iPhone – This message has not been downloaded from the server
- February 29th, 2008
- Posted in Hardware . iPhone
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[Update - I switched to IMAP instead of POP for connecting to my email server and it seems much better. It also marks messages as "read" on the phone once I read them on my computer, which was a previously major annoyance. I would recommend IMAP if it's available to you.]
I have my iPhone set to retrieve email messages from my POP3 account. This works great except that about every 10th message would show “This message has not been downloaded from the server” instead of the message text.
I discovered that this was not actually a problem with the iPhone, rather with my email setup. I also have Outlook on my desktop which is configured to remove messages from the server after downloading. What happens is that the iPhone downloads the headers but does not get the full message body until you actually read the message. Meanwhile, Outlook downloads all new messages and immediately removes them from the server. So when you try to read an email on the iPhone for the first time, it only has the headers and needs to retrieve the message body from the server. However if Outlook was opened then it probably removed the messages from the server. So there is no way for the iPhone to get the message body. It would make more sense if the error message on the iPhone was changed to “This message is no longer available on the server.”
There is a fairly simple work-around to this problem. Just configure your desktop email client so it doesn’t immediately remove messages after downloading. In my case using Outlook, there is a setting to leave mail on the server for X days (I set mine to 3 days). This resolved the issue for me entirely, however if I try to read an email on the iPhone that is more than 3 days old it won’t be available. Basically the number of days you configure your client to retain messages on the server is how far back they will be available via your iPhone. For me 3 days is plenty. However, if you want to have access to older messages you can set the retention to 30 days or whatever your email client and host will allow.
This may explain the problem, but I believe it is a flaw in the system – a serious flaw if you are a business user. The phone appears to download headers only, and then download the message when you check it, but the phone does not store the messages is downloads – it only stores the headers – so that when your desktop Outlook downloads and removes the message from the server, what you thought was on the phone is not. This does not occur with blackberrys, which store and save all emails downloaded. From my observation, it also does not seem to work 100% that way – some messages seem to be retrievable on my iphone after outlook has downloaded, but others come up with the error message – this suggests a glitch.
As a business user, this is a very serious flaw, and despite its many other positive features I would switch to blackberry.
Hey Dan, thanks for the interesting comment. You are right that the iPhone only downloads the headers but once you read a message, the body is stored on the phone. I can verify this since I’m still able to read some messages from a few days ago that are definitely not on the server any longer. This is just a guess on my part, but I think that the iPhone may possibly download the entire message in some cases where it is really small. Likewise it may not keep the message stored locally if it’s really huge. This would account for the seemingly random behavior. Like many things Apple, they don’t really tell us what magic is happening behind the curtain. (These are not the droids you are looking for)
I did have a blackberry for about 1 year. I personally developed a deep and intense hatred of that phone for various reasons, but I will have to agree with you that the email functionality is very slick. My complaint was that everything else about it sucked! Mind you this was 2 years ago and the newer blackberrys look a lot cooler. Now that I figured out the Outlook configuration, I would say that the iPhone email works just as well for my needs. My only gripe is that there is no “mark all as read” feature which is highly annoying.
I’ve only had my iPhone for about 5 days, but I’ll keep posting as I learn more about it.
This is a VERY annoying “feature” of the iPhone and it is indded erreatic at best. I often receive e-mail messages that remain on the server (POP3) but I cnnot access them via the iPhone. After much investigation there appears to be no rhyme or reason!
Hmm, it seems some people are experiencing the problem even when the message is still on the server? I haven’t had the error since changing my Outlook settings, but it’s still only been a few days.
I think that there is a more serius problem. i create a completely new gmail email acount to view mail in my iphone. then, in my MAIN gmail acount (that is configured to be accesed by outlook) i create a forward setting (in gmail config page), so, all the mail that i recive in the main mail acount is recived also in the iphone mail acount. in 10 messages with atachments, http designs and other stuff, 2 of them have the “This message has not been downloaded from the server”. I think that the iphone mail app is very bad.
Has any one had a problem with the iPhone dowloading your email and then it not downloading in outlook? I have looked and there are no settings on the phone to leave a copy on the server like in outlook. This only happens with some mesages, some i get on the phone and outlook, some I dont. Any Ideas?
Cheers mate, did as stated, set the server in outlook to 10 days, not only received the emails, managed to download my fist PDF doc at last.
newbie to iphone
Switch to IMAP on the iPhone to solve “this message has not been downloaded from the server” problem. Using Gmail as an example, do not create a default POP Gmail account on the iPhone, start out creating an “other” type of email account to get to the IMAP option. For step-by-step instructions, including how to specify a different “from” email address if needed, then read my blog entry at http://slapphappe.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/iphone-mail-this-message-has-not-been-downloaded-from-the-server/.
Iphone i think were designed not meant exactly for business use instead its a trendy phone which comes up with unique features. Maybe there are some apps where you can maximise its capability(iphone) when it comes to business related task. Other wise you can switch to blackberry.. as you said. which is better coz they provide business related features not only the phone itself but through its network provider. Well it is still depends on what you need of course.
Is there not a setting using POP to leave a copy on server?? Really?
Not everyone has the option of using IMAP.
Anyone?
Once again I am left supporting more crap from Apple for my mother in law. LOL!
for pop in outlook, you can go to Tools/email-accounts/view or change existing email account/
select change under pop account, under Advance tab
at bottom of tab you will see the retention setup on leave a copy on server. Cheers!