POP3 doesn't download emails with attachments

About 2 or 3 weeks ago we suddenly encountered a problem on one computer where POP3 no longer downloads any emails that include attachments. This applies to all senders and seems to apply to all file types, although the only ones seen are .jpg, .pdf, and .ai

The problem is occuring on Windows 10 (creator update) with eM Client 7.0 and 7.1 and is occuring with two different email addresses on the same domain.

Junk email filtering in eM Client is turned off and we have verified that none of these emails are ending up in eM Client’s junk email folder.

Sending test email with jpg images embedded in the email body works fine, but when the same images are sent as attachments the email does not download for this user. All emails without attachments seem to be downloading as normal.

I am able to load these emails over IMAP into my own eM Client 7.1 and am not having any issues with attachments.

Other users with email addresses on the same domain name, including one on the same ISP, are all not experiencing this problem. We are all using eM Client 7.

Windows 10 updates have been disabled on this computer since Windows 10 was installed, and they are still disabled.

Steps we have taken:

  1. tested sending emails with attachments to other users on same domain, from same domain and other domains - all works fine except on computer with the problem

  2. turned off all filtering of any sort on the server (including Spam Assassin, Domainkeys, SPF, Odin antivirus, etc.) - makes no difference

  3. disabled Windows Defender on computer that has the problem

  4. updated eM Client to the latest version of 7.1

  5. much head-scratching…

We are totally at a dead end in resolving this problem and really need help :slight_smile:

If you setup an email account in eM Client on that same computer using a different domain/provider, is the problem still there? If it isn’t then I would say that the problem may not be with eM Client, but rather it has something to do with that specific account setup on that server.

Hi and thanks. This will probably be my next test.

At the moment the problem computer only has two accounts set up, and they are both on the same domain. It’s on a Plesk VPS that we completely control except for hardware, and updates of both OS and Plesk have been disabled from the outset, so no server environment changes possible - theoretically.

No changes were made in Plesk around the time that this problem began. But as i said, others can pick up mail from these accounts without any problems, so it’s being the server seems unlikely. Nevertheless, testing the problem computer with another domain would help confirm this.

What about accessing those two accounts as POP3 from another computer? That would help to discover if the problem is with that computer.

If you have no luck, you could open a support ticket and get assistance from the developers. They might be able to use the diagnostic logs to discover some problem.

We are able to access the same accounts from another computer with no problem - both by POP3 and by IMAP.

Did you try access another server through POP3 from the affected computer?

We just now set up a test account on a different server and domain, and the problem computer was able to pick up an email with attachments from that account - so it seems to work fine using a different domain.

Hi Gary,

I just set up another test account, using a different domain, but on the same server as the problem account. The problem computer is getting emails with attachments on this test account, including when that email is forwarded at the server from the problem domain.

We are using “force TLS” for both POP3 and SMTP, so at this point i’m thinking that the ISP is not likely affecting this, especially since there is another user on the same cable modem and they are not experiencing any problems with attachments using an email address on the domain that is the problem on the problem computer.

In eM Client you could remove the problem account, and then re-add it. You will want to move the emails to local folders before you do that as deleting a POP3 account will delete the emails from the database. If you can’t see the Local Folders, you can enable them in Menu > Tools > Settings > General > Show Local Folders.

Yes, i guess i could, but why should i want to do that?

Because you were able to access the account from another POP3 setup, it may be that there is some corruption in the account setup in eM Client on the problem computer. Usually POP3 does not have this problem, but removing and re-adding the account should confirm that.

If that does not help, your best option is still to open a support ticket and have the developers look at this.

I already set up a new account (different email address on same domain) and it too has the problem. Very reluctant to run the the risk of losing 50,000 emails by deleting account, when setting up a new account did not seem to solve the problem.

Guess i’ll open a ticket on this, as we’ve completely run out of options. Thanks a lot for your help.

If you close eM Client and then rename C:\Users_username_\AppData\Roaming\eM Client\ to something else, and restart eM Client. This will allow you to setup the account again on that computer in a new blank database. That would rule out any problem with the database on that computer.

If that works, you could close eM Client and delete C:\Users_username_\AppData\Roaming\eM Client. Then rename the original one back to \eM Client\ and restart the application. Then export all the 50,000 emails.

Close eM Client and delete C:\Users_username_\AppData\Roaming\eM Client. Restart the application, setup the POP3 and import the 50,000 emails.

Thanks. That’s very helpful information.

Unfortunately i don’t have physical access to the problem computer and the user a complete novice. Even with my walking them through this it would be pretty risky, so i only want to do it if there are no other options. At this point it seems that setting up a new account makes no difference, since i’ve already tried that - just not the exact same email address.

I understand. Pity as this last comment of mine above will let you test whether the problem is with the database, not the account. If the problem is with the database, then there is no getting around it but to delete it after exporting the messages.

There is another option that the user created a Rule to delete all messages with attachments.

Is there just one database for the whole program, or a separate one for each account? I understand now where you’re coming from and will ponder whether i can accomplish this remotely with the minimal user expertise available.

This user does not go into settings without my guidance, but i’ll check that option if i can find it.

Thanks again for the help :slight_smile:

One database for everything. It’s location is specified in Menu > Tools > Settings > General > Storage.

Thanks a lot. We won’t be able to do this today but i will follow up on it asap and report back here.

Oops, misread the bit about a rule to delete messages with attachments - this is definitely not happening as they would have no idea how to create that, and the messages are not getting deleted from the server. Besides, i had them check for rules, and there are none. So eliminate that one :slight_smile:

I guess it might be a bit beyond a novice user, but you never know. :wink: