didn't have it before. I don't remember setting the gmail account up manually, choosing POP instead of defaulting to IMAP, but I suppose it's possible I did - it was probably a year ago.