Forum Discussion

PocketDemon's avatar
PocketDemon
Joining in
4 months ago

Painfully slow IMAP synchronisation.

It's been a while since I've needed to do a reinstall of Windows - but historically, it was never an issue to re-download all of the synced folders via IMAP for my Blueyonder accounts... Comparable to Hotmail & the like.

However, for reasons that are beyond me, even giving it in excess of 24 hours, there's vast numbers missing - where there might be the odd very recent one... ...where the extreme is, other than a few received since Monday, having none after May 2010 for a secondary email address/ & April 2013 in the inbox (not subfolders) of my primary one.

Now I thought it 'might' be an issue with Outlook 2024 as I updated at the time - but rolling back to 2019 & it made no odds - so switched back to 2024...

...& there was some mention in an old post that the password might need updating - so did that & it's made no odds.

Likewise, all of the emails exist on the server... ...there's no speed issues with anything else... ...& Outlook can send/receive test messages...

...so, since additional old emails do spasmodically arrive, it would appear that there's something weird going on.

So how do I get these to download before I die of old age?

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    Use a proper email app like Thunderbird, receiving emails directly instead of sending them all through Microsoft. 

    • PocketDemon's avatar
      PocketDemon
      Joining in

      & you believe that that will solve an issue that appears to be on Virgin's end will it?

      Yeah, some people like Thunderbird, & good for them... ...but the IMAP & SMTP settings, email address & p/w are the IMAP & SMTP settings, email address & p/w - & the email client is irrelevant.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    Well there don't seem to be other complaints like yours, which suggests it's not a VM problem. Or have they picked you up for special treatment? 

    • PocketDemon's avatar
      PocketDemon
      Joining in

      So are you then stating that Virgin have decided to no longer support Outlook properly? (though, again, IMAP, SMTP, & account details are all anyone should need for any email client to work)

      Or that significant numbers of Virgin customers with BY email addresses are reinstalling Windows & an email client from scratch this week? (since any issue would not be noticeable otherwise)

      Or that *everyone* who has any issue with Virgin's services posts here.

      Whilst I don't know why you leapt to "targetting" - as issues do happen which can be localised or for specific types of accounts or whatever.

      Yeah, so you love Thunderbird - but so what???

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    Those are your assertions, not mine. As was the word you put in quotes, which I didn't say. 

    My point is simply that it is difficult to accept that your problem is due to VM, when you appear to be the only one reporting it.

    • PocketDemon's avatar
      PocketDemon
      Joining in

      So "picked you up for special treatment" means what exactly? What is there a fabulous prize heading my way?

      & I asked rhetorical questions - since your personal dislike of Outlook is completely irrelevant; unless Virgin were now deliberately slowing IMAP synchronisation for Outlook of course.

      Yeah, I can certainly see why people wouldn't bother coming on here if they have any issues - given the level of ignorance of basic technical knowledge.

  • davidbw's avatar
    davidbw
    On our wavelength

    This is happening to me too.  Did you finally get it resolved?

    • Gareth_L's avatar
      Gareth_L
      Forum Team

      Hello davidbw.

      Thanks for your post and welcome back to our community. Sorry to hear you're having the same issue through Outlook.

      With Outlook being a 3rd party product, we're quite limited in what support we can offer. 

      Do the emails come through okay on webmail directly through your online account?

      It might also be good to follow the steps below.

      Open Outlook and go to File > Options > Advanced > Send/receive > click on the send/receive button, then click Edit. Under Received mail items, check the option "User the custom behaviour defined below." Click ok and then exit out of options and perform a send/receive to test if there is any improvement.

      Gareth_L

       

       

      • davidbw's avatar
        davidbw
        On our wavelength

        Thanks Gareth,

        Webmail appears to be working fine, as is gmail on my android phone.  I am trying your suggestion regarding send.receive settings right now.

        To clarify, I installed Outlook 2019 last week, and reloaded messages from the pst file I had saved before the upgrade.  I am using Outlook classic rather than Outlook New at present because I had a separate issue with Outlook New.  The inbox is only showing messages up to Thursday 28th November at present!  So the inbox has not yet fully synchronised.  I will update when the current sync completes.