Why do IMAP messages in Outbox have a red line through them?

[scotty321]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: imap

Hi there,

This is something that has always confused us about Entourage, and it just resulted in us losing an email message completely.

We are using an IMAP email account. When we are composing an outgoing message and save it as a draft on the IMAP server, everything is fine. But then, after saving several drafts, we click on the "Send Later" button, and Entourage moves the message to our Outbox.

However, this message in our Outbox has a BIG RED X next to it, and has a black horizontal line through the entire message as it sits in the Outbox. Why is this there?

After we click on "send & receive", everything is back to normal again... the message moves into the "Sent" folder on the IMAP server normally.

But today, the message was sitting in our Outbox with the black line through it and the big red x, and we had a crash of Entourage right as we clicked on "Send & Receive". When we relaunched Entourage, the message was COMPLETELY GONE. Not in our drafts folder, not in our outbox, not in our Sent Items, not in any of our local Entourage folders, not in any of our IMAP folders on the server.

We now have to retype this message completely from scratch again.

Could somebody please explain what is going on here?

Thanks!
Scott

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

However, this message in our Outbox has a BIG RED X next to it, and
has a black horizontal line through the entire message as it sits in
the Outbox. Why is this there?

You are seeing messages marked for deletion. IMAP treats deleted
messages differently from POP and Exchange.

The default behavior of IMAP when you "delete" a message is to mark it
for deletion for the next time you run the "purge" command on your
account. Messages marked for deletion will remain in their current
folder and will appear as you've described: a red X and the text has
strike-through.

Right-click your folders where you see this and select "Purge Deleted
Items" to actually delete them.

You can alter this behavior to appear similar to POP and Exchange by
altering the IMAP account under Tools --> Accounts..., select Advanced
tab and selecting "Move messages to the Deleted Items folder" instead of
"Mark messages as deleted".

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[scotty321]

Thanks for your help, Bill.

I actually already had the option selected to "Move messages to the Deleted Items folder" but it apparently acts the same way no matter what.

But in any case, at least I know what's going on now. Thanks for your explanation!

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Diane Ross]

Under the Advanced Tab in your IMAP account, you can uncheck "mark messages
as deleted" do get rid of the red line.

 

[scotty321]

Thanks, Diane. I already have that selection unchecked, but it does the same thing. Oh well, not a big deal, as long as I know what's going on.

Thanks,
Scott