Gmail account syncs old mail? why?

[robocp4]

My mother in law has the S7 and just recently started having problems with her Gmail app. Apparently there are old emails showing up in the inbox when there wasn't a few days ago. I went into sync and its set on 31 days to sync emails. I can not figure out why it's doing this.
She uses outlook on her PC and it's fine. She only has the last month of emails. So it has to be something with the app.

Is there a setting that I missed? I don't have the phone with me but can get her to look at it.

 

[B. Diddy]

Just to be sure -- this is the Gmail app, and not her Gmail account in the stock Email app, right? (I know you said "Gmail app," but this is the kind of thing you might see with a POP3 server on a stock email client app, so just want to double check.)

 

[robocp4]

Just to be sure -- this is the Gmail app, and not her Gmail account in the stock Email app, right? (I know you said "Gmail app," but this is the kind of thing you might see with a POP3 server on a stock email client app, so just want to double check.)

Yes this is the Gmail app itself

 

[B. Diddy]

Do they also show up in her Gmail web interface on her computer browser (i.e., mail.google.com, not on Outlook)?

 

[robocp4]

Do they also show up in her Gmail web interface on her computer browser (i.e., mail.google.com, not on Outlook)?

I have not checked that. She doesn't use the regular web interface to check her emails. When she gets home she can give me her password so I can check it out.

 

[B. Diddy]

See if she's using the POP3 settings instead of IMAP for Gmail. If she's using POP3, I suggest changing to IMAP, which is less likely to cause this kind of confusion.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7104828?hl=en
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en

 

[robocp4]

See if she's using the POP3 settings instead of IMAP for Gmail. If she's using POP3, I suggest changing to IMAP, which is less likely to cause this kind of confusion.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7104828?hl=en
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en

Ok I will take a look at those settings.

Some of the old emails that are showing up look like spam but others are just ones I believe she has deleted and they are from months ago.

 

[robocp4]

See if she's using the POP3 settings instead of IMAP for Gmail. If she's using POP3, I suggest changing to IMAP, which is less likely to cause this kind of confusion.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7104828?hl=en
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en

So I logged into her settings on the web interface and she is using IMAP.

The emails are also showing up on there as well

 

[B. Diddy]

Hmm. Ok, does she remember how she deleted these emails? Did she delete them using her phone's Gmail app, or using Outlook on her computer, or some other way? One possibility would be if she had another device that was syncing her Gmail account via the POP3 server -- if that was set up with the option not to delete emails on the server, then deleting an email on that device wouldn't delete the same email on the Gmail servers (and would therefore still be seen in those other interfaces).

 

[robocp4]

Hmm. Ok, does she remember how she deleted these emails? Did she delete them using her phone's Gmail app, or using Outlook on her computer, or some other way? One possibility would be if she had another device that was syncing her Gmail account via the POP3 server -- if that was set up with the option not to delete emails on the server, then deleting an email on that device wouldn't delete the same email on the Gmail servers (and would therefore still be seen in those other interfaces).

She does not remember how she deleted them. Some may have been in her phone, some may have been on the PC.

There also isn't a 3rd device she uses. She only uses her PC (outlook) and her phone.

I am at a loss. I am thinking she will have to delete them again and see what happens.

 

[B. Diddy]

Just to clarify -- when you saw that she's using IMAP, you mean in Outlook, right?

Tell her to rely on her Gmail app to delete emails (or the mail.google.com web interface) and see if the problem comes up again later.

 

[robocp4]

Just to clarify -- when you saw that she's using IMAP, you mean in Outlook, right?

Tell her to rely on her Gmail app to delete emails (or the mail.google.com web interface) and see if the problem comes up again later.

I checked IMAP in Gmail not outlook.

 

[B. Diddy]

Ok, see if you can check her Outlook settings as well and see if Gmail is set up there using the POP3 server or IMAP. If it's POP3 there, then it's possible that it's set up not to delete emails from the server.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Every provider does what? You're responding to a year-old thread, so it's not entirely clear what you're referring to.