Confused over old POP3 email account

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Level 1

12 points

Confused over old POP3 email account

I'm using an old iMac running Monterey, an iPhone using iOS 18, and a MacBook M1 Air also still on Monterey. I mainly use the MacBook when I travel. I use several email addresses, but have a really old Earthlink address that is connected to old accounts and gets tons of spam. It is set up as POP on my iMac and phone, BUT when I delete the emails, they repopulate. Apparently on my MacBook, the Earthlink account is set up as IMAP. Is this the reason I can't delete emails unless I go directly to the server? Is it because POP doesnt' sync between the devices? I am loathe to change anything, because though it's really inconvenient, I am able to get these emails without trouble on all devices. But it would be great to be able to delete the unwanted stuff as it arrives.

Thanks.

iMac 27″, macOS 12.7

Posted on Nov 3, 2025 9:20 AM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

426,683 points

Nov 3, 2025 9:45 AM in response to goldwolf01

My understanding is that while iMap will keep a certain number of emails on each device, the list is really based on what is stored on your main email server. I use iMap and I can see several pages of email on my iPhone but if I delete one it relatively soon will also disappear on my computer. iMap is designed for users of multiple devices.

Pop, on the other hand, is designed to work with a single device where all the mail is fetched from the server and then deleted from the server.

Given that you are using Pop in a non-standard manner I am guessing that what you are seeing is some manifest of that. If the server supports it, I would use iMap.

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Answer 2

goldwolf01 Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 3, 2025 10:34 AM in response to Limnos

Thanks. I have no idea if my 3 devices are syncing or not regarding the Earthlink address, or how I set up the laptop (the newest of the 3 systems) as Imap. It will be a big hassle to change my desktop to Imap, since it looks like I need to remove the POP account, and has locally saved emails from nearly 20 years ago. I still don't understand why the emails repopulate once deleted from the POP device.

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