Opera IMAP deleting all my mail from the server!!!

Opera IMAP deleting all my mail from the server!!!

My main mail provider is Yandex (Russian analogue of Gmail). I've been using Opera with POP mail box for several years. BUT I've always had (and still have) "leave on server" box checked. Yesterday I installed a standalone Opera 12 RC which was automatically configured as IMAP. This morning I found out that ALL my INBOX and DELETED mail as well as mail from my MANUALLY CREATED FOLDERS have gone from Yandex server!!! I can't even recover them from trash now!!! For some weird reason only ONE old 2010 email was left in one of my own server folders. How could it happen???

I've just got a new email and Opera fetched it. But when I deleted it from Opera inbox I got it deleted on Yandex server as well! But it's still present in Opera trash folder. Is it always like that when using IMAP? How to fix it? And why was my mail from the manually created folders on Yandex server deleted as well. I even never got them to Opera Mail client.

This is how imap works, if you delete the message from Opera (or any other mail client) it will also be deleted from the server. Sometimes the messages are just on the server's trash folder.

Originally posted by Patatina:

Yesterday I installed a standalone Opera 12 RC which was automatically configured as IMAP. This morning I found out that ALL my INBOX and DELETED mail as well as mail from my MANUALLY CREATED FOLDERS have gone from Yandex server!!! I can't even recover them from trash now!!! For some weird reason only ONE old 2010 email was left in one of my own server folders. How could it happen???

So Opera mail client was working fine and then, when you opened it, all your mail were gone without you have done nothing?

That's strange as Opera does not automatically deletes messages. Something very weird should had happen.

Note that in Opera and IMAP, when you delete a message, the \Deleted flag is added to the message. Opera then shows messages marked as \Deleted in "All Messages/Trash' (and hides them from other views that don't have "show trash" set). Then, when you delete the message in "All Messages/Trash" or empty "All Messages/Trash", Opera expunges the message which wipes it out of Opera and off the server so that it's completely gone forever.

However, on the IMAP tab in the account's properties in Opera, if you have an IMAP trash folder set, Opera doesn't do the above. Instead, it just moves the message to the IMAP trash folder and "All Messages/Trash" just shows what's in the IMAP trash folder. Deleting a message in the IMAP trash folder or emptying the trash will then wipe it out in Opera and on the server (wipe it out from the IMAP trash folder on the server).

Remember, with IMAP, Opera just shows what's on the server. And, what you do in Opera, happens on the server too.

Most other email clients have those same type of delete options.

Now, note that some mail clients (and a lot of webmails) will automatically expunge any messages they see that are marked as \Deleted. This means that if you mark a message as \Deleted in Opera so that it's just showing up in "All Messages/Trash", merely logging into your webmail could wipe the message out. If you log into a client like that, it's best to set an IMAP trash folder so messages are moved to that folder instead of marked as \Deleted.

So, I'd do 2 things.

1. Install a standalone installation of Opera and setup the IMAP account in it.

2. As soon as Opera's done syncing the headers, go into the account's properties in Opera and goto the "IMAP" tab. Disable the spam folder for the account, set an IMAP sent folder (uncheck "add contacts from sent messages" if you don't want that), IMAP spam folder and IMAP trash folder.

Then, see how things work.

Now, if your mail is really gone, it's really gone. Note though that Opera doesn't have any config option to automatically delete messages in any way. You have to initiate the deletes yourself.

The only way Opera will wipe out messages is if you're subscribed to an IMAP folder in Opera, close Opera, unsubscribe from the IMAP folder in another client (Opera or any other) and then start Opera. Opera will then wipe out all messages in that IMAP folder. But, this is a bug that's already fixed for the upcoming Opera 12. And, it doesn't sound like you ran into this.

One final warning though. Never store any messages in the trash. They could be wiped out at any time by another client or the server depending on the options supported in those clients.

Originally posted by LeoCG:

So Opera mail client was working fine and then, when you opened it, all your mail were gone without you have done nothing?That's strange as Opera does not automatically deletes messages. Something very weird should had happen.

