Hello all,
Bit of an extended question/call for advice here. Bear with me!
Over the years I've created an eyewateringly complex email system. It combines lots of addresses, plenty of forwarders and is largely managed via Apple Mail using POP3. When the iPhone came along I wanted a system under which I'd see any email that was sent to me, regardless of address or content. As such, I setup MobileMe IMAP on my phone and then used a system of forwarders to forward copies of all my mail on to the MobileMe account. The email still downloaded into Apple Mail via POP3 but a copy was sent to my phone. This meant I saw email when it arrived and could deal with important stuff promptly.
The downsides however were manyfold:
- Deleting a message on the iPhone didn't universally delete it. It still existed on my laptop, downloaded via POP3.
- I don't tend to use my MobileMe address for work and as such I rarely replied from my iPhone. I'd wait till I could use my POP3 work account back at my laptop.
- I only had one account on the phone whereas in actuality there were multiple distinct email accounts.
In the last two years I've let my Apple Mail inbox get out of control. A few weeks ago I had 12k messages in there. I'm a fan of filing so I decided this had to end and begun filing the messages away into my hierarchical and many-foldered system. It took bloody forever, but I am now at a point where things feel a bit more organised. I've reordered the folders, deleting and consolidated where possible and am now ready for the next step.
I'm looking to move to IMAP for ALL my accounts. I'd like to get rid of the crazy web of forwarders and simply add IMAP accounts where I need them on my iPhone, iPad and laptop. And maybe even my iMac if that makes sense.
The setting up of IMAP is reasonably clear to me but I have a few pertinent questions before I tackle the task:
1. What happens to my hierarchical folder structure? I'd like to keep this as it helps me keep stuff organised. Will the folders be automatically created on the server of each IMAP account server?
2. Will emails associated with that account that are filed in Mail appear in the folder I've dragged it too on the server?
3. What happens to my old messages that were downloaded via POP3? Am I right in thinking these will simply stay in the relevant folders on my laptop? I do not want them to be reuploaded to the servers as the IMAP protocol attempts to mirror my mail system as it exists in Apple Mail.
4. Does anyone have any other advice/insight for me? I've put this change off for too long but I'd like to grit my teeth and make it happen now!
Cheers in advance!
Bit of an extended question/call for advice here. Bear with me!
Over the years I've created an eyewateringly complex email system. It combines lots of addresses, plenty of forwarders and is largely managed via Apple Mail using POP3. When the iPhone came along I wanted a system under which I'd see any email that was sent to me, regardless of address or content. As such, I setup MobileMe IMAP on my phone and then used a system of forwarders to forward copies of all my mail on to the MobileMe account. The email still downloaded into Apple Mail via POP3 but a copy was sent to my phone. This meant I saw email when it arrived and could deal with important stuff promptly.
The downsides however were manyfold:
- Deleting a message on the iPhone didn't universally delete it. It still existed on my laptop, downloaded via POP3.
- I don't tend to use my MobileMe address for work and as such I rarely replied from my iPhone. I'd wait till I could use my POP3 work account back at my laptop.
- I only had one account on the phone whereas in actuality there were multiple distinct email accounts.
In the last two years I've let my Apple Mail inbox get out of control. A few weeks ago I had 12k messages in there. I'm a fan of filing so I decided this had to end and begun filing the messages away into my hierarchical and many-foldered system. It took bloody forever, but I am now at a point where things feel a bit more organised. I've reordered the folders, deleting and consolidated where possible and am now ready for the next step.
I'm looking to move to IMAP for ALL my accounts. I'd like to get rid of the crazy web of forwarders and simply add IMAP accounts where I need them on my iPhone, iPad and laptop. And maybe even my iMac if that makes sense.
The setting up of IMAP is reasonably clear to me but I have a few pertinent questions before I tackle the task:
1. What happens to my hierarchical folder structure? I'd like to keep this as it helps me keep stuff organised. Will the folders be automatically created on the server of each IMAP account server?
2. Will emails associated with that account that are filed in Mail appear in the folder I've dragged it too on the server?
3. What happens to my old messages that were downloaded via POP3? Am I right in thinking these will simply stay in the relevant folders on my laptop? I do not want them to be reuploaded to the servers as the IMAP protocol attempts to mirror my mail system as it exists in Apple Mail.
4. Does anyone have any other advice/insight for me? I've put this change off for too long but I'd like to grit my teeth and make it happen now!
Cheers in advance!