Can't see the message list in my inbox

[Dieter]

Hi,
I got the problem that I can't see messages in the inbox even with "All Accounts" and "Show all" activated.

In the left field with my accounts I can see that there are 4 Unread messages and 3 New messages in the mailbox, but they are not listed in the Inbox.

I'm using the version 4.0.1

Does anybody have an idea how to fix my problem?

[mjs]

Welcome to the forum Dieter,

These accounts most likely have "hidden" messages.

In the menu bar go to "Messages" and uncheck "Enable display filters" to disable this option. In this case you will get a popup window that will explain what this does. Doing this may help display the "missing" messages. You should then check the "Enable display filters" to enable this option once again.

Refer to the last two posts in THIS TOPIC for details regarding the different options you can take to list emails that do not appear in the account(s) inbox.

Please post back if any of this helps you out in either this post or in the linked topic.

[Dieter]

Hi and thanks for your quick response

Unfortunately did it did not work.
"Messages > Hide hidden messages" is off
"Messages > Enable display filters..." is off
"Messages > Junk View > Show all" is selected
"View: *All Accounts*" is set

but Account shows 12 Unread and 1 New message which I still cannot see

What else could be wrong?

[mjs]

Hi Dieter, it appears your "counts" have changed since your initial post.

OK, so to clarify, what you're getting are "counts" in the left account list pane of Pop Peeper that shows "4 Unread messages and 3 New messages" but you do not see any "unread" or "new" messages in the Pop Peeper inbox, is this correct?

Until Jeff looks into this can you please post answers to the following 9 questions that can be of help to determine the problem your having:

1.) Does this involve just one account and are there other accounts that do not have this problem?

2.) If you have a lot of emails in the Pop peeper inbox have you scrolled down to make sure these messages aren't further down the list (sometimes email accounts can have significant message delays and end up further down the Pop Peeper inbox list)?

3.) Have you tried exiting and starting Pop Peeper? If that doesn't help, have you tried rebooting your computer?

4.) Login to the Email Client(s) on the web using your browser to verify that their are actually messages that are listed in the account(s) inbox that are not listed in the Pop Peeper inbox for the same account(s). Do you see the messages in the Client Email's inbox that do not display in the Pop Peeper inbox?

5.) What type of account(s) do you have (Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail etc)?

6.) What "Server type" are you using (Yahoo, Hotmail/Outlook, Gmail etc, POP3, IMAP)? (Right-click on the account in the left Account List pane > Click "Edit" > in the GENERAL tab you'll find the "Server Type").

7.) If you're using "Webmail" (Yahoo, Hotmail/Outlook, Gmail etc. for your "Server Type") then what Webmail Plugin version do you have? (Go to "Help" > "About Pop Peeper" to get this, you can post a screen-shot if you like How to take a screenshot & attach/insert it into your post)

8.) Are you getting an error in Pop Peeper? (If so then click on the yellow box with the black exclamation mark at the lower right corner of the PP main interface to display the Error Overview window, then click the COPY button and paste the information in your reply [right-click in topic and select paste]).

9.) Go to "Tools" > "Options" > "Storage" and post the path you have to the poppeeper.ini file (what you see in "ini.location") and what you have in the "Data path". You can post a screen-shot of that window if you like (How to take a screenshot & attach/insert it into your post).

Thanks.

[Dieter]

Hi,
Yes, they did change, because I accessed my mailbox with webmail and eliminated junk.
Yes again, that's exactly what happens.
1.) Not sure about that. I have 3 accounts registered, but only on one of them arrived emails.
2.) There were never so many emails in the mailbox that they would not have fitted on a single page.
3.) Yes, I did both.
4.) Yes, now I use webmail to check my emails before downloading them with Outlook. And yes, they appear as usual in the webmail application.
5.) None of them. Just a POP3 mailbox which I configure with CPanel. I use Horde as webmail application.
6.) It are POP3 mailboxes on an Apache 2.2.24 Server
7.) It's Webmail 4.0.14.0
8.) No error so far, just sometimes when the internet is down. So it is not related to this problem.
9.) Ini location: C:\Users\Dieter\AppData\Roaming\POP Peeper\poppeeper.ini
Data path: C:\Users\Dieter\AppData\Roaming\POP Peeper
Both are correct and the ini file does exist.

