I have an extremely annoying problem. For the past six months, I have been using IMAP as my primary form of e-mail - storing my Inbox online instead of downloading the messages through POP3. A few days ago, I opened my Outlook Express, and the IMAP folder synchronised with the server - and suddenly all my e-mails disappeared! I contacted my mail provider, and they replied that it was their policy to "clean up" the contents of the IMAP Inbox every six months! This is extremely frustrating, as it was done without warning or notice. I then asked them to restore my e-mail from their backups, but they are claiming that they do not back up customers' e-mail. I don't know if that's the truth or if they just can't be bothered. Anyway... Another frustrating aspect is that, I DID have local copies of the e-mail in my Outloox Express folder between the time my provider "cleaned" my inbox on the server, and the time I snychronised. But now, of course, it's gone. My question is: does anyone know if Outlook Express keeps the data for e-mails in IMAP folders after they've been synchronised? I have not "compacted" any folders in the meantime, so I thought there might be a chance that the data is still there, even if the messages do not show up. If so - can anyone recommend a good tool to retrieve the messages? Thanks.
