Lost all my emails after ios 5 install.

[Nospam]

Yes, I think that's the key question. There's not much that I or others can do about the disaster of losing vital messages but if anyone else can be helped to avoid it, or we can be helped from a future problem that would be great. How can email messages stored locally in Mail be backed up?

If you check the explanation on http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1296 you will see (under Mail Accounts) it now says that "Mail account settings...are synced from the computer to the iOS device. iTunes does not sync settings from the iOS device back to the computer and does not sync any email messages". (last modified October 12, 2011)

What it doesn't say is how such things might be done...

 

[richsadams]

This is one of the major drawbacks for POP. If the POP account/mail program is set to have messages deleted immediately after they are downloaded they can be lost as they are no longer on the server and then only available on whatever device they were downloaded to. Some providers don't offer an alternative to avoid large build-ups of mail on their servers. Some may allow messages to remain for a specified period (a week, month, etc.) or until a certain storage capacity has been reached (1GB, etc.). In the latter scenario if you reach that limit your mail account will generally stop working completely until some or all of the files on the server are deleted. Any of those limitations can cause a number of issues including the loss of email.

The key then is to ensure your email is saved...somewhere, either on the server (the ideal situation) or on your computer.

There are settings on the iPad (and email programs used on computers) that will allow messages to remain on the server for a specified period of time (if the provider allows that). If that were to be adjusted prior to upgrading (save for 1 week for example), the messages should either still be there or they should download again. The downside is that they will continue to be sent to inboxes after being deleted until they are set to delete from the server immediately.

Mail on the iPad can be set up to delete emails from the server directly or just the iPad.

1. Open Settings
2. Tap Mail, Contact, Calendars
3. Tap email account
4. Tap Account
5. Tap Mail
6. Tap Advanced
7. Tap Deleted Mailbox
8. Tap Trash ("On my iPad" to leave them on the server - they will continue to reappear in the Inbox for POP accounts until they are permanently deleted from another computer)
9. Tap Deleted Messages (under "On the Server" to delete messages permanently from the server.)

Another way to save messages that have already been downloaded (if you have to use POP) would be to forward each message to yourself (even create a new/temp email address) and then store it on your computer. You could resend/forward again later, etc.

 

[richsadams]

No, in October 2011, Comcast does not provide IMAP mail. Nowhere in the country. It's POP only. One way people get around that is to forward everything to Gmail or another provider that has IMAP.

I did not know that Comcast stopped allowing IMAP accounts in October. That's certainly a step in the wrong direction. However as I mentioned above, they are likely trying to limit mail storage on their servers. It sounds as if they'd like to get out of the mail server business completely. Easier for them, but a terrible way to treat their customers.

If that's the case, then yes, I'd set up a Gmail account and have all of my Comcast email forwarded. At least you'd have all of your emails saved and available to all of your devices. Long-term I'd switch to an IMAP account somewhere else...Gmail or create your own domain name so you never have to worry about changing your email address ever again.

Another great option is to set up an @me.com account now that Apple is offering it for free with iCloud. It's very easy to do. More here:

Apple - iCloud - Learn how to set up iCloud on all your devices.

Apple - iCloud - Your info up to date on all your devices.

Basically once you have your iCloud account set up, go to your iPad's Settings, tap "iCloud" in the left-hand menu, turn the mail switch to on. A pop-up asks if you want to create a free email address. Enter the username@me.com you want (can be anything as long as it hasn't already been used). Press next, and you're done. Your new @me.com account will be listed in your Mail's Inbox. I don't think they could have made it much easier.

Hope that helps!

 

[rjsilva]

It absolutely can...it all depends on your settings for all of the devices, computers, etc. and the settings for your email accounts on the server. IMAP can do anything a POP3 account can do and more.

Perhaps you misunderstood what I was saying?

One of IMAP's selling points is its inherent ability to sync emails across multiple devices—I need to do the opposite. I need each device to independently use the mailbox/messages from the same email address.

If you didn't misunderstand and IMAP is able to do this, I don't think it's off topic for you to share how to do this with everyone. Specifically, on an iDevice(s) and Apple Mail.

 

[Nospam]

I need to do the opposite. I need each device to independently use the mailbox/messages from the same email address.

Exactly so.

 

[richsadams]

Perhaps you misunderstood what I was saying?

One of IMAP's selling points is its inherent ability to sync emails across multiple devices—I need to do the opposite. I need each device to independently use the mailbox/messages from the same email address.

If you didn't misunderstand and IMAP is able to do this, I don't think it's off topic for you to share how to do this with everyone. Specifically, on an iDevice(s) and Apple Mail.

Maybe I did misunderstand but I'm still not quite clear on what you're doing. You have one email address and you want your email messages to download to one device...or more than one device? From that point what are you doing with the message? I guess that's where I'm confused. I think IMAP can do what you want, but can you give us an example?

