Error message: Can't delete POP3 message due to the following reason: " -ERR Too many requests".

#1

Recently I did some housekeeping and deleted a large number of emails I didn’t want to keep.  Now I get an error message every 10 minutes:   Can’t delete POP3 message due to the following reason: " -ERR Too many requests".  All the selected emails were deleted though. This error seems to be blocking access to the POP3 account such that no new emails are being received.  The operations log shows that this error happens first, and no other operations are then carried out for the POP3 account. I’ve tried running dbrepair.exe a couple of times with no effect.  Any ideas how to get rid of the error message and restart downloading emails?

#2

I think it may be an issue with the message database that keeps track of which messages you have downloaded from the POP3 server. As you can’t repair a local folder the same way you can an IMAP folder, it is a bit more tricky to solve. Essentially you want to remove the account from eM Client, then start again. But removing a POP3 account will delete all the local data, so you need to move it somewhere else first.

  1. Make a backup using Menu > File > Backup, just in case something goes wrong.

  2. Enable Local Folders in Menu > Tools > Settings > General > Show Local Folders.

  3. Move all the messages you want to keep from your POP3 account folders (Inbox, Sent etc) to Local Folders. 

 4. Go to Menu > Tools > Accounts and remove the POP3 account.

  1. Add the POP3 account again.

  2. When it is setup and has completed the sync, you can move your messages from Local Folders back to the account folders.

  3. Use Menu > Tools > Deduplicator to remove any duplicates that resulted from messages still being on the server and downloading for a second time.

#3

Thanks, will do.  After posting I realised that the Error message “Can’t delete POP3 message” was ambiguous because it could be referring to messages on the client, or on the server.  Since all the emails on the client had been deleted, it more likely refers to those on the server. This lead me to the idea of unticking the option in Menu > Accounts > [Account] > POP3 to “remove from server when deleted from the “deleted” folder”.  I haven’t done this while waiting for your reply.  Do you have any comments on that idea?

#4

All you can do is try that. If it works, then no need to go through the whole chore of removing and then adding the account again.

Though it is best if the messages are deleted from the server after you have deleted them in eM Client. 

#5

Thanks.  I feel the same.  I’ll report back when I’ve had time to action this.