There is one more what I can tell you.
On my main PC there is the fully licensed POP Peeper Pro installed. On this one I got the problem.
On a second PC there is only the free version running, but with the data from my main PC. On this computer everything looks fine. Both computers are running Windows10.

[mjs]

I'm not clear on the "Server type" you're actually using specifically for Pop Peeper (not what protocol you're using with your Email Client).

To clarify, in the Pop Peeper interface, in this specific case RIGHT-CLICK on the account "Dieter, AllCad" and then click on "Edit" and post what "Server type" setting you have.

If the "Server type" setting is "Outlook/Hotmail" for example and not "POP3" or "IMAP", then be sure and update your "Webmail plugin" to the current version. To do this, in Pop Peeper go to "Help" > "About Pop Peeper" and click on "Check version". This should update your Webmail plugin to the current (4.0.20.0) version and see if this helps. On the other hand if you're using "POP3" or "IMAP" for you "Server type" in Pop Peeper then the "Webmail plugin" would not be causing your problem.

[Jeff]

As a note -- mostly to myself, since I had to look through the code to double-check -- the "Junk View" button on the toolbar should always be enabled unless the display filters are disabled. Since this would suggest you've disabled the display filters, we can presume that the problem is not related to that (specifically, the message wasn't filtered as Junk, as I suspected based on your Pro/free difference).

That being said, the next logical explanation may be that the account(s) are set to retrieve the number of messages, which will not include any header information.

- On the main menu, select Tools / Options
- Select the "message retrieval" page
- Make sure that none of the retrieval options are set to "number of messages" -- all 3 values should be headers or preview or entire, depending on your choice
- Press OK

If one of those was set to "number" then that should fix the problem -- press "Check Mail" and watch your emails appear.

If not, then it's possible that the equivalent per-account setting is in place:
First, you need to enable "Advanced Options" (it is probably already set, but just in case):
- On the main menu, select Tools / Options; go to 'General' and enable "Advanced Options" on the top-right; press OK
Now, for each account that may be affected:
- Edit the account (right-click the account and select "Edit")
- Go to the "Advanced" page
- Set the "Retrieval option" to "Default"
- Press OK
-> repeat for each account

Once again, if any were set to "number" -- press check mail and that should fix it.

[Dieter]

Hi there. I'm back at work.
The Server Type is POP3, so I did not have to update the Webmail client.
And Jeff, "number of messages" was not selected, only Preview 200 lines.
And the advanced settings of the Account was set to Default.

As my 2nd PC worked fine did I exit from POP Peeper, copy all files from my 2nd PC in C:\Users\Dieter\AppData\Roaming\POP Peeper to my 1st PC (except the AntiJunk.db).
Then to make sure to get a fresh startup did I boot the PC and finally it is back to normal.

What does not make me happy is the fact that I still don't know the reason of this problem

Anyway! Now it works and that is the most important.

Thank you very much for all your effort in my case

[Jeff]

That folder contains your ini files and the message data files, so it's really hard to tell what the problem might have been. I've never seen anything like that which wasn't resolved by a display filter or the "number of messages" so I guess it will remain a mystery. Let me know if you see it again, though, and we can do some more focused troubleshooting.

[Dieter]

Hi Jeff,
sorry that I have to bother you again, but the problem is back
Attached can you see the screen shots of all the relevant settings, which you let me check the day before.
Unfortunately I cannot add all 4 screen shots. The last one can come with the next message. It shows the Messages Menu.
I could copy again the settings from the other computer, but that cannot be the solution for the future.

Sorry again
Dieter

[spc3rd]

Hi Dieter,

The Board seems to have a limit on the number of images/attachments a person can include in their post(s), if I recall correctly.

In the interim, you can just reply to my post here and include the 4th screenshot. Jeff will see it when he drops by later, to continue working with you on the issues you're experiencing.

