Emails disappear from webmail after being received by a client

When you use Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) to connect Alibaba Mail to an email client, the client may download and remove emails from the server, causing them to disappear from your webmail inbox. This article explains why this happens and how to configure your client to keep a copy of emails on the server.

Problem description

When you configure Alibaba Mail in an email client using POP3, emails may disappear from your webmail inbox after the client downloads them. A self-service query in your webmail shows that the emails were deleted by a POP action.

Why this happens

By default, POP3 removes emails from the server after downloading them to your client. The following are possible reasons for email deletion:

• The Leave a copy of messages on the server option is not selected in your client.

• The Leave a copy of messages on the server option is selected, but the option to remove messages from the server after a specific number of days is also enabled.

Fix email client settings

The Alibaba Mail server does not automatically delete emails. If emails vanish from your webmail inbox and you did not delete them, check the settings in your email client. The following sections provide instructions for Foxmail, Outlook, and Windows Live Mail.

Foxmail client

1. Open Foxmail. Click the Tools button in the upper-right corner and select Account Management.

1. In the System Settings window, click Account, and then click the desired account.

2. Click Server. Under Server Backup, select Keep forever, and then click OK.

Outlook client

1. Start Outlook. Click File > Info > Account Settings.

2. On the E-mail tab, double-click the account you want to change.

3. In the Internet E-mail Settings window, click More Settings.

4. Select the Advanced tab. Select the Leave a copy of messages on the server checkbox. If the option to remove messages after a certain number of days is selected, clear that checkbox. Click OK.

Windows Live Mail client

1. Open Windows Live Mail. In the account list on the left, right-click the account you want to change and select Properties.

2. In the Properties window, click the Advanced tab. Select the Leave a copy of messages on the server checkbox. If the option to remove messages after a certain number of days is selected, clear that checkbox. Click OK.

Note: To avoid this issue entirely, consider switching to IMAP instead of POP3. IMAP keeps emails on the server and syncs across all your devices, so messages are never removed after download.