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Old 2 May 2022, 04:04 PM   #1
Culmore
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Notifications for messages going to folders

I have some sieve rules that put messages directly into folders bypassing the inbox (the rule does not mark the messages as read). But in iOS, using the standard mail app or the fastmail app, my badge count is not updated. So I might not notice the email for a few days.

Is this a known issue or do I need to change my sieve rules??

Thanks for reading.....
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Old 2 May 2022, 04:24 PM   #2
xyzzy
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Do you have more than one iOS device using the FM mail app?

Updated while post #3 was added:
The reason I ask is that before I switched to my present iPhone (13pro, iOS 15.4.1) I had a old iPhone 5s. When I got the new phone part of the initial process was to clone the old 5s phone to the new phone. So both have the FM app (never use the Apple iOS Mail app). I still keep the the old phone "alive" (albeit it uses IOS 12.5.5, and why keep it up I don't know). I discovered there appears be some condition (can't quite narrow it down exactly) where if I open FM on the 5s when there are unread messages in the inbox (badge is displayed) I can get the new phone into a state where new messages arriving in the inbox do not cause the badge on the new iPhone app to update or stay in sync with the old phone. The old phone's FM notification badges continue to update properly.

I would think the notifications badge count should be solely local to the the app on the phone it's running on. But there appears to be some kind of interference and I am not quite sure of the pattern to enable/disable that state (which is why I never created a ticket). Last time it happened I "cured" it by reinstalling the FM app on the new phone (and redoing some of it's device specific settings). I haven't experimented for a while now since I don't want to go through trying to get it to behave again. I am careful to never open the FM app on the old phone. No reason anyhow. But for someone who has the FM app on more that one iOS device (e.g., iPad and iPhone) I can see this as a possible annoying problem unless what I am seeing is only local to me because one FM is running under an old iOS version and the other on the current iOS version (another reason I haven't bothered creating a ticket).

Anyhow, for me there is some kind of interaction between the two FM apps which is why I am asking if you use FM on more than one iOS device.

Last edited by xyzzy : 2 May 2022 at 04:55 PM.
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Old 2 May 2022, 04:26 PM   #3
Culmore
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Yes two devices , iPhone and iPad
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Old 2 May 2022, 04:55 PM   #4
xyzzy
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See update to my post #2. I was creating that before I saw you replied.
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Old 2 May 2022, 05:20 PM   #5
Culmore
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xyzzy View Post
Do you have more than one iOS device using the FM mail app?

Updated while post #3 was added:
The reason I ask is that before I switched to my present iPhone (13pro, iOS 15.4.1) I had a old iPhone 5s. When I got the new phone part of the initial process was to clone the old 5s phone to the new phone. So both have the FM app (never use the Apple iOS Mail app). I still keep the the old phone "alive" (albeit it uses IOS 12.5.5, and why keep it up I don't know). I discovered there appears be some condition (can't quite narrow it down exactly) where if I open FM on the 5s when there are unread messages in the inbox (badge is displayed) I can get the new phone into a state where new messages arriving in the inbox do not cause the badge on the new iPhone app to update or stay in sync with the old phone. The old phone's FM notification badges continue to update properly.

I would think the notifications badge count should be solely local to the the app on the phone it's running on. But there appears to be some kind of interference and I am not quite sure of the pattern to enable/disable that state (which is why I never created a ticket). Last time it happened I "cured" it by reinstalling the FM app on the new phone (and redoing some of it's device specific settings). I haven't experimented for a while now since I don't want to go through trying to get it to behave again. I am careful to never open the FM app on the old phone. No reason anyhow. But for someone who has the FM app on more that one iOS device (e.g., iPad and iPhone) I can see this as a possible annoying problem unless what I am seeing is only local to me because one FM is running under an old iOS version and the other on the current iOS version (another reason I haven't bothered creating a ticket).

Anyhow, for me there is some kind of interaction between the two FM apps which is why I am asking if you use FM on more than one iOS device.
Thanks xyzzy

I did two tests
1) I put my iPhone into airplane mode and tried sending a test message which went to a folder , no notification on the iPad.
2) I deleted the fastmail iPad app and turned airplane mode back on the iPhone, then sent another test message. No notification one the iPhone .