Best regards,

[Dieter]

Ok, here is the last one

[Jeff]

Ok, here are some more questions:

1) You said that you didn't know if the other 2 accounts are affected or not. Could you send one of those accounts an email to verify? It may prove helpful if another account has the same problem or not.

2) Above the Message List is the "All Accounts" dropdown box -- try changing that to your account that has the messages and see if they appear.

3) While still viewing that account (from the previous question), try clicking in the Message List area where a message would be -- does it appear that something is selected? (e.g. maybe it's somehow showing white text on a white background) (note: this could be accomplished via AntiJunk settings...)

4) If you exit and restart POP Peeper -- BEFORE POP Peeper has a chance to check the accounts for mail -- does the account still have 7 messages or has it been reset to 0?

[Dieter]

Hi Jeff,
I have a suspicion! Is it possible, that a poor internet connection can cause such problems?
The last days the internet was really bad. Maybe POP Peeper could not connect and display the messages, but show the numbers of messages in the mailbox? If this was the reason, why did POP Peeper not show the connection problems.

The reason why I got this suspicion was the fact, that today in the morning with a good internet everything was back to normal.

1.) Today in the morning I received messages from all 3 accounts and it worked.
2.) I did this already when I had the problem, but without success.
3.) Ok, will check when the problem is back, what I suspect will happen in the evening.
4.) Yes, it did. Because several times I restarted POP Peeper when the problem was present and the numbers did not change.

[Jeff]

hmm, this is getting more and more peculiar. This result:
> several times I restarted POP Peeper when the problem was present and the numbers did not change.
suggests that the messages are stored in POP Peeper. If POP Peeper didn't actually have the message data (at least headers), then the number would reset to zero after PP is exited/restarted (PP only retains per-message data, not the "number of messages").

This result would also suggest that the problem is not due to a connectivity error because POP Peeper should already have the messages.


Here's another experiment to try (don't forget the previous one [#3], though! it may still be relevant):
- First, you'll need to enable Advanced Options: main menu: Tools / Options / General; it's on the top-right; make sure it's enabled and press OK
- Right-click on one of the accounts that supposedly has messages
- Look for the option "remove messages from list" but do NOT select it -- I just want to know if it's an available option or not (ie. grayed out is disabled).

-> This option is only available if the account has message data in it. If POP Peeper only knows the "number of messages" but doesn't have any headers, then the option will be disabled.

If you want, you can select the "remove messages from list" option and then check the account for mail again and see if that helps (I'd like to know the result of that, too).

[Dieter]

Hi Jeff,
yes, you are right. Very strange indeed.
But I do believe that the problem was caused by the poor internet connection.
I think that the email count on the left side showed the number of emails in the mailbox (what was correct according my webmail), but due to the low speed they did not show up in the list box.
What is strange for me is only the fact that no error message was show in the lower left corner.

I think my internet provider did some revision work during this week, and for this reason the internet speed was very low and many times completely down. Now they seem to be back to normal and so is your POP Peeper.

I did not forget #3, but for now everything seems to be fine and I can't check.

"remove messages from list" is grayed out, this disabled for now because the mailbox is empty.

Just for your information.
POP Peeper is a very important tool for me.
I use it to eliminate Junk and to check every email in my mailbox before downloading it with Outlook.
In this way I can disable some Anti Spam features of my email provider. I've seen that their Spam Assassin eliminates also important mail, but on the other side lots of junk can still pass. POP Peeper helps me to keep my computer save and it enables me to control spam by myself. So I'm very happy with your product

Cheers,
Dieter

[mjs]

But I do believe that the problem was caused by the poor internet connection.
I think that the email count on the left side showed the number of emails in the mailbox (what was correct according my webmail), but due to the low speed they did not show up in the list box.
What is strange for me is only the fact that no error message was show in the lower left corner.

I think my internet provider did some revision work during this week, and for this reason the internet speed was very low and many times completely down. Now they seem to be back to normal and so is your POP Peeper.

I did not forget #3, but for now everything seems to be fine and I can't check.

