thousands of duplicated emails

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thousands of duplicated emails

Post by Steve Shank »

Every few days, a single spam email gets duplicated from 2,000 to 30,000 times. All are marked for deletion and all remain in my inbox. This occurs in one of my 2 accounts with that isp, and neither of my other 2 accounts. It didn't start until I began using EPIM. They have determined that I was only sent a single message and can't find the issue on their server side. I checked my rules, and nothing corresponds with the latest ones.

Currently I've stopped EPIM from getting mail from that account, so we can determine if this is server side or client side. I will use Webmail for that account for a few days.

I've searched and found something like this 6 years ago, but it obviously isn't a common problem.

Can you think of anything that could be causing EPIM to create this problem or any way I can troubleshoot?

I do occasionally check my email on my tablet using AquaMail if that is a potential issue. Windows 10 version 21H2
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by admin »

Please mention your email account type, is it an IMAP one? Which folder do the messages duplicate in - Inbox or Spam?
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by Steve Shank »

Yes the account is IMAP and the spam items accumulate in the INBOX but are deleted. InMotionhosting, my email and web host, doesn't actually delete them and assures me that they are the same spam item. This causes thousands of deleted spam items to be in my inbox. EPim doesn't download them, but when I enter through webmail or another system like Mailwasher, things are really screwed up because of thousands of unread deleted spam identical messages in the inbox.

The only odd thing which I can think could possibly interfere here, is that many years ago I set their spam filter, spam assassin to mark messages ***SPAM*** and then stick them in the Spam folder. So I have a spam folder under that inbox. But EPIM also made a spam folder for the spams it discovers through its filter. As a result, I have 2 spam folders under my inbox, on containing Spam assassins, and one epims.

they may have updated their spam filters.

So far, since I stopped getting mail with epim, the problem hasn't surfaced, but I hate not having all the ease of use and flexibility EPIM gives me as a mail read. - Also, I have another account with them, but it doesn't get much if any spam and also has 2 spam folders.
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by Steve Shank »

I went into advanced server settings and turned off all four checkboxes for checking mail, to clearly isolate EPIM from the server, but it is still picking up a few email messages. Any idea why?
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by admin »

I'm not sure I understand the problem 100%, although you can disable spam filter in EPIM for that particular mail account, for instance in order to isolate the issue with double spam checking.

On the Advanced tab there's the "Include this account when receiving mail" checkbox, if you disable it, no new messages should be coming through.
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by Steve Shank »

@admin

The problem is that a single spam file is duplicated 2,000 to 30,000 times in my inbox and is marked for deletion. 30,000 files in an otherwise fairly clean files creates an issue. This problem repeats every few days.

I worked with Inmotion support and we tried various things but they failed. Within a few days, I had thousands of duplicated emails. All of which were marked for deletion, but still sitting in my inbox.

We decided that before they worked beyond the 2 hours or so they'd already spent, they wanted me to eliminate the possibility it was some interaction with my local program. The problem didn't start until I recently switched to Epim. It seemed like a reasonable request to me. Therefore, I set the advanced options as shown below.
account settings.jpg
This is what I did. But all my emails are still getting downloaded. But that didn't start until after a few days. At first it didn't download the files, but after a few days, it started downloading them. I've closed the program and re-opened and will see if that stops it from downloading the files. It might be that once I send from EPim, it forgets it isn't supposed to collect mail as well. I can't really send easily from webmail as I don't have any addresses there.
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by admin »

By saying a "spam file" you actually mean a "spam email message"? An additional question then - how do you know that message is marked for deletion? How do you mark a message for deletion in EPIM rather than simply deleting it right away?

Regarding the mail account settings - to be on the safe side and eliminate any other interference, please close and re-open EPIM, then click on the Send/Receive button on the toolbar and see if the excluded account is in the list (it shouldn't be).

And please also mention your EPIM version number.
Thanks!
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by Steve Shank »

You: By saying a "spam file" you actually mean a "spam email message"?
Me: Yes, but I think on the host server each is a file.

