Why is an IMAP Inbox Only Displaying 10,000 Items When There are Many More Emails on the Server?

Anonymous
2022-05-04T04:23:15+00:00

I have an IMAP email account that is hosted by AOL Mail, which I download into Outlook 365. The AOL Account has emails going as far back as 2015, and until recently all of those emails were visible (and searchable) through Outlook. About 2 weeks ago, I noticed that I could no longer search for emails going back farther than 6 months ago. Those emails are still on the AOL server; I can see them if I use AOL's webmail interface (which is pretty mediocre). But they are no longer downloading into my IMAP inbox. Indeed, at the bottom of the inbox it now says I have 10,000 items. 

                                     [!\[\](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/40c12e9d-b5a2-4a30-8bc4-4503de01cbbc?platform=QnA

That's the maximum. If I delete say 100 emails, another 100 emails will download from the AOL server but the downloading will stop when I hit 10,000. (When new emails download from the account, older emails are deleted so I'm just about always at 10,000 items). The full set of emails remains on the AOL server.
In my IMAP Account Settings for this email account, I have the "Keep Mail offline" setting pushed all the way to the right at "All".
[!\\ I can't find any setting in Outlook that limits the number of emails. Nor does there appear to be any setting in the AOL account that limits 3rd party IMAP mailboxes to only 10,000 items (at least not one that I can find). New emails are downloading and syncing with the AOL server, so my connection settings appear to be correct.
Is there some kind of Registry setting that is limiting the number of items that will load into this email inbox? I used to have access to all of the emails that were on the AOL server. Is there any way to get that back? One last note. I deleted the AOL account from Inbox, rebooted and then reinstalled the AOL account. It still only downloaded 10,000 items in the IMAP inbox. Also I'm using the most recent version of Outlook 365.
Thanks for any help anyone can provide.](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/e4efa42d-54c3-4fa7-b54a-ae7d93efb421?platform=QnA)](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/40c12e9d-b5a2-4a30-8bc4-4503de01cbbc?platform=QnA)

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For business

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-09-16T08:35:35+00:00

    So they imposed another limit on us, admittedly higher than last time, but again with no notice.

    BTW, both of mine restarted, and unlike yours, started low (0?) and is climbing. They seem to hit a number, freeze, then restart. The one which originally (10K lim3it) moved constantly and fast has stuck at 23,407 (I think it was stuck at that number before, not sure).

    I'll leave 'em both up overnight and see if they climb again.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-09-16T07:29:24+00:00

    My AOL has been fine since I changed to the Export IMAP server, except for that problem of SPAM folder (or "BULK", as Outlook calls it) not having any of the spam, requiring me to log into AOL constantly to check if any legitimate emails have ended up there.

    Earlier this evening, when I saw the posts (about Yahoo), I was still OK, but figured AOL would be impacted eventually. Indeed, about an hour ago, Outlook wasn't refreshing, and I reboot when that happens.

    Sure enough, I ended up being capped like everybody's reporting, but mine didn't have the problems with "rebuilding" or reloading, and my Reply/Forward flags seem to still be there.

    Instead, I noticed that my count started going DOWN from about 170,000 to 160K, 150K, etc., and after about 45 minutes, I stopped at exactly 100,000. Tried to call AOL, but because it asked for phone number, and my old landline, cell, etc. didn't work, it then said "We're closed, call tomorrow..."

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-09-16T06:36:58+00:00

    Both of my PCs are doing it. AOL in outlook locks up from time to time; it was hanging but seemed to be ok. I killed it and restarted and it seemed to be ok. 60 something emails in the inbox. The other had restarted and moving slowly as it did when I changed the URL.

    Then the one that was good had started over, down around 1000. But it's going again (and that PC downloaded it all fast last time).

    Did they change something (cap at 100,000?) and need to wipe it out and start over? (I first noticed that I kept getting alerts popping up from emails that came in years ago. Until I saw this note I couldn't understand why it was happening.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-09-16T02:33:33+00:00

    Same here. 9/15/22 10:30pm EST. I'm using export.imap.aol.com on port 993. Looks like they have a 100,000 email limit now!

    Someone please let me know what the new server settings that do not have a 10,000 or 100,000 mail limit?

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-09-16T02:07:39+00:00

    Oh No - your're right! What is happening?? Both my yahoo-serviced accounts have crashed and are beng re-synced now. It was automatic - I only realized after seeing your reply. All my history is gone again at this time.

    I only hope the sync will restore with full quantities. Does anyone know what has happened? Apparently they are now ruining the IMAP protocols on the export server.

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