On 18/02/2026 15:00, stef204 via dovecot wrote:
Starting a few days ago, I have one email account where ALL outgoing emails are automatically marked as UNREAD. The message is sent, then copied to the "Sent" folder, and has status "unread". Then, a couple of minutes later, something happens where this message gets marked as UNREAD, without ANY interaction of client side. This occurs not matter the email client used, I have tried it with multiple email clients, both local and via web interface, the behavior does not change. This is via Dovevot on Cpanel. if I look at the [1]changelog, it is difficult to identify which changes could have triggered this as there seem to be changes impacting Dovecot almost with every update. I do not control the server myself, this is on a shared hosting plan; tech support has been willing to troubleshoot but is unable to locate the problem. This problem does NOT occur on other email accounts on the same domain, so it looks to me like some corruption or problem syncing flags perhaps? I am at a loss at the moment to fix this behavior. Any suggestions or ideas welcome. Thanks.
Given that this is happening independently of the email client and that in any case you see the message correctly uploaded as read before it then becomes unread, it does sound like something is happening on the server to make the modification.
The Imap4flags sieve extension has the ability to remove the \Seen flag, so maybe there is a sieve script being run. Sieve scripts can also be run not just on mail delivery but on imap copy and append commands and on flag setting commands through the imapsieve capability.
The update to the \Seen flag could be done outside of sieve by a process connecting to the imap server and removing the \Seen flag or through doveadm.
It could also be another imap client that is doing this reset. You could always try to reset the password and make sure existing connections have ended to rule out another imap client.
John