You: how do you know that message is marked for deletion?
Me: It has a line through it which is what Inmotion email host shows before it is removed from the inbox. Also, EPIM never downloads them epim does not download ANY of those files. So, I can't see them inside epim. It downloads everything else from the inbox but not those with lines through them. But, those files take up space and actually ran were over 200,000 Bytes on day.

You: please close and re-open EPIM,
Me: I did that, and then immediately, even before any send and receive, it download some inbox messages. And yes, I checked. It is the excluded account. For example, clicking nothing, a message about your reply occurred. and that is the excluded account.

You: And please also mention your EPIM version number.
Me: 10.2.1
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by admin »

Steve Shank wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 9:56 pm You: By saying a "spam file" you actually mean a "spam email message"?
Me: Yes, but I think on the host server each is a file.
Yes, that's true. Thanks for the clarification.
Steve Shank wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 9:56 pm You: how do you know that message is marked for deletion?
Me: It has a line through it which is what Inmotion email host shows before it is removed from the inbox. Also, EPIM never downloads them epim does not download ANY of those files. So, I can't see them inside epim. It downloads everything else from the inbox but not those with lines through them. But, those files take up space and actually ran were over 200,000 Bytes on day.
I think if a message is marked for deletion on the server, the server itself will not notify EPIM that these types of messages should be synchronized with inbox.
Steve Shank wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 9:56 pm You: please close and re-open EPIM,
Me: I did that, and then immediately, even before any send and receive, it download some inbox messages. And yes, I checked. It is the excluded account. For example, clicking nothing, a message about your reply occurred. and that is the excluded account
In this case, please forward us the log file (it can be found here: Tools->Options->Synchronization, Browse... and its filename should start with "Mail"), will check what's happening in the background.
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by Steve Shank »

I assume I should do this AFTER the problem occurs. So far, the problem hasn't happened for a few days. Also, I'm no longer using webmail as there is no need since despite the settings, ePIM downloads all my mail on startup without any instructions at all.
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by admin »

All right, good to hear. Regarding the log file, please forward it to us should the problem re-appear again.
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by Steve Shank »

Interestingly, I think the problem is with Essential PIM, and am not sure what to forward to you, and do I just attach it here? I haven't had the duplicate email problem in a week, so we seem to have found the problem. It is probably Epim.

This is why I think there is a problem. I've shown above how I have my options configured for Epim to not access mail. However, it does. It works normally. I never have to even hit send/Receive. When I click on an inbox, or all inboxes, all the emails appear. I don't think they are downloaded in the beginning, only after checking a mailbox. Is this how it is supposed to be?

So, my theory is that whatever Epim is doing to get all the emails when it isn't supposed to be getting emails, that was interfering with Epim getting emails when told to. Am I understanding things correctly? Before I test this theory, I'd like to know if it potentially makes any sense. I'm a newbie here. The test would be to re-enable epim getting mail in options and see if duplicate spam emails appear.

I just hate to mess with anything while I'm not experiencing a problem. No need to repair the leaky roof if it isn't raining right? But, if it shouldn't be getting mails at all, and it is, perhaps that is something worthy of investigation.
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by admin »

If that's an IMAP account and you click on any of the folders, the sync process will start. If you don't want to sync those folders, disable their sync using the Mange Folders button on the toolbar.
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by Steve Shank »

OK. There isn't a way to simply disable an account. I'll try turning on 2 of the 4 automatic switches for a week and see if the problem re-emerges. If nothing happens I'll turn on the other two. If it comes back I'll try and gather as much information as possible.
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Re: thousands of duplicated emails

Post by Steve Shank »

I turned off check messages every x minutes and get new messages instantly on June 26. The problem disappeared. Then on July 5th I turned on check messages every x. I set it for just 30 minutes. At 11:02 pm on July 6 I got a spam which was deleted, left in the inbox and replicated over 3,500 times. All about 3,800 replicants show the exact same time to the minute.

Here's a link to the last 3 mail logs:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/4SXH7EA0GM#ZTBRVMrlTpoz

Let me know if there's anything else I can do.
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