Just need clarification on POP3 and "read" mail in Exchange mailbo

E

Eric B

Hello,

I know this question has been answered, but just want clarification if I
have the answer wrong.

When you have Outlook on a home PC configured to connect to your Exchange
2000/2003 server to pull email down it, by default, marks the email as
deleted/read on the Exchange server. When I then get into the office, start
up my office PC, using Exchange not POP, all email pulled by the home PC will
show as "read" on the office PC.

Is this correct?

Also, it has been said that this is a limitation in the POP3 protocol. Is
this true?

If the above is true, what if I configure the POP3 to "leave a copy" on the
server? Would this solve the issue?

One last thing, if the above configuration is considered, when I go into the
office PC and mark all the mail, that was marked "read" by the home PC, as
being "unread" would that then cause the POP3 home PC to re-download all
these emails I have just changed?

Just a simple question. :)

--
Eric Barnett
Network Engineer
[email protected]

The Multimedia Foundry
Building IT for you
http://www.mf.bz
 
L

Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]

Eric said:
Hello,

I know this question has been answered, but just want clarification
if I have the answer wrong.

When you have Outlook on a home PC configured to connect to your
Exchange 2000/2003 server to pull email down it, by default, marks
the email as deleted/read on the Exchange server. When I then get
into the office, start up my office PC, using Exchange not POP, all
email pulled by the home PC will show as "read" on the office PC.

Is this correct?

Also, it has been said that this is a limitation in the POP3
protocol. Is this true?

If the above is true, what if I configure the POP3 to "leave a copy"
on the server? Would this solve the issue?

One last thing, if the above configuration is considered, when I go
into the office PC and mark all the mail, that was marked "read" by
the home PC, as being "unread" would that then cause the POP3 home PC
to re-download all these emails I have just changed?

Just a simple question. :)
Click to expand...

I can't answer it precisely because I don't use POP - or if I do, I remove
the mail from the server. If you really want mail in both places, I suggest
OWA or IMAP - or for full Outlook access, VPN to the corporate network - or
RPC over HTTP(s) for OL2003.
 
K

Karl Burrows

Yes, yes and yes. If you just want to read your new emails at home, use the
OWA. If you sync, it is going to mark them as read because you are indeed
syncing the emails on the server as if you were in the office.
 
B

Brian Tillman

Eric B said:
When you have Outlook on a home PC configured to connect to your
Exchange 2000/2003 server to pull email down it, by default, marks
the email as deleted/read on the Exchange server. When I then get
into the office, start up my office PC, using Exchange not POP, all
email pulled by the home PC will show as "read" on the office PC.

Is this correct?
Click to expand...

Messages will be downloaded and removed from the Exchange server only if
your default delivery location is set to be your PST. If your default
delivery location is the Exchange server, the messages will stay on the
server and be accessable from any Outlook client.
Also, it has been said that this is a limitation in the POP3
protocol. Is this true?
Click to expand...

POP typically downloads the messages from the server and deletes them from
the server.
If the above is true, what if I configure the POP3 to "leave a copy"
on the server? Would this solve the issue?
Click to expand...

If you select this option, then, yes, messages will be downloaded to your
client machine but remain on the server. There are conditions, however,
that may cause your client to download these messages again every time you
receive. It's not supposed to happen, but it can.
One last thing, if the above configuration is considered, when I go
into the office PC and mark all the mail, that was marked "read" by
the home PC, as being "unread" would that then cause the POP3 home PC
to re-download all these emails I have just changed?
Click to expand...

POP servers have no record of which messages have been read and which have
not. That is a function of the client. If you read messages at home via a
POP client, leaving them on the server, they will appear as unread on any
other POP client until they are also downloaded on that client. When you
mark a POP message as "unread", you do so only for that client.
 
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