sparx said:
I have a gmail account and Outlook 2007 is configured to leave the messages
on the POP3 server, but to remove the messages from the server when deleted
from the "deleted items" folder.
So, I downloaded all of my email (approx 17,000 messages), deleted some
messages I don't want any more and emptied the "deleted items" folder, but
the messages are not removed from the server. I've tried it several times in
several different ways, always with the same result. I can delete the local
copy on my PC, but the server copy is never removed.
It doesn't matter what you configure for the "leave messages on server"
option in Outlook (or in any other e-mail client). It doesn't matter
what you configure for auto-deletion of items in the Delete Items
folder. Gmail does NOT respect the RFC standards that define the POP3
protocol. Google came up with their own protocol (I call it gPOP) that
mimics some of POP3 but not all.
For example, Gmail ignores the DELE command sent by your e-mail client.
When you retrieve e-mail from a normal POP server, your client issues a
RETR (retrieve) command followed by a DELE (delete) command. The "leave
message on server" option eliminates the DELE command. Since Gmail
doesn't honor the DELE command, it doesn't matter whether your e-mail
client issued it as part of the normal RETR+DELE command sequence or
when your e-mail client issues it alone sometime later. Gmail also used
to treat the TOP command as a RETR command. TOP lets your e-mail client
retrieve only the headers of an e-mail and optionally the specified
number of text lines (ex., "TOP n" retrieves the header for an e-mail
and the first n lines). E-mail monitors often use the TOP command to
just find out what e-mails are sitting in your mailbox (and may retrieve
the first n lines to let you preview the e-mail). However, Gmail treats
TOP like a RETR and pukes out the entire message. This can cause side
effects if you use an e-mail monitor to watch your mailbox and then
later use your e-mail client to retrieve those items. If you configure
Gmail to delete items that are RETR[ieved] then it does the same for
items that were TOP'ed by your e-mail monitor so they won't be there
later when you want to download them in your e-mail client.
Whether or not an item gets deleted after RETR[ieving] it depends on a
server-side configuration option. You have to use the webmail interface
to your Gmail account to decide what to do with an e-mail after
retrieving it to your e-mail client. Gmail ignores the DELE command
from your e-mail client. Whether an item gets deleted depends on a
server-side configuration option in your Gmail account.
