I access most of my e-mail accounts through IMAP instead of POP, and I generally use Outlook Express for my e-mail client. I find that some e-mail messages are invisible to Outlook Express. When I view my e-mail accounts through the web interface, I do see all messages. When synchronizing, the Outlook Express count for new messages will temporarily increase (to the correct number). Once the sync'ing is done, Outlook Express' count will return back to the original count, and I can't see the hidden messages. I haven't looked in detail at the e-mail headers, but I'm guessing it's something to do with the e-mail header content. I am assuming this because for some senders, every message they send is hidden from Outlook Express, so it doesn't seem to be a completely random occurence (although it doesn't happen that often).

I had this problem with IMail at HostMySite, and at a previous host, and it's still happening with the new SmarterMail system here. So, I'm pretty sure the problem is IMAP or more likely Outlook Express.

Does anyone know if there's something I can do to see these messages in Outlook Express, or do I need to switch to a different e-mail client?

In OE, click on the Account Name on the lefthand pane, then in the righthand pane click on IMAP FOLDERS. You will see a list of folders here where you can mark which folders are 'visible' and which are 'hidden'. Chances are, the folders you're looking for are currently hidden, so you'll need to set them as visible.

There's no problem with the folders - they're all visible. It's just that particular messages from particular senders don't show up in OE. When OE synchronizes, the unread message count will temporarily flash the correct number of unread messages, but then will return to the lower count of unread messages actually visible in OE. I have to use the web interface to see the 'hidden' messages. This seems to be a consitent problem with IMAP together with OE - I've seen it with IMAIL and SmarterMail, and many different e-mail accounts on different domains. I think there must be something in the headers of some e-mail messages that OE doesn't like. I'm just hoping there's an OE setting I can adjust to get around this. Otherwise I'll have to look at using a different mail client. (I just like OE because it's got the NNTP newsreader built in, and it's what most of my clients use so it's easier to support them when I'm using the same tool).

Ah, well then....hmm. Not sure what I can say if it looks like a MS bug. Have you found it documented anywhere? Also, have you tried Thunderbird? Not sure about the newsreader but I've heard good things.