Email polling service?

Nikolaos · 3 Apr 2012, 06:05 AM

Anyone know of an online service that will check your pop3 or webmail account for you without downloading the email?

I'm looking for something like what most free webmail providers offer (check your pop3 mail), except I just need the extra option of telling it NOT to download.

I would like to set it to check every so often (say every x weeks or months even) and then just forget about it.

Sort of like a virtual email account pinging system. The primary purpose being just to keep an account alive without me having to be actively/manually involved.

The fastmail system would work for this except they don't seem to have an option for "do not download". PopPeeper is also not usable because I still have to load the program and personally check that account. I want it to be completely remote and happening without my intervention or action.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

bramhall · 4 Apr 2012, 04:51 AM

Well, you asked for any suggestion, so here is one:
Use POP with "keep on server" but delete the downloaded messages on the polling site.

kijinbear · 4 Apr 2012, 06:05 AM

If you're comfortable with computer programming, it's relatively easy to write a script that logs into a POP account and then drops the connection without downloading anything. Then you need to find a way to make that script run periodically. If you have your own web site, you could use a third-party uptime monitoring tool to call a specific web page every now and then. If you have your own server, you could use cron to make the script run every X days.

But that's probably beyond the reach of most people, not to mention that automated unattended access might be against the TOS of some services. Honestly I don't see much difference between that and @bramhall's suggestion. FastMail.FM, for example, can be configured to leave all messages on the server forever and delete any downloaded messages.

Nikolaos · 5 Apr 2012, 08:40 AM

Thanks bramhall and kijinbear.

I was hoping someone would know of a free webmail service with polling functions that allows you to specify "do not retrieve", but looks like that's a no!

kijinbear, though I'm no programmer, your suggestion actually sounds like something i could try. maybe there are free email checking scripts out there i could modify, and then, as you said, use cron to activate. I think i may look into that. thanks for the idea, i hadn't thought of that approach!

3 Apr 2012, 06:05 AM	#1
Nikolaos Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 345	Email polling service? Anyone know of an online service that will check your pop3 or webmail account for you without downloading the email? I'm looking for something like what most free webmail providers offer (check your pop3 mail), except I just need the extra option of telling it NOT to download. I would like to set it to check every so often (say every x weeks or months even) and then just forget about it. Sort of like a virtual email account pinging system. The primary purpose being just to keep an account alive without me having to be actively/manually involved. The fastmail system would work for this except they don't seem to have an option for "do not download". PopPeeper is also not usable because I still have to load the program and personally check that account. I want it to be completely remote and happening without my intervention or action. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

4 Apr 2012, 04:51 AM	#2
bramhall Essential Contributor Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 369	Well, you asked for any suggestion, so here is one: Use POP with "keep on server" but delete the downloaded messages on the polling site.

4 Apr 2012, 06:05 AM	#3
kijinbear Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: ~$ Posts: 652	If you're comfortable with computer programming, it's relatively easy to write a script that logs into a POP account and then drops the connection without downloading anything. Then you need to find a way to make that script run periodically. If you have your own web site, you could use a third-party uptime monitoring tool to call a specific web page every now and then. If you have your own server, you could use cron to make the script run every X days. But that's probably beyond the reach of most people, not to mention that automated unattended access might be against the TOS of some services. Honestly I don't see much difference between that and @bramhall's suggestion. FastMail.FM, for example, can be configured to leave all messages on the server forever and delete any downloaded messages.

5 Apr 2012, 08:40 AM	#4
Nikolaos Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 345	Thanks bramhall and kijinbear. I was hoping someone would know of a free webmail service with polling functions that allows you to specify "do not retrieve", but looks like that's a no! kijinbear, though I'm no programmer, your suggestion actually sounds like something i could try. maybe there are free email checking scripts out there i could modify, and then, as you said, use cron to activate. I think i may look into that. thanks for the idea, i hadn't thought of that approach!