Need rule for "do not download message from server"

Frequently Asked Questions
1

Hi

I am trying to find “the ultimate new email client”, and EM Client does look good design-wise. But there is something I absoultely need, and it seems EM Client does not allow this:

We have multiple computers in the household. We use the same email account at our ISP, with different email addresses.

My client needs to take in emails for me, and leave messages fro my wife on the server. My wife’s client needs to take in messages for her, and leave messages for me on the server.

So, the rule I would need to make, and which was supported both in Outlook Express and Windows Live Mail would look like this:

Condition: If “To” field contains a specific person
Action: Do not download it from the server.

I cannot use a client where this rule cannot be created :frowning:

I seem to have read somewhere on EM Clients homepage, that the EM Client has a more advanced alternative and/or an optional addon, but am unable to locate this again.

Any help would be appreciated; I’d really like to get EM Client but only if the needed filters can be made.

2

Hi,  If you have a POP3 ISP account, you enable the option in your account setup within EM Client to “Leave a copy of messages on server” and specify how many days. See example POP setup screenshot below. "Menu / Tools / Accounts . 

Highlight your account and then click the POP3 tab along the top. Then tick “Leave a copy of messages on server is at the bottom” and specify how many days to store the mail .

If you have an IMAP account, no need to do that as the emails are not downloaded to the client mailer.

(POP ISP Config Example).
https://www.emclient.com/webdocumentation/en/7.0/eMClient/Content/Resources/Images/pop%203%20sectiof…

3

Thank you very much for being helpful, and you information is useful -

  • but as far as I can see this means that any of our clients will still take in (copies of) all the other’s emails.

So while this could solve the problem of one client emptying your webmail inbox, it does not solve the need to keep two individual identities apart.  Maybe I’m overlooking something in your reply.

I still need a filter what does not download email for a specific recipient to the client.

So, as it looks to me, I’m still searching for the advanced mode options from EM Client - either that, or another client that can do this.

4

Sounds like you have many pc’s   and many email addresses but one vendor and have emclient installed on each pc.  If this is the case this is what I did.

1  I use imap protocol
2  each pc has emclient installed with a license (free or professional)  assigned to a specific email address
3  each emclient on each pc has only the one email account activated.  so pc 1 cannot see pc 2 email account.

Pc1   licensed to [email protected] (free)  and only has that email account identified on it
Pc2  licensed to [email protected] (free)  and only has that email account identified on it.
pc3  licensed to [email protected] (professional)  and has all of the other accounts identified so pc 3 can see everyone.  (that is if you need this  otherwise just identify the one email account.)

Another way if all accounts are identified on each emclient. 
In account setup there is an option to download messages or not    Menu-Tools_Accounts
Try uncheck the Imap option (Services)   Not sure if that works for POP accounts
The first option is cleaner

Always make a emclient backup before making any changes   Menu File Backup
 

5

Thank you, too, for trying to help.

Unfortunately, my ISP handles our email addresses via one single account. The account allows different email addresses, but everything goes in the same place and with the same login (tied to one email address).

The only way to prevent a mess in our email clients would be the type of rule/filter I’ve described: A filter that does not fetch emails for other household addresses.

This is what the rules in our old, and outdated, Windows Live Mail looks like:

Apply this rule after the message arrives
Where the To line contains ‘[email protected]’
Do not Download it from the server

This is in fact the option for having separate emails on different computers that my ISP originally recommended, but I am at a loss at finding a good modern client that supports such a rule.

6

I don’t know if Emclient allows custom rules to do what you need.

It’s very unusual that an ISP Server software handles all incoming email addresses to a single account and then expects the user to setup rules like that to split / separate them in their mail client.

I would personally ask your ISP to separate the email accounts so no custom rule is needed.

Quote -
Unfortunately, my ISP handles our email addresses via one single account. The account allows different email addresses, but everything goes in the same place and with the same login (tied to one email address).

7

I did some Googling around on how Outlook Express and Windows Live mail actually used this rule and found this answer for setting up an equivalent in Outlook with a POP Account where leave a copy of messages where all pc’s are configured to leave a copy of messages on the server for x amount of days.

It appears the messages were actually downloaded for analyses but directly discarded afterwards if it didn’t contain your address. See further down this message.

Microsoft mail clients “had this custom rule” (Do not Download it from the Server) and is not a standard rule normally with other mail clients.

However you should be able to setup this same similar “New custom rule” in EM Client. See example screenshot below. “Menu / Tools / Rules”.

“Setup a new rule” and choose “Apply custom rule on messages i receive” at the bottom. Example screenshot below in EM Client new custom rule. Good luck.

https://www.msoutlook.info/question/838

Do not Download it from the Server” rule

(Question)
Rule action: Do not Download it from the Server
In a previous tip, you explained how to create NOT rules. What I’m still missing is how to create a “Do not Download it from the Server” rule.

