Dovecot marking outgonig emails as unread
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.
References
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Hard to say for sure what might be causing this and I'm the dev primarily responsible for the dovecot 2.4 upgrade on cPanel. If anything I'd say it's a strange enough scenario that we don't have automated testing for it.
If I had to guess, us forcing the maildirsize file to act more like it did on dovecot 2.3 is also forcing flag recalc somewhere it shouldn't be given you say this only started happening very recently. If getting your mail account switched over to mdbox (it uses count driver instead of maildir driver for quota) fixes it, then I'd be more confident in my guess, but since you don't have control of the server it's kind of a moot point (cPanel users don't have access to swap from maildir to mdbox).
I'll ask some of our tech support pool here if they've encountered anything like that with some of our other customers. If there's a bug that we can replicate, we'll try to fix it.
Cheers,
Thomas "Andy" Baugh | Software Development Engineer IV andy.baugh@webpros.com http://www.webpros.com/
From: stef204 via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2026 8:00 AM To: dovecot@dovecot.org <dovecot@dovecot.org> Subject: Dovecot marking outgonig emails as unread
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.
References
Visible links
dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org
To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
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To: John Fawcett via dovecot (dovecot@dovecot.org); Subject: Dovecot marking outgonig emails as unread; 18.02.2026, 08:54, "Andy Baugh via dovecot" <dovecot@dovecot.org>:
Hard to say for sure what might be causing this and I'm the dev
primarily responsible for the dovecot 2.4 upgrade on cPanel. If anything
I'd say it's a strange enough scenario that we don't have automated
testing for it.
If I had to guess, us forcing the maildirsize file to act more like it
did on dovecot 2.3 is also forcing flag recalc somewhere it shouldn't be
given you say this only started happening very recently. If getting your
mail account switched over to mdbox (it uses count driver instead of
maildir driver for quota) fixes it, then I'd be more confident in my
guess, but since you don't have control of the server it's kind of a
moot point (cPanel users don't have access to swap from maildir to
mdbox).
I'll ask some of our tech support pool here if they've encountered
anything like that with some of our other customers. If there's a bug
that we can replicate, we'll try to fix it.
Cheers,
--
Thomas "Andy" Baugh | Software Development Engineer IV
[1]andy.baugh@webpros.com
[2]http://www.webpros.com/
________________________________________
From: stef204 via dovecot <[3]dovecot@dovecot.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2026 8:00 AM
To: [4]dovecot@dovecot.org <[5]dovecot@dovecot.org>
Subject: Dovecot marking outgonig emails as unread
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.
References
Visible links
1. [6]https://docs.cpanel.net/changelogs/132-change-log/
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- http://www.webpros.com/
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- https://docs.cpanel.net/changelogs/132-change-log/
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Andy, thanks for your reply. Have you received feedback from your tech support pool on whether this same problem is occurring with other customers?
(PS Sorry for the previous empty message earlier today, my mistake)
To: John Fawcett via dovecot (dovecot@dovecot.org); Subject: Dovecot marking outgonig emails as unread; 18.02.2026, 08:54, "Andy Baugh via dovecot" <dovecot@dovecot.org>:
Hard to say for sure what might be causing this and I'm the dev
primarily responsible for the dovecot 2.4 upgrade on cPanel. If anything
I'd say it's a strange enough scenario that we don't have automated
testing for it.
If I had to guess, us forcing the maildirsize file to act more like it
did on dovecot 2.3 is also forcing flag recalc somewhere it shouldn't be
given you say this only started happening very recently. If getting your
mail account switched over to mdbox (it uses count driver instead of
maildir driver for quota) fixes it, then I'd be more confident in my
guess, but since you don't have control of the server it's kind of a
moot point (cPanel users don't have access to swap from maildir to
mdbox).
I'll ask some of our tech support pool here if they've encountered
anything like that with some of our other customers. If there's a bug
that we can replicate, we'll try to fix it.
Cheers,
--
Thomas "Andy" Baugh | Software Development Engineer IV
[1]andy.baugh@webpros.com
[2]http://www.webpros.com/
________________________________________
From: stef204 via dovecot <[3]dovecot@dovecot.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2026 8:00 AM
To: [4]dovecot@dovecot.org <[5]dovecot@dovecot.org>
Subject: Dovecot marking outgonig emails as unread
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.
References
Visible links
1. [6]https://docs.cpanel.net/changelogs/132-change-log/
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dovecot mailing list -- [7]dovecot@dovecot.org
To unsubscribe send an email to [8]dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
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- http://www.webpros.com/
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- mailto:dovecot@dovecot.org
- mailto:dovecot@dovecot.org
- https://docs.cpanel.net/changelogs/132-change-log/
- mailto:dovecot@dovecot.org
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Sadly, no. Did a few of my own tests too to see if I could replicate this behavior but could not.
-- Thomas "Andy" Baugh | Software Development Engineer IV andy.baugh@webpros.com http://www.webpros.com/
From: stef204 via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> Sent: Monday, February 23, 2026 9:06 AM To: dovecot@dovecot.org <dovecot@dovecot.org> Subject: Re: Dovecot marking outgonig emails as unread
Andy, thanks for your reply. Have you received feedback from your tech
support pool on whether this same problem is occurring with other
customers?
(PS Sorry for the previous empty message earlier today, my mistake)
To: John Fawcett via dovecot (dovecot@dovecot.org);
Subject: Dovecot marking outgonig emails as unread;
18.02.2026, 08:54, "Andy Baugh via dovecot" <dovecot@dovecot.org>:
Hard to say for sure what might be causing this and I'm the dev
primarily responsible for the dovecot 2.4 upgrade on cPanel. If anything
I'd say it's a strange enough scenario that we don't have automated
testing for it.
If I had to guess, us forcing the maildirsize file to act more like it
did on dovecot 2.3 is also forcing flag recalc somewhere it shouldn't be
given you say this only started happening very recently. If getting your
mail account switched over to mdbox (it uses count driver instead of
maildir driver for quota) fixes it, then I'd be more confident in my
guess, but since you don't have control of the server it's kind of a
moot point (cPanel users don't have access to swap from maildir to
mdbox).
I'll ask some of our tech support pool here if they've encountered
anything like that with some of our other customers. If there's a bug
that we can replicate, we'll try to fix it.
Cheers,
--
Thomas "Andy" Baugh | Software Development Engineer IV
[1]andy.baugh@webpros.com
[2]http://www.webpros.com/
________________________________________
From: stef204 via dovecot <[3]dovecot@dovecot.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2026 8:00 AM
To: [4]dovecot@dovecot.org <[5]dovecot@dovecot.org>
Subject: Dovecot marking outgonig emails as unread
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.
References
Visible links
1. [6]https://docs.cpanel.net/changelogs/132-change-log/
_______________________________________________
dovecot mailing list -- [7]dovecot@dovecot.org
To unsubscribe send an email to [8]dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
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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
participants (3)
-
Andy Baugh
-
John Fawcett
-
stef204