No, I opened Yandex Mail on the web and found out that all my messages were gone. The weirdest thing for me is that in Opera Mail IMAP settings I have only Sent, Trash and Spam folders which correspond to my Yandex folders. Why on Earth were the other Yandex server folders created by me wiped off?

burnout426 Thank you for such a detailed reply but I guess doing all that trying to configure IMAP is not worth my time. I even don't understand why IMAP is supposed to be better than POP. It will be easier for me to reconfigure my mail account to POP which has worked perfect for me without any bug for many years.

Originally posted by Patatina:

but I guess doing all that trying to configure IMAP is not worth my time.

It's not a lot. You just set up the IMAP account and make sure you have your folders set on the IMAP tab in the account's properties. For many mail providers, Opera will set them up automatically if the server hints to Opera what they should be.

Then, IMAP will just work.

Originally posted by Patatina:

I even don't understand why IMAP is supposed to be better than POP.

IMAP is better than POP for the same reason webmail is better than pop. What you do in that webmail (in any browser on any computer) is reflected in the others. Likewise, what you do via IMAP in you client (in any IMAP client on any computer) is reflected in the others. What you do in webmail is reflected in IMAP and what you do in IMAP is reflected in webmail too.

None of that is true for POP. With POP, if you mark a message as read, it doesn't get marked as read on the server or in other clients. When you send a message, the sent message doesn't show up in other clients. When you delete a message, it's not deleted in other clients (except for maybe the webmail if you delete the message permanently in your POP client so that it's removed off the server. But, it still won't be deleted from other POP clients). When you label a message, it's not labled in other clients.

POP also only downloads messages from "Inbox". POP doesn't access any of the other folders on the server like IMAP or the webmail does. (Note that webmails often use IMAP to connect to the server.)

In short, POP is super crippled and dumb in what it can do.

The only downside to IMAP is that it doesn't remove messages from the server to clear up space (unless the IMAP client supports removed from the server and archiving locally, but Opera doesn't support that). But, with most mail providers providing gigs of storage, that's not a problem.

Originally posted by burnout426:

IMAP is better than POP for the same reason webmail is better than pop. What you do in that webmail (in any browser on any computer) is reflected in the others. Likewise, what you do via IMAP in you client (in any IMAP client on any computer) is reflected in the others. What you do in webmail is reflected in IMAP and what you do in IMAP is reflected in webmail too.None of that is true for POP. With POP, if you mark a message as read, it doesn't get marked as read on the server or in other clients. When you send a message, the sent message doesn't show up in other clients. When you delete a message, it's not deleted in other clients (except for maybe the webmail if you delete the message permanently in your POP client so that it's removed off the server. But, it still won't be deleted from other POP clients). When you label a message, it's not labled in other clients.POP also only downloads messages from "Inbox". POP doesn't access any of the other folders on the server like IMAP or the webmail does. (Note that webmails often use IMAP to connect to the server.)

Well, I don't need any of this. I don't want my mail being deleted from the server when I delete it in Opera Mail client. I prefer to keep them separated. Btw, when I get emails to Opera through POP they are marked as read on the server.

Originally posted by burnout426:

The only downside to IMAP is that it doesn't remove messages from the server to clear up space (unless the IMAP client supports removed from the server and archiving locally, but Opera doesn't support that).

For me it unfortunately deleted everything...

Originally posted by Patatina:

For me it unfortunately deleted everything...

It's possible the server is buggy. I might try to set up a yandex test account and see how it works for me.

Originally posted by Patatina:

Btw, when I get emails to Opera through POP they are marked as read on the server.

Yeh, that can be a fetch option that the server does. But, that's totally different that having a message unread and then marking it as read and having that action sync across clients.

Originally posted by Patatina:

Well, I don't need any of this.

That of course completely fine, but most do need/want that. That's why IMAP is so awesome.

Originally posted by Patatina:

I prefer to keep them separated.

I'm not sure why you'd want to, but that's of course fine too. You don't have to use IMAP.