Not receiving all of my e-mail (Mail, version 3.3)

[llaing]

I'm a new convert to Mac, and I'm having a problem receiving all of my e-mail. I still have my PC desktop hooked up, and I am receiving messages there that I'm not receiving on my Mac. I am using Mail, version 3.3 on a MacBook Pro. My ISP is Comcast. I was using Outlook Express on my PC but converted to Outlook in order to export/import all of my messages, etc onto my Mac. That process seemed to work reasonably well.

Last week, when I set up my new computer, I got some messages but not others. By the time I left town for a conference, I stopped getting messages on my Mac altogether. When I got home, I saw that the messages were on my PC.

I spoke with Comcast and Mac yesterday about this problem. Comcast basically told me that they couldn't help me. With the Mac support person, I deleted my account and set it up again. That seemed to fix the problem, until later in the day when some messages were not delivered. There seems to be no pattern.

1. Yesterday, I received (on my Mac) two of the three daily messages I get from a list serv. This morning, I didn't receive the first message from the list serv. (But I did get it on my PC.)

2. Yesterday, I sent a message to someone and received a response on my Mac. I responded, but her response did not reach my Mac.

3. When signing up for these forums this morning, I received both automatic messages on my Mac.

4. Yesterday, I did not receive a response from someone that I e-mailed.

5. Yesterday, I received some messages from a google group but not others. There was no rhyme or reason to this either. I would receive one message from one person and not receive another from that same person (using the same e-mail account).

I am having no difficulty sending messages. And I believe that all of my messages are coming to my PC account. There are no messages on the server (aside from junk that Comcast filters for me), and no messages are landing in my junk folder on my Mac.

Anyone have any ideas? This is supremely frustrating and causing me to lose valuable work time.

Laura

 

[llaing]

I think we found a resolution

I'm posting it here, because I found that some others had this question, but it was never answered.

Pretty much the best way to export e-mail messages from a PC is with Outlook. So even though I did not use Outlook (I used Outlook Express), I switched over in order to export my e-mail messages. I have been transferring things slowly, and so I've kept my PC up and running. What I didn't realize is that Outlook was set to delete files from the server after they were downloaded.

When the PC got to the server first, it downloaded messages and then deleted them from the server. When the Mac got there first, it downloaded the messages and left them for the PC to download as well. In addition, Outlook is always downloading messages, even when the computer is turned off. (Outlook Express worked differently.) So, it was downloading and deleting files all the time.

My modem is not hooked up to the PC right now, and I'm getting all of my messages, so far. I've reset Outlook not to delete these messages. After a few hours (just to test things), I'll hook up the PC again and see if things are different.

Wish me luck. I hope others don't go through what I did today. I was on the phone with support for more than 4 hours. Awful experience.

Laura

 

[Moisee]

Now able to receive all mail on both PC and Mac ... thanks

Thanks for taking the time to perfectly describe my issue, as well as the resolution!
[as well as the FRUSTRATIONs with supports re this issue]

Using: Windows XP; Outlook 2002; Mac OS X 10.6
Have not yet migrated files from PC to MAC largely because this issue with 'not getting my mail' made me view my new MAC as just something that had the most beautiful desktop and screensaver views.....so very mesmerizingly beautiful....and that was able to hook up to Netflix in under a minute.... yet not reliable when it came to the most simple task of 'get the mail' [all of it, not just random ones].

Thanks for restoring my faith in Mac.

Here's what happened to work for me:
in Outlook, go to Tools/Email accounts/View or Change;
select Next; select account;
select More Settings; select Advanced tab;
select 'Leave a copy of message on the server', select 'ok'....

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[Eric S.]

Yes, it's the way you had your mail preferences set up to delete the mail on the server. But mainly it's because Comcast uses POP instead of IMAP. With IMAP mail always stays on the server, so any machine you use will have the same view of it. With POP you have to download the messages and you can end up with messages scattered on different machines. It's a real drag but Comcast says there is no plan to switch from POP.