E-mails Not Sent, and Lost!

[maikii]

I have an Ipad Mini (I think the original model), recently updated to IOS 9.1.


Using the built in Mail application, with Gmail (IMAP)


I wrote two lengthy e-mails on the Mini last night, took quite a bit of time.


Although I had a good Internet connection, neither of the e-mails would send. Some kind of server problem.


I went to the Outbox folder. The two e-mails were there. I tried to figure out how to send them, but was unable to send them.


Searching the Internet for a clue to the problem, one suggestion I saw was to reboot the Ipad. So I did that.


After rebooting the problem is worse, because--- since that reboot, there is no Outbox folder for that gmail account in that built-in IOS mail application.


As there is no Outbox folder in the mail app now, I cannot find those unsent e-mails at all now.


There is also no Trash folder for that account in that app, so I cannot see if they have been deleted.


Of course I checked the Sent Mail folder, to see if the e-mails actually were finally sent, but no, they were never sent.


I checked the Gmail account from a web browser to see if I could find it in any folder there--Sent Mail, Drafts, Trash, etc., but couldn't find it anywhere. (Of course, if the Ipad never sent the e-mails, they would have never reached the server to be anywhere on gmail.)


So-- is there a way I can find those unsent e-mails I spent much time writing, on the Ipad?


Also, was this caused by a bug in IOS 9.1? If so, is Apple aware of the problem, and will there be a fix soon? I now would be reluctant to compose any e-mails in the built-in Ipad mail application, fearful that I might lose what I wrote again.


All help will be appreciated. Thank you,

 

[J. A.]

Do you have a Drafts folder on your iPad? Maybe they are there. It's also possible that these emails were lost when you reset your iPad. In that case you won't find them again.

To get the Trash folder on your iPad, go to the Settings app. Scroll to Mail, Contacts, Calendars - Accounts and select the Gmail account. Then tap the email address and go to Advanced. There, you'll find "Move discarded messages to". By default, it's set to "Archive Mailbox". Change this to "Deleted Mailbox".

It's also possible that you didn't find the email online, because your iPad keeps these messages on the iPad, not on the server.

You'll also find "Mailbox Behaviours" in Advanced.
Go through every mailbox (Drafts, Deleted, Archive), and make sure there's something under "On the server" enabled.

Hope that helps.

 

[maikii]

Thanks for the reply, I.A.

Yes, there is a Drafts folder under that Gmail account on the Ipad, but those two lost e-mails do not appear in it.

Strangely however, no Trash folder appears there, although there is a Trash folder under my other e-mail accounts, including another Gmail account.

In that Gmail account from a web browser though, there is a Trash folder, but those e-mails do not appear in it. (Of course, as those two e-mails were never sent from the Ipad to the Gmail server.)

I just checked the Settings as you described. Mine is already set to: "Move Discarded Messages Into Deleted Mailbox", just as you suggest changing to.

Furthermore in Advanced Settings, if under "Mailbox Behaviors" I select "Deleted Mailbox", my setting is "On my Ipad-Trash". So then one would assume that if those unsent e-mails were deleted by the Ipad, they would appear in Ipad Trash. But how do I find that? I see no trash can or recycle bin anywhere on the Ipad? And once again, under that particular e-mail account on the Ipad, in its list of folders, there is no trash folder.

Is there somewhere else I could look for deleted e-mails on the Ipad?

Yes, the e-mails were never sent, so they never went to the server. (I checked in all Gmail folders from web Gmail.) So they should be somewhere on the Ipad. But where can I find them? (Again, after rebooting (I wouldn't call that "resetting"), the Outbox for that account disappeared, in which I saw the e-mails before the reboot, but could not find a way to send them from there.)

Regarding enabling "on the server" for deleted e-mails (as said, mine is now set to "on the Ipad"), I don't see how that would help in a case like this? For the e-mails were never sent to the server. So regardless of settings, they will not appear on the server. They should be somewhere on the Ipad, but I cannot figure out how to find and recover them?

Is this a bug in IOS 9.1?

 

[J. A.]

Even if the emails were not sent, they'd usually be in the Drafts folder on the server, if it was enabled before you reset your iPad, because Mail/Google usually saves not finished or sent emails to Drafts.

Take a look at the folders in the other accounts, maybe the emails were moved to one of these.

If you can't find them anywhere, they've been removed completely and can't be retrieved. Sorry!

 

[maikii]

How would they get to the server, if they were never sent?

In any case, just in case, as said, I searched for those e-mails in all of my Gmail folders from Gmail in web browser. Not in any.

As also said though, since it looked like the two e-mails were never sent from the Ipad, the place they would likely be is somewhere locally on the Ipad. But I have not been able to find them.

 

[J. A.]

They'd get to the server, because they'd be synced to it.

Did you also look at the other folders (other email accounts) in the Mail app on your iPad?

 

[maikii]

Yes, I looked everywhere.

I don't understand how e-mails that were never sent would get to the server? In any case, I checked all Gmail folders from the web interface.

One would think the text would be stored somewhere in the Ipad internal memory, but I have no idea how to find it?

 

[J. A.]

If you can't find them in the Mail app, you won't find them anywhere else on your iPad.