Refetching Already Fetched Email from a POP Server

O 11.51 1087 / Win XP Pro SP3

I fetch email from a POP server but specify to leave the messages on the server so that I can (if necessary for a personal reason or have inadvertently deleted something permanently) read them again another way outside of Opera. If I have already fetched all current messages from the server, is there a way that I can refetch one or more of those messages as long as they are still on the server? I checked Opera Help but could not find anything, and a keyword search in the forums here did not turn up anything that I could see. Thanks.

You can close down Opera and delete the uid file for the POP account. It's located in the mail/pop3 folder. Each uid file has a number. See accounts.ini in the mail folder to see what number the account is so you know which uid file to mess with. See opera:about for the location of the mail folder.

That will cause Opera to refetch *all* mail that's still on the server. And, if you already had copies of some of those messages, you'll have to delete the *old* copies as they won't be tied to the copies on the server anymore.

If you don't want to refetch all, you can use the "standalone installation" option in the installer to install to a folder on your desktop. Then, you can setup your POP account in that Opera. Then, create a label and drag the messages you wan to it. Then, right-click on the label and export it as an mbs file. Then, in your normal Opera, goto "Menu -> settings -> import and export -> import mail -> import generic mbox" and choose to import the mbs file into your POP account (or a new account if you want). Just note that these imported copies are not tied to the copies on the server. So, deleting them won't delete the copies on the server.

So, you can't do exactly what you want, but those are your options.

However, your question doesn't really make sense because if you delete the copy in Opera, and then empty "All Messages/Trash", the copy from the server should be removed too. This means that all messages that are still on the server should be in Opera already, so refetching doesn't make sense.

Originally posted by burnout426:

{trimmed for brevity}

So, you can do exactly what you want, but those are your options.

However, your question doesn't really make sense because if you delete the copy in Opera, and then empty "All Messages/Trash", the copy from the server should be removed too. This means that all messages that are still on the server should be in Opera already, so refetching doesn't make sense.

I appreciate the information.

However, I think the question does make sense. For POP accounts, at least, it is an option to leave messages on the server even after fetching them into Opera, which is the whole point. When I fetch a message (all messages at once, actually) and inadvertently delete it permanently, either with Shift-Delete or by emptying the Trash, the message is still on the server. It has not gone anywhere until I delete it by a mechanism outside of Opera. This is the way I do it for a reason. The messages get deleted on the server (netBSD, in this case) only when I login to the server with a shell account and delete the messages there. The issue is that one time I inadvertently deleted a message permanently from Opera when it was still on the server and wanted to get it down into Opera again.

Originally posted by bartlett22183:

When I fetch a message (all messages at once, actually) and inadvertently delete it permanently, either with Shift-Delete or by emptying the Trash, the message is still on the server.

Are you saying that you have "until I permanently delete them" unchecked? If not and it is checked, then when you permanently delete the message in Opera it should be deleted on the server too unless there's a bug with your POP server.

Originally posted by burnout426:

Originally posted by bartlett22183:

When I fetch a message (all messages at once, actually) and inadvertently delete it permanently, either with Shift-Delete or by emptying the Trash, the message is still on the server.

Are you saying that you have "until I permanently delete them" unchecked? If not and it is checked, then when you permanently delete the message in Opera it should be deleted on the server too unless there's a bug with your POP server.

All I have checked is "Leave messages on server." The other two options, "Remove from server after #days" and "Until I permanently delete them," are not checked. My intention is to leave messages on the server regardless of whether, when, or how I handle them in Opera, including deleting them permanently in Opera. (I sometimes do something with them on the server completely independently of Opera, which is why I do not want them deleted regardless of what Opera does.)

Originally posted by bartlett22183:

"Remove from server after #days" and "Until I permanently delete them," are not checked.

O.K. Having "Until I permanently delete them" unchecked is not the default, so you should have explicitly mentioned that you have it unchecked.

But, regardless, afaik, there's still no way to refetch the message except for the methods I previously mentioned.