Hotmail/Outlook IMAP errors
Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 4:22 pm
Hotmail/Outlook's IMAP servers are currently having issues. This is not a problem specific to POP Peeper. Some people started noticing the problem earlier in the week, although it seems to have gotten worse on Wed, March 29. This is not the first time that the Hotmail IMAP servers have had issues, it seems to come up 1-2 times every year. As of this incident, they still have not acknowledged a problem:
https://portal.office.com/servicestatus
Here are some suggestions that may help in the meantime:
- Enable IDLE/Push: Edit the account and find "IDLE/Push" on the bottom-right.
- DISABLE IDLE/Push: Edit the account and find "IDLE/Push" on the bottom-right. (see notes, in following reply)
- If you can reduce the number of messages in your inbox, that may be very helpful. And by "reduce" I mean empty. Move all your inbox messages into another folder using your webbrowser.
- Increasing the IMAP timeout may help reduce the errors (edit: it may help only insignificantly, changing the timeout is not recommended). POP Peeper's default for IMAP is 60 seconds. Because of the way that PP is currently miscalculating the timeout, I'm recommending a higher timeout than I would normally suggest -- say 180 or even 300. To change the timeout:
main menu: Tools / PPtweaker; 'Connection' page; "Timeout for POP3 and IMAP"
- If you have a string of consecutive errors, exiting and restarting POP Peeper may help
- You may have better luck using Webmail or POP3. Bear in mind, some people have mentioned that the other protocols have also had issues (although there seems to be significantly fewer issues), and when you change the protocol in PP, PP will have to re-download all existing messages. To change the protocol, edit the account and change the "server type" (to "POP3" or "Hotmail/Outlook"). See a subsequent post for more information about changing to POP3. My advice is to try POP3 and if it still has more issues than you can tolerate, use Hotmail/Outlook. Note that you will lose certain features when using the Hotmail/Outlook protocol (such as attachments and the capability to send email).
More technical information about this issue is here:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6789&p=34053#p34053
And that specific post may be updated with more details as they become available.
https://portal.office.com/servicestatus
Here are some suggestions that may help in the meantime:
- Enable IDLE/Push: Edit the account and find "IDLE/Push" on the bottom-right.
- DISABLE IDLE/Push: Edit the account and find "IDLE/Push" on the bottom-right. (see notes, in following reply)
- If you can reduce the number of messages in your inbox, that may be very helpful. And by "reduce" I mean empty. Move all your inbox messages into another folder using your webbrowser.
- Increasing the IMAP timeout may help reduce the errors (edit: it may help only insignificantly, changing the timeout is not recommended). POP Peeper's default for IMAP is 60 seconds. Because of the way that PP is currently miscalculating the timeout, I'm recommending a higher timeout than I would normally suggest -- say 180 or even 300. To change the timeout:
main menu: Tools / PPtweaker; 'Connection' page; "Timeout for POP3 and IMAP"
- If you have a string of consecutive errors, exiting and restarting POP Peeper may help
- You may have better luck using Webmail or POP3. Bear in mind, some people have mentioned that the other protocols have also had issues (although there seems to be significantly fewer issues), and when you change the protocol in PP, PP will have to re-download all existing messages. To change the protocol, edit the account and change the "server type" (to "POP3" or "Hotmail/Outlook"). See a subsequent post for more information about changing to POP3. My advice is to try POP3 and if it still has more issues than you can tolerate, use Hotmail/Outlook. Note that you will lose certain features when using the Hotmail/Outlook protocol (such as attachments and the capability to send email).
More technical information about this issue is here:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6789&p=34053#p34053
And that specific post may be updated with more details as they become available.