Downloading only new emails from POP3 Server

  • Thread starter Thread starter felix.arends
  • Start date Start date
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felix.arends

Hi,

I have the problem that I have access to a POP3 server on which I have
stored about 10000 e-mails. Now I do not want a new installation of
Outlook to download all of them, but only, say, the last 100 messages
or the messages of the last week. It is still supposed to leave a copy
of the messages on the server. How does Outlook (2003) determine which
messages to get? And how can I change that?

Thanks in advance and best regards

Felix Arends
 
Outlook will either download all or none. It is not configurable.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, (e-mail address removed) asked:

| Hi,
|
| I have the problem that I have access to a POP3 server on which I have
| stored about 10000 e-mails. Now I do not want a new installation of
| Outlook to download all of them, but only, say, the last 100 messages
| or the messages of the last week. It is still supposed to leave a copy
| of the messages on the server. How does Outlook (2003) determine which
| messages to get? And how can I change that?
|
| Thanks in advance and best regards
|
| Felix Arends
 
Hi,

I have the problem that I have access to a POP3 server on which I have
stored about 10000 e-mails. Now I do not want a new installation of
Outlook to download all of them, but only, say, the last 100 messages
or the messages of the last week. It is still supposed to leave a copy
of the messages on the server. How does Outlook (2003) determine which
messages to get? And how can I change that?
Click to expand...


It keeps track of the UID (unique identifier), a number that is unique to
each message sent to that account for the lifetime of the account. Outlook
will ask the mail server for a list of new mails and in the response are the
UIDs for them. Once you download them, Outlook knows the UID and won't
request that message again. If you then wander over to another host and use
a *different* instance of Outlook, it won't have that UID so it will again
download the same message (that you left on the mail server). Since you did
a new install of Outlook, every message is new.

Stop using the Inbox as a message store. It is a very poor choice. Create
a folder and move your old mails there. The Inbox is for *new* mails, but
when they are old then move them somewhere else. If you don't want the new
instance of Outlook to download everything that you piled into your Inbox
then move them out of the Inbox. Use the webmail interface to your account,
create a holding folder, and move what you don't want downloaded into the
holding folder, and then poll using Outlook to yank those that you left in
the Inbox.
 
It keeps track of the UID (unique identifier), a number that is unique to
each message sent to that account for the lifetime of the account.
Outlook will ask the mail server for a list of new mails and in the
response are the UIDs for them. Once you download them, Outlook knows the
UID and won't request that message again. If you then wander over to
another host and use a *different* instance of Outlook, it won't have that
UID so it will again download the same message (that you left on the mail
server). Since you did a new install of Outlook, every message is new.
Click to expand...

Where is that UID stored and how can I change it? That would be a
possibility, I assume?
Stop using the Inbox as a message store. It is a very poor choice.
Create a folder and move your old mails there. The Inbox is for *new*
mails, but when they are old then move them somewhere else. If you don't
want the new instance of Outlook to download everything that you piled
into your Inbox then move them out of the Inbox. Use the webmail
interface to your account, create a holding folder, and move what you
don't want downloaded into the holding folder, and then poll using Outlook
to yank those that you left in the Inbox.
Click to expand...


Moving all the emails isn't that simple with the web interface I got :)

Thanks,

Felix
 
It's a hidden message in the pst. Changing it would be impossible, or at
least very time consuming and require Outlook programming knowledge.

Can you use IMAP to access the inbox? If so, use it instead of pop on the
other machines or at least use it to move items to a new folder.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)

Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
 
Where is that UID stored and how can I change it? That would be a
possibility, I assume?
Click to expand...

Nope, that is an internal list. You don't get to touch it.
Moving all the emails isn't that simple with the web interface I got :)
Click to expand...

Since you don't identify your e-mail provider, no one knows what webmail
interface you got stuck with. It doesn't let you check all items (so you
could then simply uncheck the few that you want yanked to Outlook) and then
select to Move the checked ones to a user-created folder? Well, that really
is a sucky webmail service. If Cambridge U (your Internet provider when you
posted) is also your e-mail provider, sounds like they really don't want to
provide a webmail interface to your account and expect you to yank all mails
in your account when polled.

You could configure Outlook to only download headers and then check off
which ones you want to download and perform the download of just those. For
Outlook 2002 (the menu navigation is slightly different for OL2003), go to
Tools -> Send/Receive Settings -> Define Send/Receive Groups, select the
group, and edit the properties for each account to download headers only
(i.e., "download item description only"). That means you will get stuck
having to download only the headers, mark which ones you want to download,
and then download them (Tools -> Send/Receive -> Work with Headers).
 
It's a hidden message in the pst. Changing it would be impossible, or at
least very time consuming and require Outlook programming knowledge.
Click to expand...

I see, well, I wouldn't mind some simple hex-editing for this purpose,
but I guess, I'll just see what I can do about moving them to another
folder with the web-interface.

The strange thing about this is that I actually imported the pst file
from my old computer (so if it was a message inside the .pst file, it
should still be there, right?).
Can you use IMAP to access the inbox? If so, use it instead of pop on the
other machines or at least use it to move items to a new folder.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I can't.

Thanks for your help!

Felix
 
Nope, that is an internal list. You don't get to touch it.

Too bad.
Since you don't identify your e-mail provider, no one knows what webmail
interface you got stuck with. [...]
Click to expand...

Well, I guess I can select 100 messages at a time, but that's a lot of
work then.
I think I'll somehow solve it, I was just wondering whether I was
missing some option using Outlook.

Thanks for your help!

Regards

Felix
 
The strange thing about this is that I actually imported the pst file
from my old computer (so if it was a message inside the .pst file, it
should still be there, right?).
Click to expand...

No. It's not imported. If you moved the pst, it would be present, but
outlook uses the account name and other information in the hidden file, so
it doesn't work on other computers.
 
Many ISPs do not back up subscribers inboxes. They prefer the user to remove
them from the POP3 server and not use their allotted 10 or 20 MG for online
storage. They count on most users not using it - otherwise they need bigger
disks to handle fewer subscribers.


--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)

Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
 
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