Despite the invention of new communication methods in this fast-paced world, email remains one of the most popular mediums. It is possible that there will be times when you will see an error message telling you “This message has not been downloaded from the server”. Several email clients, including iPhone Mail and Microsoft Outlook, begin showing the following error:

Many Apple users (iPhone users, iPad users, Mac users, etc.) report the issue, and in some cases, Windows users with Microsoft Outlook. The issue occurred for some users after an OS update, while others experienced it when moving emails between folders. It seems that this issue is not specific to any particular email provider (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) but rather a general “This Message Has Not Been Downloaded From the Server” issue.

There are several reasons why the Mail app might indicate that a message has not been downloaded from the server:

• Devices with outdated operating systems may have problems connecting to email servers, causing the issue at hand.
• Your email client may be programmed to remove the email version from the server. Upon fetching/removing the email from the account, it may prevent other clients from downloading the message.
• In the case of anti-spam filtering applications (like GFI MailEssentials), the anti-spam application might edit the headers of emails, making them incompatible with the mail application.
• An installation of the Mail application has become corrupt if the installation has become corrupt. Emails or messages may not have been downloaded if there is a problem communicating from the server.

The Mail App should be relaunched after it has been force closed.

It is possible that there may be a temporary glitch in the iPhone’s Mail app which will lead to the error message “the message has not been downloaded from the server”. If you force-close the Mail app and then relaunch it, you might be able to fix the “This Message Has Not Been Downloaded From the Server” error by simply restarting the app after force-closing it.

1. In the iPhone’s Mail app, we now have the possibility of opening an email which was previously displayed with the error “This message has not been downloaded from the server”.
2. Wait for the iPhone’s Home screen to appear after holding down the iPhone’s Home button for around seven to ten seconds.
3. Check whether the Mail app is working properly by launching it again.
4. Turn off WiFi in Settings and force close the Mail app again.
5. You can now enable Mobile Data on your phone by restarting it.
6. By launching the Mail app, you can verify that any issues related to email have been addressed correctly or not.

It is recommended that you update your iPhone’s iOS to the latest build for you to resolve the “This Message Has Not Been Downloaded From the Server” error.

If you do not update your iPhone to the latest iOS version, you may experience email server compatibility issues. You may be able to resolve the issue by updating your phone’s iOS to the latest version. Always create a backup of your iPhone prior to performing an update (just in case the update goes wrong).

1. (Connect the iPhone to a WiFi network if you are worried regarding the size of the update download).
2. Select General from the iPhone
3. Check if iOS updates are available in Software Update.
4. As a first step, you will need to download and install the iOS update if you have that version of the device.
5. Once the update is completed, restart your iPhone to see if the emails have been cleared of the “the message has not been downloaded from the server” error.

There is a recommendation that Mail Preview be set to five lines in order to get rid of the error message “This Message Has Not Been Downloaded From the Server”.

It is common for Mail apps to only download the email headers, and when the email is opened, the rest of the message has not been downloaded from the server. A message download issue may occur if there is a glitch in the mail app that prevents it from properly downloading the header or message. This issue may be resolved by setting the Mail preview to five lines, which forces the app to download the header and message simultaneously.

1. Open the iPhone Settings and then Mail.
2. Select 5 lines from the Message List section by tapping Preview.
3. After restarting your iPhone, you should be able to see whether or not the “message has not been downloaded from the server” issue has been resolved or not.
4. If you are arranging emails in custom folders, check if removing a special character like a tide works. By removing (if present) from the folder name, the error is resolved.

Make sure Fetch is enabled in your phone’s settings

There are two methods of delivering email to a user’s device: Push or Fetch. When the Push method is used, the server informs the client of new emails, while with the Fetch method, the client repeatedly requests new emails from the server.

In some cases, the email server may have difficulty pushing emails to iPhones due to a glitch, causing the problem. The iPhone may be able to resolve this issue by using the fetch email method in this situation.

1. Navigate to the iPhone Settings and open Passwords & Accounts.
2. You can turn off Push by selecting Fetch New Data and Fetch New Data.
3. After that, enable Fetch (if it is not already enabled) and set it to Automatically. A problem with an account might require you to select Fetch and then tap on it if there is a problem with the account.
4. After setting all other accounts to Fetch that display Push, restart your iPhone.
5. If the iPhone is restarted, you should be able to see whether the “the message has not been downloaded from the server” difficulty is gone or not.

Ensure that Download Complete is enabled in the Send/Receive Group Settings.

Email messages may not be completely retrieved if your Mail client only downloads parts of them (without attachments, for instance). In this case, you may need to configure the Send/Receive Group settings to allow the complete download of the email message.

1. Open Outlook and select File from its menu.
2. Open the Advanced tab by navigating to the Options tab.
3. Click the Send/Receive button under the Send/Receive section if the problematic account is visible.
4. Select the problematic account from the left pane after clicking on the Edit button.
5. You can download complete items and attachments for subscribed folders by checking the box next to the Receive Mail Items section.
6. Restart your system after applying your changes.
7. Check if the message download problem has been resolved after restarting.

Gmail’s ‘Recent Mode’ should be enabled

MS Outlook on your PC and Mail on your iPhone will check Gmail servers every 15 minutes if you have set up multiple email clients. The client that checks an email first may hide it from the other clients, resulting in the issue “the message has not been downloaded from the server.”