 

[smoothchat]

Whilst we can all find reasons to explain and justify how people have lost their email during the upgrade, I cannot let apple off the hook for letting this situation occur in the first place. This has taken the shine off the experience for my wife who has only just been introduced to the wonders of the internet via the iPad.

There should have been a clear warning, or better still, the update process should have backed up and restored the iPad email just for the upgrade exercise (whether synced or not).

'nuff said

 

[McPc]

Whilst we can all find reasons to explain and justify how people have lost their email during the upgrade, I cannot let apple off the hook for letting this situation occur in the first place. This has taken the shine off the experience for my wife who has only just been introduced to the wonders of the internet via the iPad.

There should have been a clear warning, or better still, the update process should have backed up and restored the iPad email just for the upgrade exercise (whether synced or not).

'nuff said

I totally agree. There was no indication or warning that POP email would not be backed up. This should at least be written into an official Apple FAQ if not also written into the upgrade process warning all POP email will be deleted and not restored in the upgrade process.

Thankfully I did not perform this upgrade on my boss's iPad or it could have jeopardized my job and been a real mess!

 

[richsadams]

We understand folk's frustrations, however please do not take threads off topic with complaints and arguing, it is against the iPF Rules and it is not helpful. If you have some positive input that will assist members with the topic don't hesitate to post it here.

This is not an official Apple support forum, Apple does not read these posts. If you want to complain about the iPad upgrade process, results, etc. please use the Apple Feedback Page:

Apple - iPad - Feedback

Thank you.

 

[monag]

I have an original iPAD and have an IMAP email account configured on it. I have asked it to load the 200 most recent emails. It will only load about 17 or 18, however, and it seems to randomly pick those 17 or 18. For instance, it will show an email from 10/11 and an email from 9/15 but nothing in between. Do you have any ideas on how I can fix this? Thanks.

 

[richsadams]

I have an original iPAD and have an IMAP email account configured on it. I have asked it to load the 200 most recent emails. It will only load about 17 or 18, however, and it seems to randomly pick those 17 or 18. For instance, it will show an email from 10/11 and an email from 9/15 but nothing in between. Do you have any ideas on how I can fix this? Thanks.

Do you keep all of your emails on the server...or only so far back? Can you see any "missing" emails if you view them on your computer's mail program or go directly to the web mail UI? I suspect it might have something to do with your settings (how long they are kept, if they have been read, etc.), but without knowing the parameters it's hard to say.

OR it certainly could be that the mail program is acting up. A couple of things to try if you think that's the case. One would be to re-sync your iPad with iTunes once or twice. That's cleared up a number of issues for others. You could also try restarting and/or resetting your iPad.

• Restart the iPad: Press and hold down the Home button on the front of the iPad for few seconds until the red slider appears, slide this across to shut the iPad down. Restart the iPad by pressing the power button on the top until the Apple logo appears.
• Reset the iPad: if restarting the iPad didn't work then you will need to reset the iPad. You can do this by pressing the Home button and the Sleep/wake button on the top the iPad's case and holding them down together for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo. The iPad should then reset itself. The boot up process will take longer than the restart.

If that doesn't work you could try deleting and re-adding your mail account.

Others may have some ideas as well.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes!

 

[monag]

Yes all the emails are kept on the server and can be seen from the computer's mail program. I have restarted AND reset the iPAD. I have also deleted and reinstalled the email account on the iPAD. I have even taken the iPAD into the Apple Store and they weren't able to fix it or explain it. I was hoping someone else had already figured this out! The iPAD has never been synced to iTUNES, however.

 

[richsadams]

That is so strange. Is there a reason you haven't backed up or synced with iTunes? I'm not sure exactly what's happened but a number of folks with flaky apps have reported that re-syncing with iTunes cleared things up.

I suppose worst case you could go on your computer and forward any emails that you can't live without on your iPad to yourself. I'm assuming new emails are coming through?

Weird, just weird. I'm stumped otherwise.

Maybe some others will have some ideas.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[rjsilva]

Maybe I did misunderstand but I'm still not quite clear on what you're doing. You have one email address and you want your email messages to download to one device...or more than one device? From that point what are you doing with the message? I guess that's where I'm confused. I think IMAP can do what you want, but can you give us an example?

For simplicity we'll say I'm working with one email account. This account is used on multiple devices and each device will use the messages differently. The computer generally keeps all email messages, but the iDevices will keep some and delete others. I need the freedom to pick and choose what email is kept on each device and I don't want one device's email messages to sync with another's, using the same email account.

 

[Kaykaykay]

For simplicity we'll say I'm working with one email account. This account is used on multiple devices and each device will use the messages differently. The computer generally keeps all email messages, but the iDevices will keep some and delete others. I need the freedom to pick and choose what email is kept on each device and I don't want one device's email messages to sync with another's, using the same email account.

Yes, I use multiple email accounts this way across several devices. It means I have to kill the same emails on each device, but I can keep only certain ones on certain devices. I use my laptop as a repository for emails, sorted in files for long-term storage. I use my iPads and iPhone to keep only emails I need short-term.