Can't stop automatic downloading in Windows Live Mail

[PeterWeb]

I'm a long-time user of Outloook Express, and have recently switched to Windows Live Mail on a new laptop running Windows 7. I'm gradually coming to grips with the similarities and differences, and generally I'm quite happy with Live Mail. But I have one puzzle and one irritation, and I wondered if anyone here knows how (if at all) I can deal with them?

The irritation
Despite comprehensively UNchecking "Check for new messages every xx minutes" (several times) on different days, and subsequently closing and restarting Live Mail each time I've tried, it still seems to download emails from the server of its own accord: not frequently, but seemingly at random intervals, but especially when I "wake up" the latop in the morning. Is there some other setting I can alter to prevent it downloading any emails at any time unless I tell it to?

The puzzle
I've always liked the little popup box with the progress bar and success report that appears when you're downloading emails. Every time you installed a new copy of Outlook Express, you had to catch it in time to "pin" it so that it would subsequently stay open after downloading had fnished. You still get this box in Live Mail, and I've succeeded in "pinning" it, but it doesn't seem to appear of its own accord - only if you click the status bar at the bottom of the window during or after the download. Is there any way to make it appear on the screen of its own accord as soon as you click "Sync" for a chosen email account?

Thanks to anyone and everyone!

 

[WalkerA WinTeam]

Hi PeterWeb,

Here's a thread addressing your WLM irritation for someone using Vista. Unfortunately it's implied that checking for new messages when that option is disabled is a bug - the workaround for which is to Work Offline until you want mail, then go online to download it, then Work Offline again.

I'll take a look at your puzzle when I have more time

Cheers,

Walker
Windows Outreach Team

 

[PeterWeb]

Thanks, Walker. It's reassuring to know I'm not missing something, and that there is genuinely an issue here to be resolved.

I looked at the thread you pointed me to, and found it very interesting. Live Mail definitely behaves as described there. Generally it doesn't download emails without being asked, but then arbitrarily (and especially in the mornings on waking) it definitely does - even though I've unchecked the option for it to do this.

The distinction between synchronising and downloading is interesting, but I don't think it's outmoded or old-fashioned to want to avoid downloading emails except on demand. Why shouldn't this be an option? And Windows Live Mail's settings, plainly inherited from Outlook Express, clealr imply that you can set it up that way. I think it's a bug, not a feature!

Why would anyone want it to work like this? Well, in my case I have an email address which attracts large amounts of spam, large amounts of genuine but unwanted email, and reasonably large amounts of email that I do want. I don't want all the rubbish, but I do need to be able to check manually to see which is which. Therefore I tend to use a separate utility to view the email headers on the server before downloading them, and I delete unwanted messages at that point, preventing them from ever getting on to my computer.

When Windows Live Mail downloads messages without being asked, it thwarts this effort, and clutters my inbox or junk mail box with messages I never would have allowed in.

If you can find some way of making it work in the old way, which the program itself suggests that it can do, I would be really pleased. I thought the migration to Windows 7 would be a forward step, and generally it is, but in this case it really is a nuisance!

 

[roncerr]

...Despite comprehensively UNchecking "Check for new messages every xx minutes"

Did you also uncheck "Send and Receive Messages at Startup"?

Also, the Vistax64 thread asks whether this is a problem with POP or IMAP as it is for HTTP mail. If it's true that it's just a webmail issue, you may be able to forward all your webmail to a pop account. I've done this for my hotmail email.

 

[PeterWeb]

Yes, one of the first things I did when I noticed this problem was to uncheck Send and Receive Messages at Startup. And no, I don't think the POP/HTTP issue seems to be relevant here. All my mail accounts are POP already.

By the way, I have now unchecked "Include this account when receiving mail or syncrhonising" for each of my email accounts, and so far this seems to have reduced the inclination of Live Mail to download messages of its own accord. It's early days, but promising. I guess the downside is that I can't just click "Sync" to download emails, since nothing would happen, and have to select each account to download in turn. This is not a great hardship, though, since I often downloaded messages this way in the past.

Bizarrely, though, despite what I said in the above paragraph, the odd one or two incoming emails still seem to be popping up without invitation - just once in a while. But far fewer than before.

I may get my knuckles wrapped for digressing here, but just this minute I noticed another feature of Outlook Express that seems to have been withdrawn in Windows Live Mail. In OE, when composing an email that including a live URL link to a web site, you could click on the link in the preview pane to make sure you had typed it correctly, and this would open the web page in an Explorer window (assuming it was OK). Now this seems no longer possible; the link in the preview pane is inert, just as it is in the "compose" window. Presumably it doesn't become live until after you've sent the message - by which time it's too late if you got it wrong!

