1 week old Mac user from PC-autorun "refreshing folders"moved/deleted read IMAP inbox mail-HELP!

[sfca275]

Hello,

Please be patient-I've just switched to a MacBook Pro after nearly 20
years as a PC user, and I'm baffled. Running current Leopard and
Office 04. I have an IMAP email account I've used for years. Used to
bring it into Outlook on the PC, and when Office 04 was installed on
the Mac Entourage set up the mail account in some default setting. On
Sunday, exactly one week to the moment that Office was installed I
noticed a brief box on the screen saying it was "refreshing folders"
and BAM - every single read email in my inbox disappeared! I cannot
find them anywhere, though I will grant you as a brand new Mac user it
is possible I don't know where to look. Whatever happened, it must be
some sort of default setting on installation. I've not created any
rule to my knowledge that would move read emails anywhere. I've
searched the Office Assistant, Help, MS's website, and so forth and
can find nothing that would explain this automated behavior.
Certainly there was no similar feature within my PC's version of
Outlook.

I don't always categorize and move my read inbox mail and rely on
having copies to go back and look at. At the moment I can recover the
messages as until I fully move to the Mac from my PC I currently have
the mail settings set to leave the messages on the server so I can
still download them onto the PC. I've gone directly to my ISP's
webmail site and all messages that I've retrieved onto the PC are no
longer on their server, though when I have tried to understand
Entourage's mail settings and explanations it says that it only
downloads copies and IMAP mail is left on the server. Why would that
be? Isn't there a way to get the mail into Entourage?

I realize that there may be two questions here, but the most urgent
one for me is to have my inbox mail left alone until I choose to
delete it! Any and all help would be most gratefully accepted. I do
have a One to One session at my local Apple store tomorrow and I
surely hope that that person will know what to do.

Many, many thanks from this bewildered and baffled new Mac user!

 

[Diane Ross]

On
Sunday, exactly one week to the moment that Office was installed I
noticed a brief box on the screen saying it was "refreshing folders"
and BAM - every single read email in my inbox disappeared! I cannot
find them anywhere, though I will grant you as a brand new Mac user it
is possible I don't know where to look. Whatever happened, it must be
some sort of default setting on installation. I've not created any
rule to my knowledge that would move read emails anywhere. I've
searched the Office Assistant, Help, MS's website, and so forth and
can find nothing that would explain this automated behavior.
Certainly there was no similar feature within my PC's version of
Outlook.

I've seen some reports where Apple's Mail IMAP messages were disappearing.
Not sure if this is what caused your problem. Being a new Mac user with a
new OS that still has some bugs is going to make your new experiences a bit
more troublesome.

When you receive mail in Entourage it will either go to your Inbox or the
Junk folder unless you have a rule set up. There are 3 kinds of rules in
Entourage. It's easy to accidentally set up a MLM rule so check there first
to see if it's moving your mail, or do a custom mail view to search for a
message you know is missing. How to use custom view mail:
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/custom_views/index.html>

There are 3 different kind of rules in Entourage:

Mailing List Manager (MLM)
Junk Mail Filter
Rules (custom rules you create)

They run in the order listed above. The custom rules also run in the order
they are listed. (top runs first)

Use the MLM for all lists. Use rules for the remainder. Try to use
categories instead of individual addresses when possible. When a new address
is added to a contact in the Address Book then it will automatically be
acted on by the rule if you use categories in your rules. See example:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/example/rule002.html>

1) POP Rules act on a message ONLY when it first arrives in the Inbox (On My
Computer), NOT when it arrives in any other folder. Once it's moved to
another folder it won't be seen by rules.

2) IMAP Rules are meant to act on a message ONLY when it first arrives in
the IMAP INBOX, not when moved to another IMAP folder.

3) Exchange Rules act on a message ONLY when it first arrives in the
Exchange Inbox.

See "Using Rules with Entourage" for help and examples:

<http://entourage.mvps.org/rules/index.html>

Earlier today I answered another new Mac user with some of basics. See this
thread for tips. Subject: Lost all Entourage accounts after downloading the
new security update from apple????

I've gone directly to my ISP's
webmail site and all messages that I've retrieved onto the PC are no
longer on their server, though when I have tried to understand
Entourage's mail settings and explanations it says that it only
downloads copies and IMAP mail is left on the server. Why would that
be? Isn't there a way to get the mail into Entourage?

Under Tools in the Menu bar, select Rules. Click on the IMAP tab. Create
rules to move your messages to your "Folders on My Computer" folders. This
will copy the messages from your IMAP account to your computer. Mailing List
Manager will also move your IMAP messages to your computer.

In your Accounts (under Tools in the Menu bar), select your IMAP account and
click on the Options tab, select the options on how you want your messages
downloaded.

 

[Darlene]

Hello,

Please be patient-I've just switched to a MacBook Pro after nearly 20
years as a PC user, and I'm baffled.  Running current Leopard and
Office 04.  I have an IMAP email account I've used for years.  Used to
bring it into Outlook on the PC, and when Office 04 was installed on
the Mac Entourage set up the mail account in some default setting.  On
Sunday, exactly one week to the moment that Office was installed I
noticed a brief box on the screen saying it was "refreshing folders"
and BAM - every single read email in my inbox disappeared!  I cannot
find them anywhere, though I will grant you as a brand new Mac user it
is possible I don't know where to look.  Whatever happened, it must be
some sort of default setting on installation.  I've not created any
rule to my knowledge that would move read emails anywhere.  I've
searched the Office Assistant, Help, MS's website, and so forth and
can find nothing that would explain this automated behavior.
Certainly there was no similar feature within my PC's version of
Outlook.

I don't always categorize and move my read inbox mail and rely on
having copies to go back and look at.  At the moment I can recover the
messages as until I fully move to the Mac from my PC I currently have
the mail settings set to leave the messages on the server so I can
still download them onto the PC.  I've gone directly to my ISP's
webmail site and all messages that I've retrieved onto the PC are no
longer on their server, though when I have tried to understand
Entourage's mail settings and explanations it says that it only
downloads copies and IMAP mail is left on the server.  Why would that
be?  Isn't there a way to get the mail into Entourage?

 I realize that there may be two questions here, but the most urgent
one for me is to have my inbox mail left alone until I choose to
delete it!  Any and all help would be most gratefully accepted.  I do
have a One to One session at my local Apple store tomorrow and I
surely hope that that person will know what to do.

Many, many thanks from this bewildered and baffled new Mac user!

It may be that your read messages are hidden, within Entourage click
on your inbox and select view on the menu bar and select unread only
---- your read messages will return.