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IMAP stopped trying?, IMAP logs in but doesn't try to retrieve mail
 
My provider (fastmail.com) recently started enforcing the use of app passwords, and at the same time switched to new server names. I made the changes easily. I'm sending messages with no trouble.

But I'm seeing in the logs (TB and FM) that TB is logging in as IMAP, but apparently never attempting to retrieve mail.

I quit and restarted TB, no change. I inserted the app password in both parts of the server config instead of marking the SMTP side "same as IMAP", no change.

I enabled protocol logging for both SMTP and IMAP. The SMTP log was created and looks appropriate. The IMAP log has not been created despite explicit "get new mail" commands. This is what leads me to believe that TB isn't even trying to retrieve mail.

I'm still using TB 10.5.3 due to all the complaints here about conversation view. It seems those complaints have mostly been resolved, so if needed, I'll upgrade. In fact, if no other solution is found, I suppose that's the next thing I'll try.

Edward
Edited: Edward Reid - 18 October 2024 17:58:21
 
I never used Fastmail, but I see on their Web site that they support two-step authentication. Maybe try logging in through OAUTH? (Account -> Properties -> Transport -> Receive mail -> Authentication...)

Yes, TB 11 can now be used like the conversation view isn't there at all. Just turn off indexing and use the classic preview pane in the Preferences (under General and Viewer/Editor, respectively).
 
I have figured out (mostly) what happened, thanks in part to a 2016 (!) thread on emaildiscussions.com.

As I mentioned originally, I missed the changes from messagingengine.com (old IMAP interface) to fastmail.com (new IMAP interface). Based on that 2016 thread, I see that happened over eight years ago. I have forgotten all details, but based on comments in that thread, I probably assumed that messagingengine would continue working indefinitely, and eventually forgot all about it.

That thread also mentioned removing the INBOX prefix. About the same time as I read that, I noticed that most of my folders had been duplicated. I did not notice this initially because the list is long enough that the duplicates are "below the fold", and I didn't have any reason to page down.

So in fact The Bat has been connected since I changed the servers and created the app password.  Now it is busily downloading hundreds of thousands of messages, since I keep local copies of all messages. I think that large download is the reason I thought nothing was happening when I did Get New Mail -- if eventually happened but took a very long time.
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