This was possible when I used Outlook Express and then Windows Live Mail but I can’t find it in Outlook.

(Answer)
The rule description in Outlook Express and Windows Live Mail is actually a bit misleading as the messages were downloaded nonetheless for analyses but directly discarded afterwards if it didn’t contain your address.

With that in mind, it becomes easier to create a rule with the same effect in Outlook. However, you might want to look at an alternative way of splitting the messages regardless.

(Outlook new version of the rule).
The equivalent in Outlook would be to set the action to “delete it” or to “permanently delete it”. In the case of the last, the deleted message won’t be placed in your Deleted Items folder.

(The rule in full would then become).

Apply this rule after the message arrives

permanently delete it
except if my name is in the To or CC box

Note: This only applies to POP3 accounts or otherwise you’ll be deleting it from the server as well. Obviously, this also requires everyone who also uses this mailbox to configure Outlook to leave a copy on the server for x days so everyone has the chance to see if there are any new emails for their address as well.

Recommendation: 2 mailboxes rather than 1 mailbox with 2 addresses

Even though it is possible to share a single POP3 account with multiple address like this, it is better to request 2 separate mailboxes with each their own mail address rather than just having 1 shared mailbox with 2 addresses used by 2 different people.

One reason for this is because you can completely miss an email this way when it was sent to you via BCC or a distribution list.

While you could work around that with various constructs and additional rules, things will remain messy and you could still end up receiving emails that were intended for someone else or miss emails which were intended for you. You might have missed some emails because of this in OE or WLM before as well without noticing!
8

My 2 cents
Many years ago I was using a POP email format but ran into a similar problem when my wife wanted her own email account. so lets describe what the differences are.

POP  works well with one email account as it downloads the email to a pc client then deletes it.  As long as you have only one pc looking at the email account.  Pop reduces space utilization by deleting them after you look at them. 

IMAP  lets many pc clients read the same or different email accounts and any action on one pc will show up on the other pc.  EX I send a reply back to someone on pc1.  Pc2 will see the reply also.  If pc1 deletes the message   then Pc2  will no longer see the email.  If pc1 just reads it then pc2 can still see it.  The email stays on the server until either pc deletes it as it never goes away.   I use the emclient archive feature to remove old email over 6 months to the pc local archive folder  and back it up to an external drive.  If your pc fails or you get a new one the server still has the old email (except those that were archived). Imap never deletes emails unless you tell it.

Simple to say  pop download the email to the first pc that looks at it and  then it is not available to pc2.  Imap downloads a COPY to client but does not delete it and lets Pc2  also be able to read it.  You do need to manage space utilization.  I use the auto archive to do this and have it set to 6 months.   

There was a parameter in outlook  that tried to make pop act like imap but it was not stable so i switched to Imap  format and have never looked back. 

My suggestion is move to  imap get a new vendor that allows one to have individual account for each pc based on their email address.

End my 2 cents  

9

There is no email client, to my knowledge, that can selectively retrieve messages from the server.

Best option is to have your email provider setup separate inboxes for each address. This is a fairly normal scenario and something that the server is meant to do.

10

Hello Cyberzork, Richard, and Gary

Problem is solved - read on if you like, else just thanks for all the help :slight_smile:

Thank you one again, not least for the time you’ve invested in wanting to help out. I actually found the very same page on Outlook, you (Cyberzork) shared. But especially the example you gave on a possible rule setup for EM Client was promising, and you have my thanks for all this.

Yes, the five emails to one mailbox is (now past tense: was) indeed a clumsy solution, but for over 15 years this was their setup, and I created rules myself separating my wife’s email from my own. With one “funny” adverse effect; I sometimes had to tell people not to send emails to both myself and my wife, because her computer would not take it in when addressed to me and vice versa. But in general this worked.

When someone said they couldn’t believe this, I found a help page from my ISP describing this exact solution.

Now, one and a half year ago they changed their email set-up. So your thoughts inspired me to check what their recommendations would be if modern email clients do not support the old strategy.

And guess what; their new setup allows separating our five existing emails to separate mailboxes on the webmail.

They just hid the information well (it is done from account settings outside the email setup itself) and never bothered to tell their old customers.

I’ve converted my wife’s mailbox to a separate one earlier today, I just finished testing, and this has solved our problem.

My original request is no longer relevant. But the problem I had was, and you and Richard did put me on the right track.

Also thank you to you Gary.

You are all three right that separate mailboxes are the modern solution. It’s just that my ISP is as old as the Internet; it was a state licensed monopoly in the 80’s and 90’s. They do offer the best and most stable broadband connections in Denmark, but are a bit of a dinosaur in all other departments, so with them separate mailboxes have only become available recently :slight_smile:

Well, problem solved, I now have a much smarter setup, and I am now happy to switch to EM Client - thank you very much for your time.

Cheers,

Asger,
Denmark