This problem may be solved by enabling the Recent Mode of Gmail, which pushes the last thirty days’ mail to all connected email clients. Any client can download the email, despite its previous downloads.

1. Your email client, such as Outlook, will show the Gmail address under the Email tab.
2. Please add “recent:” before your account name in the box next to the Account Name. For example, if your account name is [email protected], it should be recent:[email protected].
3. As soon as the Settings have been updated, click on the Done button.
4. Check your system after restarting to see if the message not downloaded issue has been resolved. For iPhone users, Use Recent Mode may need to be enabled under Settings>> Mail>> Gmail.
5. You may be able to fix the problem by disabling IMAP on the Gmail website.

The primary significant thing is to make sure that ‘Keep the Copy on the Server’ is turned on.

The message copy can usually be removed from the server after retrieval by almost all email clients. In cases where more than one client is configured to retrieve the email messages, such as an iPhone and an iMac. The messages will be deleted, however, if one of them is configured to do so after retrieval. In such a case, it is possible that it will lead to the occurrence of the “message has not been downloaded from the server” error on the other device. In order to solve the problem, the option to keep a copy of the message on the server needs to be enabled. On a Mac, the mentioned setting can be disabled as shown below.

1. You can open Mail’s preferences by launching the app.
2. From the Accounts tab, navigate to the problematic account.
3. It is recommended that you remove the checkmark from Remove Copy from Server After Retrieving after retrieving a message. Some devices offer the option of not deleting from the server or leaving a copy on the server.
4. Once Mail Preferences have been closed, restart your device.
5. The same should be done on all your other email clients and devices, and then check if the “the message has not been downloaded from the server” issue has been resolved.

The Delete folder on your phone or computer will be empty if you delete a message after enabling this setting. The email message may also be able to be deleted if it has been sent from another device. You may see an error message if you access that message from another device: “the message has not been downloaded from the server”.

There Is a Need For You To Disable Your Anti-Spam Product In Order To Fix The Problem That Says: This Message Has Not Been Downloaded From the Server.

Email clients typically download the email headers first and then the message when necessary. Anti-spam or security products may filter out email headers that aren’t compatible with your email client. There may be times when an error message is displayed by the email client informing the user that “the message has not been downloaded from the server”. It may be possible to resolve the problem by disabling the anti-spam or security software of your device. Using GFI MailEssentials as an example, we will explain how to disable it.

Please be aware:

It is at your own risk to disable your anti-spam or security product due to the possibility of online threats.

1. Go to the Troubleshooting tab of GFI MailEssentials Switchboard.
2. When prompted to enable or disable email processing, click the Disable button.
3. Check to see if the server message download issue has been resolved by launching the email client.

The Mail App needs to be updated with the new email account.

The Mail app may not download messages from the email servers due to a temporary communication problem. Re-adding the email account to the Mail app or turning off/on email may resolve the problem.

The email account should be turned on and off

1. Open Mail, Contacts, and Calendars from the iPhone Settings
2. Toggle the Mail switch to off on the problematic account.
3. In the Mail client, wait until the emails of the account are no longer displayed.
4. Turn on your email account after restarting your iPhone.
5. It is important that as soon as the email syncs, you check to make sure that the message has not been downloaded from the server error has been resolved or not.

Re-adding the email account is the main task that is necessary to be accomplished.

1. If you open the iPhone Settings, you can choose Mail (or Passwords and Accounts) from the list of options.
2. From the Accounts menu, select the problematic email account.
3. By tapping Delete Account and then Delete from My iPhone, you will be able to delete the account.
4. Restart your iPhone and re-add the account (not POP3 for Gmail, but the other type in case of Gmail).
5. If you have 2 Factor Authentication enabled on your account, try disabling it to see if that solves the problem.
6. Try switching the email account between POP3 and IMAP if the problem persists.

There is a problem with the Mail App and it needs to be reinstalled.

As a result of a corrupted installation or configuration of the Mail app. You may see the downloaded message from the server issue. Potentially, the problem can be resolved by reinstalling the Mail app.

1. By holding down the Mail app in the iPhone’s menu, the pop-up menu will appear.
2. From the pop-up menu, select Delete App and confirm that you want to remove Mail.
3. The Apple App Store will open once your iPhone has been restarted.
4. The iPhone Mail app can be accessed by searching for Mail in the App Store.
5. Launch the Mail app and configure it as needed.
6. Verify that the message has been downloaded successfully from the server by checking the Mail app.

Lastly, if neither of these solutions worked and you’re running an Exchange server, then try turning on Active Sync on the server. The Exchange server’s Accepted Domain settings should also be configured correctly. There is a possibility that you might have an issue if you are using a wildcard (*) in the accepted domain field. In which case removing the wildcard can resolve the issue.

If the issue persists, a user may be required to install a third-party app (like Outlook on iPhone) or restore the device to its default settings.

Conclusion: This Message Has Not Been Downloaded From The Server [FIXED]

In case you don’t want to use a 3rd-party app or restore your device, here are some workarounds.

1. In the case of a problematic email message, it presents a problematic message when it is opened. By clicking the up or down arrow, it is possible for you to open a new email message. After that, revert to the problematic email message to see if it downloaded.
2. Try downloading the reset email message after clicking yes when asked.
3. Try forwarding your POP3 mail to an IMAP account if the problem persists.
4. Clear the trash folder through the email provider’s website (like Yahoo Mail) to see if it helps. Don’t forget to delete one email at a time when deleting emails from the phone, or else it may result in the issue.

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