Mail Days to Sync question

[John Collins]

I'm new to iPad and ios7, so bear with me.
Recently acquired an iPad Air. I set up two mail accounts - Gmail and Hotmail and both appear to be working OK.
However, when I set up the Hotmail account I got a "Mail Days to Sync" prompt. When I set up the Gmail account this prompt didn't appear - Why ??
I'll admit I don't fully understand "Mail Days to Sync". I've read various threads about this and the more I read the more confused I get !
Is there a basic difference in the way Gmail and Hotmail work on an iPad ?
I thought all web based email accounts just access the appropriate e-mail server and display on your device, (iPad or PC), all the mail messages in your account or are the e-mails actually stored on the iPad ??
On the Hotmail account I had Mail Days to Sync set to 1 day - I then changed it to "no limit" and the Mail icon on the home screen displayed a value of 312 in red. I changed it back to 1 day and it reduced to just 5.
What does this mean ?
A number of questions in this post, - explanations in simple terms please.!!

 

[J. A.]

In Hotmail/Outlook you can choose the timespan of which the Mail app will show your emails. When you set it to one day, only emails from the last day (24 hours) will be visible on your iPad. If you select "No limit", the app will show all the emails in every folder which you will also find in the account when you access it online.

You don't have this choice for Gmail. The account works different. It loads all content to your iPad - emails and folders you created, without limit.

The number on the Mail app means that there are 5 new unread messages/emails in your Inbox.

If you want to mark them as read all at once on your iDevice, because you already read them, here's how to do it:
In landscape mode, you'll find "Edit" above the emails in the Inbox. Tap it. At the bottom, you'll find afterwards: "Mark All". Also select this, the next thing you'll see is "Mark as read" and something else. Tap this option. The number on the Mail app will disappear, until a new email arrives.

 

[twerppoet]

Mail Days to Sync is an option you only get with an Exchange account, like Hotmail or a business account. Gmail uses IMAP by default, and has other options for how many emails to sync; some number of the most recent.

This used to be something you could set in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars; but Mail appears to make up it's own mind these day, based on what, I don't know.

Mail Days to Sync works based on the age of the emails. If set to three days it will sync all emails less than 3 days old, no matter how many of them there are. You should be able to change this by going to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars and then selecting the account.

I no longer have an Exchange based email provider, so I'm not sure where the setting is in the account's settings. You may have to drill down a bit.

Both Exchange and IMAP accounts keep all your email on the server, unless you deliberately delete it, and then delete it again from the trash or archive folders. Sync does exactly what it says, it syncs your iPad's inbox and other folders to what is on the server; but only the most recent emails, so that you don't overload the iPad.

You can always get to your older emails by scrolling down until older emails start loading, or by doing a search.

POP3 accounts are different, and probably what you are thinking off. This type of account downloads your unread email from the server to the iPad. The only options are to download and leave the mail on the server, or download and delete the mail on your server. It's an older protocol that was popular when most people only had one computer and read all their email there. Most of us wish it would go away.

 

[John Collins]

Both Exchange and IMAP accounts keep all your email on the server, unless you deliberately delete it, and then delete it again from the trash or archive folders. Sync does exactly what it says, it syncs your iPad's inbox and other folders to what is on the server; but only the most recent emails, so that you don't overload the iPad.

You can always get to your older emails by scrolling down until older emails start loading, or by doing a search.

.

For Gmail then - does that mean that as you scroll down or search in folders for older e-mails, the e-mails are copied, (synced), from the server to my iPad ? If so, are they stored permanently on the iPad or are they deleted at some stage ??

For Hotmail - is this the same ??

 

[twerppoet]

For Gmail then - does that mean that as you scroll down or search in folders for older e-mails, the e-mails are copied, (synced), from the server to my iPad ? If so, are they stored permanently on the iPad or are they deleted at some stage ??

For Hotmail - is this the same ??

I can't be certain, but from my experience older emails are removed from the iPad; exactly when and under what circumstances I am not sure. The Inbox may be an exception. I don't know. I never let mine get more than a few dozen emails before I start deleting them, or moving them to other folders.

At the very least the iPad and Apple's apps in general are good at conserving storage when it starts to get limited.