 

[roncerr]

...All my mail accounts are POP already.

...I can't just click "Sync" to download emails, since nothing would happen, and have to select each account to download in turn.

...by which time it's too late if you got it wrong!

I thought I would find it too confusing to have multiple sets of POP3 folders so I forward emails from a couple of other accounts to one main account. Now the POP3 accounts look like they did in OE/WinMail and when I sync to download, I only have to do it once for that account. It is set to NOT be included when receiving or syncing and I use IMAP access to it so I can view what's on the server before downloading.

It's been so long I don't remember that OE (which I used in Win98) provided a preview. However I use a combination of spell check, being very careful, and, when I'm really uncertain of what it will look like, I send it to myself first and view it in the "Sent" folder.

 

[PeterWeb]

Wise choice to check emails first! And I must say I wondered if I should do what you've done and consolidate all emails under one inbox. However, so far I'm managing to juggle four separate accounts. There is some reassurance to be had in using the "Quick views" link at the top of the folder pane, which can be set to show a consoldated view of all incoming emails that are in other inboxes, and all sent emails from other accounts. If it could just consolidate all drafts as well, I could almost forget about the rest!

 

[justin9875]

PeterWeb,

Not sure why your Windows Live Mail does not let you consolidate the Drafts from multiple accounts, but mine does. There is a check box for All Drafts in the Quick View configuration screen. You might want to check the configuration options again.

 

[PeterWeb]

Duh! I'm an idiot! Thanks for pointing that out. I just kind of assumed it wouldn't be possible to consolidate drafts as well. I can't believe I've become one of those forum contributors who miss the obvious. Anway, it's getting better all the time ...

Just by way of update, I have realised that when I previously said that I had unchecked "Include this account when receiving mail or synchronising" for all my accounts, I had missed one of them. So there's another aspect in which I which I'm being an idiot. I have now definitely unchecked all of them, and no emails are now being downloaded unless I request them. So I guess things are working pretty much as I want them. I still think it's a bug that you can't stop the synchronising on a more global basis, but I'm happy to live with things as they now are.

 

[WalkerA WinTeam]

I have now definitely unchecked all of them, and no emails are now being downloaded unless I request them. So I guess things are working pretty much as I want them. I still think it's a bug that you can't stop the synchronising on a more global basis, but I'm happy to live with things as they now are.

Thanks for the updates on your situation, but what do you mean by this? It sounds like you did solve the automatic synchronizing issue - or does WLM still retrieve emails when you wake your computer?

Walker
Windows Outreach Team

 

[PeterWeb]

Hi Walker

Sorry if I'm confusing the situation. Basically, as mentioned, now that I have unchecked all my accounts so that none is included if you just click "Sync", no emails at all are being downloaded unless I request them. Which is fine by me, and is what I meant when I said that I can live with it. I should have been more effusive. It's great! I didn't mean there was still a problem. You and the other correspondents have shown me how to get things working as I wanted, and I'm grateful to everyone.

The reason I was still wondering if there's an underlying bug is just that it seems to me that it shouldn't actually be necessary to uncheck all the accounts in this way. If you uncheck "Check for new messages every ..." and you also uncheck "Send and receive messages at startup", I would have thought that this should be enough to tell Windows Live Mail that you don't want messages downloaded at any time unless you request them.

The system seems to be set up to work in pretty much the same way as Outlook Express, and in OE, if you did all the above, messages were not downloaded at all unless requested. I don't see why Windows Live Mail should have changed the rules from that situation. It appears to offer the same control as OE, but apparently doesn't quite live up to it.

But it's really not a big deal. It works fine for me. I just didn't want to duck ouf of this without querying that underlying point.

 

[WalkerA WinTeam]

Thanks for clarifying, PeterWeb! I'm glad it's now resolved to a reasonable level of satisfaction, and I agree the sync issue is strange considering WLM is OE's successor (by way of WM). Seems as though this is one aspect of mailbox behavior that was simply lost in translation. Even if not, you've given a well-documented case study for future readers to draw upon! I'm going to flag this thread to be marked 'Solved' so such discoveries can take place. Thanks for your diligence in sussing out the matter.

Cheers,

Walker
Windows Outreach Team

 

[PeterWeb]

Hi Walker

I thought I'd responded to your latest posting yesterday, but my reply seems to have vanished! By way of much shorter repetition, Windows Live Mail is now working correctly, and not downloading any emails unless I call them up. This is because I have unchecked the options to download emails periodically or at startup, and also unchecked "include this account" for all accounts.

