RE: [PHP] IMAP/POP3/OUTLOOK Question .. NEW! ... Complimantary

On 14-May-01 Mattias Segerdahl wrote: > Hi, > > I was wondering if someone could help me explain how Microsoft OUTLOOK knows > which emails that it has downloaded from the server, as far as I know, there > isn't any way of marking the email in a pop3 queue that they have been > either read or downloaded. But then again, I have an inbox with over 20,000 > emails in it, and outlook goes through these in less than a few seconds, so, > could anyone explain to me how this is done. > > NEW PART: > > This is if I've set the outlook client not to delete the email from the pop > server, or I've choosen to leave the message for x number of days.. > Outlook doesn't mark the messages, the POP-server does. The server looks for & updates two headers : 'Status:' O - it has been opened R - it has been 'retr'ived U - unseen ? 'X-UIDL:' a string to keeps track of messages between sessions. The client can use either header to keep track of what has been pulled. get the 'Status:' header: 'xtnd xlst Status' -or- 'top n 15' on each message (bad oldly-moldy way of doing things, but useful to refresh a corrupted client cache) get the 'X-UIDL:' header: 'uidl' -and finally- the client can play stupid and depend on the server via 'stat' & 'last' commands. Regards, -- Don Read dread@texas.net -- It's always darkest before the dawn. So if you are going to steal the neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.