iPhone syncing with Exchange question?

You should try to search first ... http://discussions.info.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12080509

The new mail count is only on the inbox, so if you want the mail count to show the total unread messages, the solution is to delete your Outlook rules so all emails stay in the inbox.

doubleaa said:

Thanks for the reply.

Terrible solution IMO. What is the point of having selected subfolder push if you're not getting the unread count? Renders that feature useless.

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To each his own, and Apple went with the safer choice (besides making it a toggle option).

I have folders setup to automatically capture certain reports. I don't need to look at these emails unless something goes wrong, so for me, it would be terrible if Apple counted subfolder emails.

doubleaa said:

If your not going to update the unread mail count there is zero reason to have the selective subfolder push feature in the first place.

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It makes it less convenient but it doesn't mean there's zero reason. You're still getting the email. I do agree that it really should provide the unread count for subfolders as well. I just don't agree that your preferences are everyone's.

It's not just the iPhone.

If you are using Outlook as a front end to Exchange on the desktop, the "new mail" alerts only appear for mail in the Inbox, not anywhere else.

doubleaa said:

Which is why you would exclude the folders you don't want pushed to the phone. You can do this already. By default Exchange accounts on the iPhone push the inbox only but in advanced settings you can select the subfolders you want to push in additional to the inbox. If you're selecting subfolders why wouldn't you want an unread count to reflect new mail to these folders. If your not going to update the unread mail count there is zero reason to have the selective subfolder push feature in the first place.

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Wrong, I still want those folders pushed, so if something does go wrong, I can quickly find the email vs having to initiate a fresh push.

Your use of "zero" reason is heavy handed. Like someone else wrote, your preferences will never match someone else all the time hence your problem here with how the new mail icon works.

jenzjen said:

To each his own, and Apple went with the safer choice (besides making it a toggle option).

I have folders setup to automatically capture certain reports. I don't need to look at these emails unless something goes wrong, so for me, it would be terrible if Apple counted subfolder emails.

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I concur.

I know this post is over a year old, but I had to comment. I totally agree with doubleaa on this issue. I also sort my Exchange mail using folders and wish the unread count of those folders, not just the Inbox, would be displayed on the Mail app of my iPhone 4S. Apple wouldn't have to make this the default setting, but they should at least allow the user to turn the feature on or off. Ideally, it would be nice to have the feature be available both as a global Mail setting and a per folder setting, so if you didn't want the unread count to increase for some folders but did for others, you could set each folder's preferences as such. This seems like such a basic feature that I'm surprised it's been missing since the iPhone's inception. I will say that I checked with some co-workers who have Android phones and their Mail app doesn't have this option either. I guess I'm just shocked that this issue doesn't draw more attention than it does. I think most people would want to know when they have new Mail without having to open the Mail app and scroll through their folders to find this out. Isn't that the mail reason the unread count appears anyway? Hopefully Apple and/or Google will decide to give us the option sometime soon, but I'm not holding my breath.