# Help me with a POP mail problem

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-a-pop-mail-problem/272004>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 30, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-a-pop-mail-problem/272004 "2004-10-30T11:17:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-a-pop-mail-problem/272004/1 "2004-10-30T11:17:34Z")

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I have several email accounts that I manage using Microsoft Outlook 2003. One account behaves differently than the rest. The account is at Virginia Tech. Every time I restart Outlook and retrieve mail, it gets all mail in the VT mailbox instead of just the new ones. This doesn’t happen if I retrieve mail during an existing Outlook session, only if I restart Outlook. This is the only account where this has ever happened. They are all set to leave mail on server.

The fact that I only have this problem with one account suggests a server side problem but the fact that it only happens the first time I retrieve mail after starting Outlook suggests a client side problem.

😕

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**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-a-pop-mail-problem/272004/2 "2004-10-30T11:40:35Z")

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I know nothing about email, but it’s early Saturday so what the hell. Any chance the VT account should be set at IMAP instead of POP3? I pull multiple accounts using Outlook 2003 as well, and some are POP3, some are IMAP. “Leaving email on server” sounds like it should be set to IMAP.

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-a-pop-mail-problem/272004/3 "2004-10-30T17:46:00Z")

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Nice try, I appreciate the effort. Here is the [FAQ](http://www.answers.vt.edu/ask4help/email/vtkb2082.htm) for the setup, and I’m compliant. Can’t figure out what else could be wrong.