Delete from POP3 server but keep on device

[jayc]

It sounds strange, but this is how I manage my mail, and k9/k@ support this.

At the point of deleting via the app.. I'd like to move the message to deleted folder in the app, and enqueue the deletion request to the POP3 server for the next time that the device connects to it to delete the email from the server.

This way... Important emails that I have to write a dissertation for can remain in my inbox for later response on my notebook. "Device-respondable" emails can be quickly responded to via aqua-mail, and junk can be deleted via aqua-mail, yet also archived on the device just in case I need it in the future.

Any thoughts on how to achieve this?

[Kostya Vasilyev]

With POP3, since it doesn't provide a way to access server folders -- any messages moved to Deleted will remain in the Inbox on the mail server *until* you empty the Deleted folder in the app.

This can be done in various ways:

- Long pressing on the Deleted folder, choosing "delete all"

- Doing the same from the Menu in this folder's message list

- Menu -> Purge all local [ Deleted ] on the app's main screen

Until you do this, the messages will be only moved to Deleted in the app and will remain in the Inbox on the mail server. A limitation of POP3.


But when you empty the folder -- there is a setting to either connect right away and delete those messages (the default) or to wait until the next mail check:

Long press the account -> options and folders -> POP3 options -> server delete compatibility

[StR]

Kostya,
you may not have noticed the tricky part in the requirements of the OP:
"and junk can be deleted via aqua-mail, yet also archived on the device just in case I need it in the future."
I could not think of any way how to do this (either via POP or IMAP): delete a specific message on the server by moving it to "deleted", but keep it on the device (while not affecting any other messages on the server).

I am not sure completely, what Aquamail would do if a messages in a POP3-configured account would be moved to a local folder: would it be deleted from Inbox on the server? (I suspect not...)

[Kostya Vasilyev]

you may not have noticed the tricky part in the requirements of the OP:
"and junk can be deleted via aqua-mail, yet also archived on the device just in case I need it in the future."
I could not think of any way how to do this (either via POP or IMAP): delete a specific message on the server by moving it to "deleted", but keep it on the device (while not affecting any other messages on the server).

Yes, missed that, sorry.

I am not sure completely, what Aquamail would do if a messages in a POP3-configured account would be moved to a local folder: would it be deleted from Inbox on the server? (I suspect not...)

AquaMail does not have user-created "local" folders (for POP3 or others).

As to what would happen when messages are moved to a local folder in Outlook (say), I don't know, depends on what happens with those messages on the mail server.

[StR]

AquaMail does not have user-created "local" folders (for POP3 or others).

Sorry, I am not using POP3 myself, so, my assumption was incorrect.


Off Topic: My inquisitive mind is curious if I understand correctly the behavior of Aquamail in the following scenario (an "edge case") for an IMAP account:
1. One of the "[functional]" automatic local folders ([Sent], [Drafts], [Deleted]) is "unlinked" from the corresponding one on the server, let's say, [Deleted].
2. A message is moved in Aquamail from Inbox to that folder.
3. If I understand Aquamail's behavior correctly, upon the next sync, the message in question will reappear in the Inbox in Aquamail.
4. The message is then deleted in Aquamail ("immediately delete"), which will delete the message on the server.
Is this correct?
If yes, then this would be a way (albeit very awkward) to preserve a message on the device while deleting it on the server.

PS. This would also be a scenario to topple down Aquamail and the entire phone by having (eventually) a huge database with very modest sync parameters.

[StR]

Thank you, Paris Geek, this is even simpler.
For some reason I thought Aquamail wouldn't delete that message and it would effectively reappear. I thought someone reported that happening when Deleted was not synced.

[jayc]

Thanks for looking and considering situations.

Maybe an easier way to think of it:
Taking the "deleted folder" on the device out of the discussion, i think what I was asking for was "upon removal from inbox on device, enqueue a delete on server". That way inbox is always synched and it's the only thing synched.

 I don't mind it as is.. I am old enough to have lived in a world where deleted means deleted not in some recycle bin, and I'll work that way.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

1. One of the "[functional]" automatic local folders ([Sent], [Drafts], [Deleted]) is "unlinked" from the corresponding one on the server, let's say, [Deleted].
2. A message is moved in Aquamail from Inbox to that folder.
3. If I understand Aquamail's behavior correctly, upon the next sync, the message in question will reappear in the Inbox in Aquamail.
4. The message is then deleted in Aquamail ("immediately delete"), which will delete the message on the server.
Is this correct?
If yes, then this would be a way (albeit very awkward) to preserve a message on the device while deleting it on the server.

Yes, this can be done and how POP3 accounts (in AquaMail operate).

However:

- On next sync the message will not re-appear in the Inbox, the app will know that you moved it into (a local) Deleted folder

- And the message will remain in the Inbox on the server...

- ... until you empty Deleted in AquaMail, at which point it will be deleted on the server.