The fastmail app on my iPhone often gives me a "waiting icon" which lasts for quite a white so I stopped using it.
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Old 2 May 2022, 06:05 PM   #6
xyzzy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Culmore View Post
The fastmail app on my iPhone often gives me a "waiting icon" which lasts for quite a white so I stopped using it.
Not sure why that should happen but you could try the usual attempts to "fix":
  • Kill the FM app and relaunch.
  • Restart (reboot) the device.
  • "Nuclear" option - delete and reinstall the FM app. As I said earlier that's when I ended up doing to "shake it loose". If I recall you only loose the device specific settings like the app's iOS notifications and password settings and maybe some of FM's Device settings. Since I believe (not 100% sure - can anyone confirm this?) the FM app is mostly a webmail interface like using a browser (albeit using a different UI) I don't think you loose anything else.
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Old 2 May 2022, 08:24 PM   #7
Culmore
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xyzzy View Post
Not sure why that should happen but you could try the usual attempts to "fix":
  • Kill the FM app and relaunch.
  • Restart (reboot) the device.
  • "Nuclear" option - delete and reinstall the FM app. As I said earlier that's when I ended up doing to "shake it loose". If I recall you only loose the device specific settings like the app's iOS notifications and password settings and maybe some of FM's Device settings. Since I believe (not 100% sure - can anyone confirm this?) the FM app is mostly a webmail interface like using a browser (albeit using a different UI) I don't think you loose anything else.

Thanks again xyzzy

This problem has existed for a long time, and I have even bought a new phone since I first encountered the issue. Do you put emails directly into folders and do you get notifications when you put emails into folders ( ie not the inbox)? so is it a problem on my device or is it a fastmail "bug"
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Old 3 May 2022, 06:41 AM   #8
hadaso
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I don't use an iPhone (or anything else from Apple, unless it's Apple records) but I can say that in the Android app I get notifications only for new mail that arrives in the Inbox (and the main reason i filter most mail out of the inbox is so I don't get notifications about it).
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Old 3 May 2022, 11:50 AM   #9
xyzzy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Culmore View Post
Do you put emails directly into folders and do you get notifications when you put emails into folders ( ie not the inbox)? so is it a problem on my device or is it a fastmail "bug"
The notification badge tracks the inbox at all times, i.e., when an incoming message comes in the badge count increases or I can mark a message already in the inbox as unread and the badge count will track that too. I only use the notifications (badge) for the inbox.

The iOS FM app settings->notifications->if delivered to does allow you to specify other folders to show notifications, at least that's how I interpret that setting. I just experimented with it adding one of my other folders that I filter into but I see no affect on the badge count for that folder either by marking a message as unread or sending a test message that's filtered into there so maybe that's a bug.

Wonder if it's worth ticketing? I already have one ticket submitted on the app where you cannot send pdf files from certain apps (e.g., Safari) to the FM app using the transfer/share button (little box with up arrow sticking out of it). FM doesn't appear in the list of available apps. Most apps however you can (even other browsers). I submitted that ticket on Apr 1 and the end result of that one was on Apr 22 when they said (and I paraphrase) "we haven't been able to trace out the cause...have internal task to investigate...but have higher priority stuff to work on...so it's going to take a while". Bottom line, it's probably a waste of time to create a ticket on anything dealing with the app!

Last edited by xyzzy : 3 May 2022 at 11:57 AM.
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Old 3 May 2022, 06:35 PM   #10
Culmore
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This from tech support ...


Thanks for your patience while we looked into this for you.

The badge count is for emails in the inbox only.

If you have rules to move emails into other folders, they will not be counted as part of your unread badge count.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this.

Please feel free to contact us again if you have any other questions or concerns. We're here to help.
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Old 6 May 2022, 04:02 PM   #11
n5bb
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Also see:
https://www.fastmail.help/hc/en-us/a...witching-users
Quote:
The app’s icon badge showing the number of unread emails will display differently depending on your device’s operating system. On iOS devices, if your icon badge is enabled, it will show the total of unread mail in the Inbox for all logged in users. On Android devices, this may vary. Some will show the total of unread mail in the Inbox for all logged in users, while others will show a circle or no badge icon at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xyzzy View Post
... The iOS FM app settings->notifications->if delivered to does allow you to specify other folders to show notifications, at least that's how I interpret that setting. I just experimented with it adding one of my other folders that I filter into but I see no affect on the badge count for that folder either by marking a message as unread or sending a test message that's filtered into there so maybe that's a bug. ...
The Settings>Notifications settings have nothing to do with application badges on mobile devices. Instead this feature causes notification messages to appear when new messages arrive. These are temporary notification messages and not message counts.

