Friends Kingdom: Re: [iPad] Re: iPad Issues

Would you set up a system like Jim uses with mail software on the Mac or does it need to be done with the ISP's mail software?

Cathy

I used to use Eudora, and a small, local, very responsive ISP, for my mail.

When I realized I would eventually be doing my email on multiple (2) devices, I carefully made the move first to IMAP (to facilitate sharing among devices), and then to Apple Mail (to provide a nearly identical interface on the different devices, Mac and iPhone.

Of course, the latter is not necessary – you can use completely different and unrelated software on the computer and the iDevice – that was simply my personal choice.

Originally, Apple's server-side Mail didn't do filtering. This was not a problem, since I had already set up all the filtering I needed within Apple Mail on my Mac. But it meant that when I looked at my mail with my iDevice, all the NEW mail was unfiltered and collected in a single Inbox – unless I left my Mac at home turned on and connected to the internet. Then the mail would be seen by the Mac, and filtered into designated mailboxes, and that filtering, because of IMAP, would be reflected back to the server and then to the iDevice.

Now, almost all of the filtering of incoming mail is done on the server (iCloud.com in my case) and is therefore reflected on each mail-reading device, whether or not any of the other devices are turned on.

One of the few things that occurs ONLY on the Mac is archiving – because the archives are kept in a folder called On My Mac, which is seen ONLY by the Mac, and does not sync through IMAP.

So, your specific question about the ISP — there is NO setup that *MUST* be done with the ISP's mail software, although some find there to be a convenience to set up some or all of their inbox-filtering there.

I keep some msgs on my phone (for current reference, to remind me to deal-with-whatever, etc.).

I keep everything on my PC -- everything I want to save, that is, not the daily/weekly ads stuff, dreck, junk, spam & suchlike,-- I have reams (years) of archives I don't want to carry around & use mobile-storage for.

I keep everything on my Mac — everything I want to save, that is, not the daily/weekly ads stuff, dreck, junk, spam & suchlike. I have reams (years) of archives — over 1 GB of material, dating back to 1998 — I don't want to carry around & use mobile-storage for.

That's why I like POP & haven't wanted to move to IMAP.

I do all this using IMAP.

I have used IMAP for 6 years, since I first got an iPhone and decided I wanted to be able easily to access my mail on the iPhone as well as the Mac.

I could easily have set my mail up so that ONLY mail dated, say, within the last week, or the last month, appears as "current" mail, and *everything* else would be archived on my Mac, and accessible only on my Mac.

Good mail software is very flexible and adaptable.