HELP! Switched POP to IMAP - now mail is lost/not downloading

[HSstudio]

Have searched forum archives, wiki, google, everything I can think off - really hope someone here can help me! I'm a long time Spamcop user. Until yesterday I always downloaded mail via POP from a Mac laptop and Mac Desktop both running AppleMail v3.6 & OS10.5.8 and also BlackBerry Storm. Just got a Verizon iPhone and decided to switch to IMAP so I could have access to long term archives on phone (and iPad coming soon) and stop having to BCC all my e-mails so I can see my sent mail on the laptop, desktop and mobile devices no matter where it originated.

Switched over the laptop and iPhone last night. Everything seemed fine. Switched Desktop this morning and all hell broke loose.

1) Messages that had not been previously downloaded by the desktop disappeared from the server (luckily they were on the laptop and I've backed them up). How can I get these messages from my laptop back onto the Spamcop server other than forwarding? (I don't want the timestamp to change)

2) Checking mail on laptop after desktop deleted emails resulted in laptop losing the e-mails it had previously downloaded that weren't on the desktop (thank God I backed them up before connecting!). I thought IMAP would sync from computer to server, not just one way? I don't understand this behavior at all!

3) After the desktop checks mail from spamcop, the messages it found show up in webmail greyed out with a line running through the type and a trash can icon next to them. Neither laptop nor iPhone can download them. After the laptop checks mail from spamcop, one or two of the messages it found will appear in webmail greyed & crossed out but others will be fine. Again, anything greyed/crossed out becomes invisible to other devices. Is there any way to undo this greyed/crossed out status and prevent it from happening in the first place?

Laptop & desktop both set for identical configurations in AppleMail so I really don't understand why the greyed/crossed out behavior is inconsistent between devices. Desktop used to be set to check every minute. Have set everything to manual check only since this started.

Configuration: IMAP connecting to mail.spamcop.net on desktop and laptop and to imap.spamcop.net on iPhone (threads on this forum indicated that was the right thing to do). Have everything configured to NEVER delete from Server (I will do that manually in webmail). Have everything set to store on hard drive for offline access.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on or how I can fix it? I am Freaking Out about losing emails permanently and plan to only use webmail to access spamcop til I get this resolved.

Thanks in advance for any and all help. I'm sure it'll turn out that I'm a moron but understanding what I did wrong and how to fix it would be invaluable!

[SpamCopAdmin]

You should see the true status of your emails when you manually log into the webmail interface.

I think you can select the greyed-out emails and undelete them.

It sounds to me like you might want to only read your mail from the various devices and not try to manipulate it from all of them. Maybe only use one primary device to manipulate your mail, or maybe only move it around and such when you're logged into the webmail interface.

Just so there's no confusion... I work for the reporting side of SpamCop, which is a completely separate company from the Email Service you have your account with. If the problem is not about spam reporting, all I can offer is advice.

Your contact at the Email Service is: support[at]spamcop.net

- Don -

[Wazoo]

Configuration: IMAP connecting to mail.spamcop.net on desktop and laptop and to imap.spamcop.net on iPhone (threads on this forum indicated that was the right thing to do).

Very curious as to where you found these settings defined. My iBook is beyond dead, but my other systems, Windows, various flavours of Linux, all agree on;

Incoming (IMAP) -> imap.spamcop.net

Outging (SMTP) -> smtp.cesmail.net

Noting that all sub-folders are 'under' InBox.

As I recollect, the AppleMail used s different defailt 'sent' folder, something loke "sent-mail" as compaed to the Horde defailt of "Sent Messages" ... that was a number of years back.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on or how I can fix it? I am Freaking Out about losing emails permanently and plan to only use webmail to access spamcop til I get this resolved.

Suspect that the apparent redirection involved with the connections you have configured have confused everything, assumedly tagging everything as read and then tagged for deletion/move to trashm with that decision influenced by who dis wht last (the various e-mail clients.)

Yes, IMAP should sync, but .... it does look like it's going to take some work to just get things straightened out first.