My personal solution:
  • I use labels mode, which allows you to easily attach multiple labels (which act a bit like folders) to each message. I also use rules which auto-file incoming messages into labels/folders. My normal way to look for new messages across all labels/folders is to use the search UNREAD (all caps required). I have this set up as a saved search under the All mail (Archive) label positioned immediately below Inbox so it's easy to see, but you can just go to Inbox and type UNREAD in the search box. This will show you all unread (bold) messages in any folder.
  • If I use the J/K keyboard shortcuts to move between messages (when using the sidebar so I see the message list while reading each message one at a time), after reading a message it will automatically be marked as READ and disappear from the UNREAD search results when I move to the next message. I can always mark a message to return later (B keyboard shortcut) or use .u (period u) or click my mouse on the blue dot to mark that message as UNREAD so it doesn't disappear from the list of UNREAD messages.
  • In label mode, the All mail label will show you every message which has arrived in your account (in any label/folder) in the order they were received. Since I have many messages auto-filed with a rule which marks them as READ, those messages won't show up in an UNREAD search but always are displayed in the All mail label.
  • I use the method described above on my Windows 11 PC, iPad with smart keyboard, and iOS with my finger to move around. On iOS I sometimes use a web browser and at other times the Fastmail iOS app. On my iPad I can split the screen, so I can put the Fastmail iOS app on one side of the screen and the web interface on the other side. I can be looking at different folders, Notes on one and Mail or Calendar on the other, etc.
Bill

Last edited by n5bb : 6 May 2022 at 04:08 PM.
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Old 7 May 2022, 12:16 AM   #12
Culmore
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Quote:
Originally Posted by n5bb View Post
Also see:
https://www.fastmail.help/hc/en-us/a...witching-users

The Settings>Notifications settings have nothing to do with application badges on mobile devices. Instead this feature causes notification messages to appear when new messages arrive. These are temporary notification messages and not message counts.

My personal solution:
  • I use labels mode, which allows you to easily attach multiple labels (which act a bit like folders) to each message. I also use rules which auto-file incoming messages into labels/folders. My normal way to look for new messages across all labels/folders is to use the search UNREAD (all caps required). I have this set up as a saved search under the All mail (Archive) label positioned immediately below Inbox so it's easy to see, but you can just go to Inbox and type UNREAD in the search box. This will show you all unread (bold) messages in any folder.
  • If I use the J/K keyboard shortcuts to move between messages (when using the sidebar so I see the message list while reading each message one at a time), after reading a message it will automatically be marked as READ and disappear from the UNREAD search results when I move to the next message. I can always mark a message to return later (B keyboard shortcut) or use .u (period u) or click my mouse on the blue dot to mark that message as UNREAD so it doesn't disappear from the list of UNREAD messages.
  • In label mode, the All mail label will show you every message which has arrived in your account (in any label/folder) in the order they were received. Since I have many messages auto-filed with a rule which marks them as READ, those messages won't show up in an UNREAD search but always are displayed in the All mail label.
  • I use the method described above on my Windows 11 PC, iPad with smart keyboard, and iOS with my finger to move around. On iOS I sometimes use a web browser and at other times the Fastmail iOS app. On my iPad I can split the screen, so I can put the Fastmail iOS app on one side of the screen and the web interface on the other side. I can be looking at different folders, Notes on one and Mail or Calendar on the other, etc.
Bill

Thanks n5bb, hmmm yes labels would solve the problems I have listed.

Are labels the "recommended " fastmail way now? Are folders sort of old hat?
I prefer folders but I rely on the badge count and not notifications. So folders as implemented are not working for me.
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Old 7 May 2022, 12:39 AM   #13
Culmore
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I have taken the jump and moved to labels!!!! hope its not painful
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Old 7 May 2022, 11:02 AM   #14
gardenweed
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Culmore View Post
I have taken the jump and moved to labels!!!! hope its not painful
A couple of drawbacks that I came across when trialling labels.
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Old 7 May 2022, 03:07 PM   #15
Culmore
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A couple of drawbacks that I came across when trialling labels.
hmmmm yeah good points gardenweed (great name btw). But for me missing important new emails for 4 days or so is very bad news.
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