I only suggested it still seemed to work in a strange way because when you set up Outlook Express as above, it never downloaded emails unless requested, even if all accounts were still checked to be included when syncing etc. I couldn't see why Live Mail should behave differently. But you might feel it is meant to work like this.

Thanks for your help, anyway.

 

[PeterWeb]

Whoops - my reply did get uploaded! Sorry - I seem to be having trouble with my browser not refreshing. But don't worry, I'm not going to get into that! Thanks again, and thanks for your kind comments too.

 

[WalkerA WinTeam]

Haha, yes let's save the browser issues for another thread!

I don't use WLM so I have no experience on which to base an opinion of how it should work, but I can see what you mean. Glad to help out, see you around.

Cheers,

Walker
Windows Outreach Team

 

[parhelix]

Download bug still needs fixing

The "fix" arrived at for this problem of unwanted automatic downloads was to uncheck "Include this account in downloads" for each account.

This then requires manual download of each account separately. This might be acceptable if you have one or two accounts, but in my case, for example, I have five accounts in active use, feeding from different websites.

It is not an acceptable fix to open the manual download menu and click on each of 5 accounts, every time I want to read messages. This would require well over 100 click-and-wait actions per day to achieve what should be only one click per session.

This is clearly a bug, so why has it still not been fixed, a year on from the previous discussions?

For anyone who missed the original issue, I use Mailwasher to scan and classify e-mail headers against my black/white lists, its own external lists and any additional filters I set.

I then scan down the green-coloured headers to pick out any spam it has missed, or to mark for deletion anything else I do not currently wish to receive. I can also scan quickly down the red-coloured headers to check that none have been falsely categorised as spam.

Clicking one Wash button deletes all marked mail at the server, then passes control to Windows Live Mail. It should be only one click to download all wanted mail from all 5 accounts.

The bug was causing random unwanted downloads into WLM, before the spam was washed away, thus defeating the whole effort.

PLEASE FIX THIS BUG

 

[Ozman25]

Parhelix is absolutely right. The downloading without permission IS a bug - and it has NOT been fixed. Reading how many folks are upset about this and also about the foolish Sync thing, you'd have thought that Microsoft would have done something by now. They encourage feedback, which is good - but ONLY if they are going to take notice of it, and then act upon it.

Also like Parhelix, I use Mailwasher to view incoming mail and bounce back spam and scams. But WLM beats me and downloads them before I can get to see them. Grr...

Because of very poor vision, and having to view my screen in (mostly) white on a black background, with numbers of things that don't show, or show poorly (like all links which are dark blue on black, and therefore unreadable for me - once again a poor Microsoft job). So I have enough problems to cope with. WLM is the only email program out of about 10 we've looked at/tried that I can use, yet I have to put up with these incredible and frustrating problems.

MICROSOFT, I have to wonder: do you CARE about us, or not?

 

[Ozman25]

Walker,

What does "Windows Outreach Team" mean? Do you have any access in through the triple-locked heavy metal door into the hallowed halls of Microsoft to acquaint the powers that be about the dreadful aspects of Windows Live Mail - which should have been FIXED ages ago, not ignored!

Having started with Microsoft in the days of DOS 3, and later Windows 3, I understand a lot about how Microsoft functions, and along with millions of others feel frustrated at lack of action when it's clearly required! WLM could actually be a pretty classy email client with a number of great features - but what do we have to do to get their attention to fix these ludicrous and appalling problems?

Cheers!

 

[roncerr]

This appears to be a bug in WLM 2011. I'm still using WLM 2009 with my POP3 account checked to "include..." but in the options I've unchecked the two download options (at startup and timed); as a result mail is only downloaded when I hit "sync" ("send and receive"). However I don't keep the program open for long periods of time, so I can't say for sure that it would not auto download if I left it open for several hours.

 

[Ozman25]

This appears to be a bug in WLM 2011. I'm still using WLM 2009 with my POP3 account checked to "include..." but in the options I've unchecked the two download options (at startup and timed); as a result mail is only downloaded when I hit "sync" ("send and receive"). However I don't keep the program open for long periods of time, so I can't say for sure that it would not auto download if I left it open for several hours.

It's a bug in 2009 also Roncerr. I'm currently shutting WLM down except when using it to at least stop some of this downloading nonsense. If it's been a bug since 2009, can someone tell me why on earth they haven't fixed it? Just don't care?