"remove messages from list" is grayed out, this disabled for now because the mailbox is empty.

Hi Dieter, maybe I shouldn't offer my opinion at this stage and let me be clear that I certainly don't want to dampen your conclusion that the problem has been resolved. But that said I am personally in agreement with Jeff, that is with what we know I cannot see how either a "poor internet connection" or "internet speed" would have anything to do with messages "missing" in the PP Inbox. This is because once data has been stored in any resident database, as is the case with PP, then presumably any subsequent Internet Connection issues would not result in this very same data getting removed from that specific resident database. As I see it, the PP database might possibly fail to get populated with "new" records as a result of a "bad connection", but records that previously existed in the PP database would remain intact in any event. The fact that the PP counter value(s) remained fixed after PP was exited also supports this conclusion.

I would like to think I am wrong here, but I am inclined to think that probably the reason "for now everything seems to be fine" is because as you have said currently "the mailbox is empty". To be honest, the messages that previously existed on the Email Client Server as reflected by your Email Clients Inbox and also reflected by the PP Counter(s) would "normally" remain fixed absent user intervention which would appear to most likely be the case assuming the reason "the mailbox is empty" for PP as of the time of your post is because you had subsequently deleted the messages from your Email Client. Maybe the issue has "mysteriously" fixed itself (I hope so, which in that case will remain a "mystery"), but I think we will know more once email arrives in your Email Clients Inbox once again. So let us know how it looks for PP when this happens.

Oh and as to not getting any PP errors, this would also suggest that the problem is presumably not related to poor quality Internet Connections as well.

That's my 2-cents, for what it's worth.

[Dieter]

Hi
Thanks for your explanation. You of course must know much better than me how PP is working.
But why did I come to this obviously wrong judgment?
I think the first what PP does is to get a connection with the mailbox.
Next it will compare the content of the mailbox with the database.
Based on this information it will know which messages are new and have to be downloaded.
Then it will start to download the messages according the settings in the "Message Retrieval" window.

So what happens if the internet speed is too slow to download the messages?

Ok, at this point PP should show the error message after "Time out", what did not happen.
But it could be possible for PP to show the number of New and Unread messages in the mailbox without having been capable to download them. But in this case the Unread and New counter values had to be same, what was not always the case.

So you are certainly right that something must have gone wrong apart from my assumption of the bad inernet connection.

I can only observe and look for differences and facts. And when I look again into this problem, then I could see just two differences:
1.) The internet connection, which was bad at the time the problem occured.
2.) The free software without the Pro features always worked fine.
Even the whole data in the User Data Path were same and with them all the settings, because I copied them from the working computer to the one with the problem. So as Jeff said already it looks like the problem must be part of the Pro features.

Fortunately everything is now back to normal, but as soon as the problem reappears I will give you the information which you requested.

Thanks again for all your effort.
Cheers,
Dieter

[mjs]

Hi Dieter, I am of course pleased to know that PP is working fine now and as long as this remains the case that is all that really matters.

I would say however that a "time out" error, as I understand it, is due to a failure to initiate an interface connection to the Email Client account within the prescribed PP "timeout" settings as opposed to the time it takes to download data otherwise a dial-up connection which would presumably be infinitely slower than your connection would be problematic. In regards to the email data, as of the time that "message" data reaches the PP database these PP records will ultimately only be subsequently impacted (as a consequence of PP "mail checks") by changes made presumably by the user to that same Email Client data thus otherwise remain intact as before in the PP database. But again, I would not be concerned about this since what really matters is for PP to be working again.

So then I assume you have been receiving email messages and they have been displaying properly in PP.

Just curious, what type of Internet Connection do you have?

[Dieter]

Yes, you are right! What matters is that it works.
But due to this problem I also learned a lot and understand PP much better.
For now it's working fine. I receive messages and they are displayed correctly, but I keep in mind what I have to check in case that the situation changes back again

I use an ADSL connection, which is normally fairly good. Just the last week has it been very bad, I guess due to system upgrade works. In this period I used also frequently my 3G mobile as Wifi hotspot.

Thanks again
Dieter