Outlook 2010 IMAP Trash emails disappearing

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So I am using IMAP with Outlook 2010. I have this setup on 6 machines (6 different email accounts on 6 machines). It is setup so that when I send emails they go to the Sent folder on server. When emails are deleted they go into Trash folder on server. This is working fine. However, I recently noticed that emails in the Trash folder on server are disappearing after a week or so. Emails that are in Sent or any other folders that I created under the Inbox folder on the server remain for however long.

I checked through Outlook for settings, auto archive settings, filters, rules, everything.... Nothing I see tells me why. I thought because maybe I also check these accounts with Iphones and Android phones they may have something to do with it so I created a new email account specifically for testing and did not setup any phones with this new account and same thing is happening.

I am beginning to think that this is an Inmotion thing as I also have Gmail IMAP in Outlook 2010 and that does not have this issue. Inmotion said they have no idea what it is and blamed it on Outlook.

Any suggestions?

Vince
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Tim S.
Hi Vince,

Thanks for posting your question. I'm sorry you're having trouble with your IMAP accounts. I'm more than happy to assist you. I can tell you there's nothing on the server that's configured to delete emails after a week or so.

I've looked into this, and I want to make sure, on the "Deleted Items" tab you do not have "Purge items when switching folders while online" checked.

This setting in Outlook 2010 will permanently remove deleted emails from your account on the server. Typically, in IMAP, deleted emails will have a strike-through in them. This does not permanently delete the email and makes it easy to restore. Bu purging, or that is, selecting the purging option, as soon as you navigate away from the folder or close the email account, it will permanently remove them.

Also, I'd test this out (I understand this is time consuming) but disconnecting each device to see if one particular device may be causing the issue. As you verify each device you can then leave it connected. If the issue does not persist then keep adding a device until the issue arises.

If you need further assistance please feel free to contact us.

Thanks!

Tim S