Pop mail marks emails on server as read

[Anje]

I use an email client to download using POP.

When I log onto BT webmail to see emails on server, all my emails that were downloaded are already automatically marked as read.

Please note that I did not mark anything on server via webmail as read.

As you now POP is a one way protocol. There is no method of setting any preferences on server via POP. So is there a setting I need to make somewhere.

How do I set up webmail so that downloaded using POP emails are not marked as read on server until I select that via webmail?

[licquorice · Accepted solution]

You can't, that's how POP3 works, you have downloaded them therefore the server thinks you have read them. Nothing you can set in webmail to prevent that happening.

[Anje]

So, you re saying the if I use Pop on one computer and then travel and access via IMAP or webmail on another, all emails will already be marked as read and therefore render IMAP and BT webmail useless, so I might as well use a portable email client to get around this?

POP assumes you have read the emails because they were downloaded regardless of whether you have actually read them or not.

[Keith_Beddoe]

If you use IMAP instead of POP, then its possible to set your e-mail client so it does not mark mail as read. For example, the Thunderbird e-mail client has a box which you untick, and that prevents the mail from being marked as read.

[Anje]

Many thanks for your help.

[licquorice]

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@Anje wrote:

So, you re saying the if I use Pop on one computer and then travel and access via IMAP or webmail on another, all emails will already be marked as read and therefore render IMAP and BT webmail useless, so I might as well use a portable email client to get around this?

POP assumes you have read the emails because they were downloaded regardless of whether you have actually read them or not.

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It depends on which protocol you use first for those particular emails. If you download via POP3 they will be marked as read on webmailand any IMAP devices. If you download them using IMAP, they can be left shown as unread on webmail until they are accessed via POP3. As you said yourself, POP3 is a one way protocol, therefore the server cannot know if you have only downloaded a mail or downloaded it and the opened it as there is no communication from the client back to the server.