EPIM deletes sent messages

[lphilpot]

A related issue (deleting messages to myself) was discussed a few weeks ago and has apparently been resolved. However, I've noticed sent messages are being occasionally deleted. For example, I just sent a reply to a third party, which went normally. When I opened the Sent Items folder, I saw the message I just sent momentarily, then it disappeared. I opened the Deleted Items folder and there it was:

I haven't kept a history so I can't say this happens every time, but I've seen it multiple times. Logs will be sent via PM.

EPIM 11.5 on Windows 11

[Steve Shank]

I'm wondering, are you using IMAP or POP? If IMAP, is there any reason the mail host could be deleting and then EPIM synchronizes? Would the same email be deleted sent from another SMTP server?

It is an interesting problem.

[lphilpot]

IMAP to GMail. I've compared what I see in EPIM against what's in the GMail web UI and (unless / until EPIM syncs) the messages are OK in GMail. Of course once deletions sync, they all match again. So it's EPIM doing it.

Or at least maybe was. I just upgraded to 11.5.1 and the first (and only, so far) email I sent has stayed in Sent Items. But it's also been intermittent in the past, so I'll keep watching for a while.

[admin]

If you encounter similar issue in the future, please get the most recent log file from the "Logs Folder" link under the Tools->Options menu, which is named starting with "Mail". Forward us the log file to enable us to analyze the problem. Thanks.

[lphilpot]

We're the logs I sent not the right ones?

[admin]

Among the logs you attached was the one we needed. Although, we haven't managed to analyze it, yet. Will report back if we need any additional info about the issue.

[admin]

The synchronization logs indicate that the emails were deleted from the server, causing them to be deleted locally as well. You may need to investigate the issue on your end in order to identify which application or if it was the server itself that deleted the emails.

[lphilpot]

I'll check on it but that's really strange. The only other apps "touching" my email are the email clients (AquaMail) on my phone and tablet. And they don't do anything to Sent Items other than put messages into it. So it must be GMail itself...

Thanks.

[lphilpot]

Not trying to beat this to death, rather just trying to get a handle on what's happening.

I watched GMail (web) while sending a message from EPIM. The sent message went immediately to Deleted items in EPIM. In GMail, it disappeared from Sent Items but wasn't in Trash until I synced EPIM.

But here's an interesting detail. Note the sent time on the "Weather for workshop" message:

EPIM

epim.png (8.37 KiB) Viewed 1149 times

GMail

It was indeed sent at 10:51 AM CDT (15:51 UT). Why does GMail think it was sent five hours earlier? Is there a CDT / UT time zone issue somehow? I'm currently five hours behind UT, not ahead.

The other message was sent from my phone at 6:18 AM and it's correct. I spot-checked a few other EPIM-sent messages and thy were correct, too. So what's different about this one and could it be somehow treated differently by GMail end if TZ calculations are off? My system TZ / time setting are all correct.

Just wondering, kinda grasping at straws...

Thanks.

[admin]

Please send us a log file right after the situation occurred. It would help us better understand the situation.

[lphilpot]

I've sent the relevant mail log via PM.

Once again, I'm not wanting to unnecessarily "tilt at windmills" nor waste anyone's time, I just saw the timestamp discrepancy and wondered if it's related. At a minimum it might (or might not) be a bug, so it's probably worth looking at.

Thanks.

[admin]

Thanks. Here's how it works according to the log file. The email was sent and moved to the Sent Items folder by EPIM. Then EPIM checks the content of the Sent folder on the server, the email is there and it has been assigned a UID. EPIM saves this UID into the database. After a short period of time, EPIM synchronizes the Sent Items folder with the server and the email with that UID is not there anymore. That's why EPIM moves the message to Trash locally. From the moment the message was saved in the Sent Items folder and until the email was not there anymore, EssentialPIM did not perform any actions with the server. So the email was deleted by something else. And you basically need to find out which of the apps did that.

Regarding that message with different timestamps. Please export it into EML file and forward to us. Thanks!

[lphilpot]

Thanks for this detailed and informational reply. The only other apps touching my account are the (same) email clients on my tablet and phone. I'll power those devices off and step through the process to see what happens. I've used those apps for years and never had an issue in the past but something could've changed I suppose.