# E-mail WTF

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-wtf/68448>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 11, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-wtf/68448 "2001-06-11T17:48:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chickenhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Chickenhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenhead)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-wtf/68448/1 "2001-06-11T17:48:21Z")

</div>

Not content to use my university’s clunky web-based email client this summer, I stupidly attempted to configure Outlook Express on my home computer. About the same time I did this, all of my old messages in my IMAP folder online disappeared. I called tech support, and before I got cut off, they told me that it was not an issue related to any kind of quota-activated automatic purging, because I was under my limit. I’m at work and I was talking long distance on a cell phone, so I don’t really want to call back right now. Is there any kind of setting on Outlook Express that would have deleted my messages on my IMAP folder? None of my archived stuff shows up on the web client or Telnet. I just sent a test message and it arrived fine.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DJScherr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@DJScherr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJScherr)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-wtf/68448/2 "2001-06-11T20:47:06Z")

</div>

Check this out… under tools-\>accounts select the mail tab, select your school account and go to properties and the advanced tab. On the bottom under delivery there is a button that says “Remove from server after X day(s)” is this box checked? I hope you didn’t lose too much information that was important if this was checked… I hate losing information like that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chickenhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Chickenhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenhead)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-wtf/68448/3 "2001-06-12T00:28:07Z")

</div>

DJScherr, I really appreciate your advice, but you were giving it to a complete idiot. I had my email account set up as POP3. I pondered for thirty minutes why the hell OE didn’t display IMAP folders. I wasted a good two hours trying to figure out what the matter was with the software; it turns out that the faulty programming was in my brain. Thanks anyway.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DJScherr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@DJScherr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJScherr)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-wtf/68448/4 "2001-06-12T13:24:50Z")

</div>

hehe, no problem, glad to hear that you didn’t lose anything (at least it sounds like it) and it’s these sort of ‘stupid’ mistakes (I make them all the time) that make your computing skills better.