e-mail conundrum... Any e-mail gurus?

beaker

I'm sorting out a mate so that he can chack his work e-mail on his phone.

He has his own business and uses an indigo address (I'm trying to persuade him to get a domain - another story). So I have set the phone to check this address. But the office PC checks this address every few minutes and clears the mails off the server. So this is no use.

Plan B: I then set his office PC to forward all mails to his Vodafone e-mail address on the phone. But then when he looks at the headers, they are all from the office address and he can't tell what's what without downloading and reading all the e-mails (not the idea - he just wants to see the headers when he's on the move and download the odd one).

I hope that makes sense and that someone can suggest a variation on one of the above approaches that would work better.

Thanks...

MiCr0

could he set the office pc not to check when he's not there?

beaker

Nope. There are other people in the office when he's not there and the e-mail account has to work away on the office PC.

MiCr0

it sounds like their setup is a bit all over the place
is it just one address being accessed by many ppl?

beaker

Yup.

He will eventually get his act together and take my advice and register a domain and get multiple pop e-mail addresses.

But I am hoping to sort him out with a working solution for the moment.

seamus

What client is he using in the office? Most clients will allow you to check and download the mail from the server, but not delete it.

The problem here is that mail continues to build on the server, and isn't deleted. Thus, all of his mail will appear on the phone, whether or not it's been deleted from the client in the office.

So every so often, *someone*, using the phone or a web client, needs to go in and dump the contents of his POP mailbox.

TBH, I can't think of any easy solutions to this. In I.T. terms, there are loads of simple solutions, but clearly he wants to go down the complicated route. Any solution I can think of would cost multiple times more than the obvious domain-name solution you know.

[Edit: Actually, now that I think of it, Outlook Express (and possibly Outlook) allow you to choose to delete the messages from the server when they're deleted from the client. Thus, all of his new mail appears on his phone until it's moved/deleted on the client.]

the_syco

beaker wrote:

But the office PC checks this address every few minutes and clears the mails off the server. So this is no use.

If he uses Outlook Express, he may be able to the following:
Tools, Accounts, click on the mail account, and click Properties. In the Advanced tab, you may be able to select "leave a copy of the messages on server". Picture of the "Advanced" tab.

I use eircom.net, and I can use this setting. Don't know for sure about the indigo setup, tho.

I do this. It allows me to setup Outlook @ home + work, and check emails from both locations. If I did not select that box, whichever machine looked at the server first would have gotten the message. This way, if I checked it @ work, I could go home, and check it again, and all the emails I recieved whilst @ work would still be there.

Have any questions, ask (except about indigo. me hates indigo).

/edit

Also, if you want to delete stuff, goto the "Advanced" tab again, and below the "leave a copy of the messages on server", there's options to remove the emails fromt the server after a set number of days, or to remove any emails from the server, that you delete from the "Deleted Items" folder.

Tell us what client he uses for us to help you more.

beaker

Thank you seamus and the_syco for simultaneous very helpful posts!

On that advanced tab, you can set Outlook Express (which he uses) to leave a copy on the server but remove it after x days. This should suit him.

I presume when you do this, Outlook express knows which e-mails it has downloaded already and doesn't keep downloading all the x days of mails on the server each time it checks for new mails? (Ditto for the phone?)

MartMax

probably not the easiest or cheapest. setup a proper server in the office with exchange, etc. and get blackberry.

or, if he can get cheap hosting, own domain and multiple accounts for everybody. make sure the hosting provides IMAP support. i use IMAP rather than POP3 on my email client and my mobile. but again, he needs his mobile with IMAP support.

it works. trust me.

beaker

mart_max wrote:

make sure the hosting provides IMAP support. ...he needs his mobile with IMAP support.

What is the difference between pop and IMAP? Or rather, what benefits would IMAP give him here?

The phone is a latest-and-greatest Nokia 6680 smartphone (series 60) so I think it supports everything under the sun.

seamus

beaker wrote:

I presume when you do this, Outlook express knows which e-mails it has downloaded already and doesn't keep downloading all the x days of mails on the server each time it checks for new mails? (Ditto for the phone?)

Don't know about the phone - it may work directly off the server - but OE definitely knows which mails it has already downloaded.

What is the difference between pop and IMAP? Or rather, what benefits would IMAP give him here?

*Essentially*, IMAP is like webmail. It allows you to have folders, and all your mail is stored on the server until you say otherwise. The main difference with webmail is that you can access your IMAP mailbox from any client, rather than solely through a web interface.

Areallycoolname

I actually have a BlackBerry and you don't need a server to run it off (though I think you can run them off servers as well!). I have an eircom.net account and basically I can see all the mails that I'm sent and their attachments - might be a solution for your mate?

Mails aren't deleted off the ISP, and I can have 10 accounts on it (handy as I have a few accounts for the business & they're all sent to my device ).

beaker

Thanks for all the input.

I have him testing the 'leave mail on the server for 5 days' approach at the moment.

I think that will sort him out until he gets a domain and proper e-mail addresses set up. I wil certainly suss out IMAP support when he is setting that up. The basic plan with these guys looks spot on for him. Has anyone used them?

Areallycoolname and mart_max: He will actually only use e-mail on the phone from time to time, so I advised him against Blackberry - couldn't justify the flat monthly fee (30+ euro, I think it was).

Bogger77

beaker wrote:

Thanks for all the input.

I have him testing the 'leave mail on the server for 5 days' approach at the moment.

I think that will sort him out until he gets a domain and proper e-mail addresses set up. I wil certainly suss out IMAP support when he is setting that up. The basic plan with these guys looks spot on for him. Has anyone used them?

Areallycoolname and mart_max: He will actually only use e-mail on the phone from time to time, so I advised him against Blackberry - couldn't justify the flat monthly fee (30+ euro, I think it was).

I have a nokia6600 and the leaving the mails on the server setting with OE is exactly what I do to handle my indigo mail