New Fastmail IMAP Server Does Not Display Folders in MAC Mail
 

When I add the app specific password and change the incoming server to imap.fastmail.com in MAC OS X Mail the folder tree is not displayed. If I go back to using mail.messagingengine.com the application now displays the folder tree and re-downloads all the mail. Has anyone else seen this?

Although I've had some issues with getting my folders to properly sync, my FastMail folders are indeed downloaded, and for the most part, synced when using imap.fastmail.com. I expect my sync issues are related to OSX Mail and not the FastMail security changes.

I'll point out that my Android email client is much more robust and reliable than OSX Mail, which I've had trouble with since my first Mac in 2008. If I stick with a client instead of the FastMail web interface I'll be looking for OSX alternatives.

It works fine on K9 mail on Android... Havn't had a problem on any other platform either...

Odd. Hope you figure it out.

It works fine on my iOS devices too, but doesn't seem to on the MAC. I also have a Macbook Pro but I'm a little chicken to test it there.

Hi mballas,

have you removed the imap prefix "INBOX" in the OS X setup for the new imap.fastmail.com? I think it was necessary (and automatically set) with the old server address but needs to be removed when switching to the new one.

Here's some info from FastMail blog:

If you are updating a 3rd party client to use an app password, please also switch to the new server names, to save having to update it again in the future.

The new server names are:
IMAP: imap.fastmail.com (port 993, no prefix)
SMTP: smtp.fastmail.com (port 465)
POP: pop.fastmail.com (port 995)
CardDAV: https://carddav.fastmail.com
CalDAV: https://caldav.fastmail.com
WebDAV: https://webdav.fastmail.com
FTP: ftp.fastmail.com (port 21)

There are two important changes compared to the messagingengine.com servers:

You must use an app password. To log in with the new server names you must generate an app password for each app you wish to use; you cannot use your normal FastMail password.

The IMAP server at imap.fastmail.com is set up to use alt-namespace and unix path separators. In plain English, this means you should get better compatibility with email clients (no more top-level folders appearing as sub folders of your Inbox!). There's no need to set an Inbox Path Prefix any more.

As with the *.messagingengine.com server names, all of these protocols MUST be used with an encrypted (TLS/SSL) connection.

Thank you. It looks like that was the problem. It's rebuilding all folder contents now, about half way through. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will be flawless at the end.

Thanks for the summary. I deleted the INBOX Prefix and changed the smtp port to 465

I have the same problems with OSX Mail. iOS and Windows Outlook all OK.
Having spent half a day trying, I have reverted to messagingengine and all is OK.
Using the exact Fastmail recommended settings (and no INBOX), I managed to get the ail directories OK, but some directories were showing as empty. After a whole range of settings attempts and resets, I have done back to where I started. Bummer!

FWIW, I haven't encountered a problem with the revised setting on OS-X Mail v9.3. Initially, I did think something was amiss until I realized the "standard" folders had moved [SENT, ARCHIVE, TRASH, JUNK) in the default Mailbox list. Now, in the account specific list, only my custom folders appear. Plus it took a short while for the messages to appear. I'm no expert but I assume that had to do with indexing in the revised hierarchy.

I also use CloudMagic and have had no issues.

I have not yet updated my iOS apps to the new server addresses.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I was having problems with OSX Mail syncing my own, non-system folders which I want to transition to local folders in a Mac client. I finally gave up and am testing several alternative mail apps, both of which successfully downloaded all folders and messages using app passwords and the new server names.

I have same problem. I can see folder names under 'Sent' but no emails are displayed in subfolders of Sent. I changed back to 'mail.messagingengine.com' and put back "INBOX" and all sub folders of 'Sent' are showing emails saved in those folders.

I had removed 'INBOX' from prefix and changed to 465 from 587, switched to 'imap.fastmail.com' and waited 5 hours for rebuilding of folders and downloading of emails (around 40,000) but got same result. Tried it couple of times but no emails showed under sub folders. I was trying this since over a day but finally switched back to old trusted mail.messagingengine.com and all is back to normal now.

My IOS device shows all subfolders and emails in those, only Mail for Mac is not showing emails.

This has changed for me too and I think this is creating issues in sub folders of standard folders. There is a 'Sent' folder under mailboxes and it has a sub folder 'Fastmail' - 'Gmail' - 'iCloud'. When we select 'Fastmail' it shows names of all sub folders I have in fastmail under 'Sent' but all sub folders are empty in Mail app of Mac.

I am not an expert but I suggest to be careful with using 3rd party email clients. Some of those are cloud based and save all your data on their servers. I am not sure whether to trust them or not so I prefer to use built in email clients.

TBH I hardly use Mail client for Mac, I prefer using fastmail web, which is extremely reliable and never failed me. Only time I need to use Mail app is when I click a email link on a web page to send email, it opens only in Mail app. Safari is not supported.

AND I need Mail for Mac to synchronise my Notes with fastmail.

Yes, thanks. I'm looking for apps that communicate directly with the FastMail servers and do not store data on their own systems. As I said, I want to use a Mac client so I can store 99% of my saved and organized messages on my home computer which is backed up locally.