Can't Access IMAP Server

[philmaureen]

My parents use Sky mail and have done for years. Yesterday they received an IMAP error on Outlook but closed the window so I don't know what the error was. Since then most of their mail is not visible and they cannot send or receive emails.  For some reason they can only see 3 mails remaining in their inbox but their "Sent" and "Deleted Items" folders seem to be complete. If I try and set up the mailbox again in Outlook the process doesn't get past the "Searching for <their email address> settings" stage. Nothing has changed with their client configuration and the issue is the same across multiple platforms (different Windows PCs, iPad, iPhone, webmail using different browsers).

Both of my parents are elderly so a long telephone support call could be an issue for them. If they need to phone a support call that's what we'll do but I wanted to first check whether anyone can give me a steer as to what the issue might be.

[Mark39]

They'll need to generate an app password and use it in place of their usual Sky password in their Outlook settings. 

See the Outlook heading in Sky's guide here, where you'll find the link to generate an app password: https://www.sky.com/help/articles/problems-accessing-sky-mail-from-your-email-app#need-a-hand

[caesarome]

@philmaureen 

All they should need to do is to generate a 16 digit password and use that instead of the usual password it uses, you can you can generate the 16 digit password here:

https://www.sky.com/sky-yahoo-mail/manage-apps?client=email

[philmaureen]

I found the 16 digit password and have used that. That's allowing me to set up clients OK but the original problem persists in that all of the mail from their inbox has disappeared. It looks like they are actually receiving mail, I've found a bit more specific detail after a bit of digging. They are receiving mail but Outlook is receiving it into the "Bulk Mail" folder. This folder isn't visible from any of their other client apps or on webmail so they can't access their mail. I'll do some Google searching on the Bulk Mail issue but please let me know if you've experienced this before. It seems that they receive anything "internal" to Sky into their Inbox(they get all the messages generated by posts on this forum and the get the Outlook test message when I set up a new client) but anything sent from a non-Sky account goes into Bulk Mail in Outlook and is hidden on every other client app

[caesarome]

It might be worth reading through this:

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/emails-automatically-being-sent-to-trash

[philmaureen]

Thanks anyway but I'd already tried that

I've managed to make things worse :). I deleted the Bulk Mail folder in Outlook and now mails aren't appearing anywhere, even in Outlook and even after recreating the folder. I've messed about with various filters but nothing seems to work

[jayach]

I would leave Outlook out of the equation and use the webmail to investigate, you can do that here:

https://skyid.sky.com/signin/email

I'm suspicious the account may have been compromised so check the settings under "Suspecting your account has been accessed without your permission" here: Keep your email account safe | Sky Help | Sky.com

If anything has been changed then change the password.

Once you have confirmed the webmail is working correctly then move on to Outlook

[philmaureen]

The mail is missing in webmail as well, the issue is the same across multiple platforms (different Windows PCs, iPad, iPhone, webmail using different browsers. Originally the Outlook "Bulk Mail" folder was the only place I could see anything but, since deleting that folder I now can't see mail in any client or via webmail. I assume the mail is getting to Sky because the sender doesn't get any bounce message.

The only password I haven't changed is the 16-digit mail password Sky automatically generated a couple of years ago. I can't find out how to reset that - every "reset my password" link just takes me to the reset link for their main sky.com login

[philmaureen]

A bit too quick to post - I haven't looked particularly deeply into resetting the 16-char Outlook password as I assume this is a Sky issue not an Outlook issue

[jayach]

The Bulk mail folder in Outlook is usually the same folder as that called Spam in the webmail, for some reason IMAP seems to synchronise them like that.

The 16 bit generated password are "one offs" so no need to change that, or just generate another if you need to.

You can administer previously generated app passwords under "Sky Yahoo Mail access" at https://www.sky.com/myaccount/my-details

[philmaureen]

Is there anything else I can check given that the mail seems to be getting to Sky and there don't seem to be any login/authentication issues but the mail is not showing up anywhere in webmail? I can't think of what else I can do other than contact Sky support.

[caesarome]

In webmail have you checked that any filters haven't been set up ?

[jayach]

If you have checked in the Sky|Yahoo mail settings that no filters have been created or spurious "reply to" addresses have been added, and all the other settings mentioned in the previous link, then I don't think there is much more you can do.

I would just change the account password, just to be sure.

If you do try Sky support, please do let us know how you get on.

[philmaureen]

Thanks for all the advice. I've tried setting up filters, I've tried adding filters and removing them, changing passwords, forcing a log out and log back in.

I guess I'll have to call Sky