Occasionally, users may find that emails they didn't think should be deleted are appearing in their Trash folders, either in webmail or in a client. When this happens, there are a few things that can be checked in hopes of finding a reason.
Folder Auto-Clean
The thing with Folder Auto-Clean is it's fairly versatile; it can be set up at the system level, at the domain level, and at the user level -- or it can be set in all three. Therefore, a user can check to see their own Folder Auto-Clean rules by doing the following:
- Logging in to their account in webmail
- Go to Settings -> Account
- The Folder Auto-Clean card will show one of two things: either there are settings the user created themself, or the auto-clean rules are being dictated at the domain or system level.
If they are user settings, then the user can review those and make sure none of those settings are causing the issue. If the card shows that the Source is Domain Policy, or System Policy, they'll want to contact their domain administrator to either review the domain settings for auto-clean, or to ask them to contact the system administrator to check the system settings.
Content Filtering
Another place to look would be at Content Filters. It's possible the emails are being erroneously caught by a content filter or a content filter is being actioned improperly. Perhaps the conditions aren't set correctly so they're catching emails they shouldn't. Regardless, these can be set at the user, domain, or system level as well. A user can check their own content filters (or see if they have any content filters created) by doing the following:
- Logging in to their account in webmail
- Going to Settings -> Content Filtering
Any existing content filters will be displayed. Each should be checked for accuracy in both Conditions as well as Actions. If no content filters exist, a user should contact their domain administrators to see if any domain-level content filters exist. If so, these should be checked for accuracy. (There are no system level content filters.)
Email Client Rules
Email clients have the option of creating rules within the client itself. These would be outside of content filters and/or folder auto-clean settings in webmail, though they act very similarly. Users will need to log in to each client they use and verify there are no rules created that could lead to the deletion of emails.
Check Logs
If it's not a folder auto-clean setting, or content filters, another place to check are the logs. The system administrator will have to do this, however, as logging is only available to them. System admins can check the Administrative logs to see if, perhaps, the user is manually deleting emails from webmail. Protocol logs (e.g., IMAP or POP logs) can also be checked.
Outside Influences
Occasionally, there may be outside influences that can cause the deletion of email or other unexpected behaviors. These can be security devices, gateways, antispam services and more. The best thing a user can do is talk to their domain administrator and ask if any such influences exist. (Though the domain admin may need to talk to a provider or system administrator to find the answer.)
If All Else Fails
If nothing else, feel free to contact our Support Department. We can run through these possible causes, or even install something like ProcMon on the server to make sure they're no file interference that's causing file locks or file deletions. Better yet, we can show you, or your system administrator, how to do this so they have another tool in their arsenal for running a mail server.