GMail like mailbox setup

[Justin Furnas]

Hello there. I have been using CPanel in a production environment for about 6 months now, and I am still getting used to it. I have all of my company email coming through my domain on my VPS server that runs CPanel, but it's been POP3. I check my email from my phone (using the gmail app) and multiple computers (using thunderbird mail) at different times in the day, and the remote mailbox isn't synced (It will be marked as read in one location, only to show as 'new/unread' in another.

I am using the default configuration that is enabled when accounts are created on cpanel. I am wondering if there is a way to configure the mail server (at least for this domain) to act more like gmail, so that all of my messages stay in sync, as well as having all of my 'sent' items show up on all clients? It doesn't need to work as far as a web client, but when I send a mail from this client, I'd like the 'sent' folder on all clients to reflect that, and any emails that I read in one client, or see in one client, should also show up the same in the rest. I was under the understanding that this setup was 'imap', but when I attempt to connect to my imap server (imap.example.com), none of my messages come, and I do not receive any new messages.

 

[lorio]

I was under the understanding that this setup was 'imap', but when I attempt to connect to my imap server (imap.example.com), none of my messages come, and I do not receive any new messages.

On what client did you attempt using your emailbox via the IMAP-protocol? Depending on your client you need to setup the emailaccount again to switch from pop3 to imap or viceversa. There is no imap.server.tld. The mailserverhostname is the same for imap and pop3. You just use different ports to communicate with dovecot (the mailbox server).

 

[Justin Furnas]

lorio, Correct. Any of my clients, I have done it with. I have used my mobile mail app on my phone (gmail app), and also used the Thunderbird Mail client that is avaiable for linux distros. I can authenticate to the server fine, but no mail comes to the client, even if I send test emails. Also, the folders do not sync. From my understanding of pop3, mails should remain on the server when you check them. By that, when I switch from pop3 to imap, the items in my mail server should pull into my client via imap and be removed from the server afterwards. Either way, I don't even receive the old mails on the client, and definitely am not receiving new mails.

And I do have an imap.example.com setup in my DNS. My DNS is hosted off-server through another dns provider.

 

[lorio]

Also, the folders do not sync. From my understanding of pop3, mails should remain on the server when you check them. By that, when I switch from pop3 to imap, the items in my mail server should pull into my client via imap and be removed from the server afterwards.

It's the other way around. POP3 removes the emails from the server. IMAP keeps it on the server and is the preferred protocol when using more than one client to keep sent items and received items in folders on one server. The imap server is dumb, so you have to check the settings for every mail client you use to ensure you get what you want. It is quite common, that people see an empty postbox via IMAP, since one client is still using POP3 an is removing emails every 5 min. from the postbox. You should create an emailaccount for testing and create an IMAP account on two mail clients. The correct mailserver settings can be seen in cPanel in the section where the email accounts are created.

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello,

The previous post is correct. Check to verify that all email clients and applications are configured to use IMAP.

Thank you.

 

[Justin Furnas]

Is it easiest just to disable POP3 on the postfix server and use only imap? Googles mail app currently doesnt support connecting to remote mailboxes via any method other than pop3, so I would have to use another mail client to check my mail.

 

[traver]

Disabling Pop3 seems the best solution.