Why are my messages not sorted

By default Webmail displays messages in the order they arrive at the IMAP server. The arrival time usually corresponds with the message "Date:" header, but not always.

For example, Alice sends a message to Charles at 1pm. Bob sends a message to Charles at 2pm. But, Alice's message was delayed 4 hours (by her ISP, a spam trap, a busy network, etc.). As a result, Charles receives Bob's message before Alice's message. Webmail will display Bob's message as received before before Alice's message.

Likewise, David sends a message to Charles at the same time as Bob, but the data on his computer is wrong---it says January 1, 1969. If messages are sorted by "Date:" header, David's message will be displayed at the very begining (or end---depending on sort order) of the INBOX. By displaying messages by Arrival time new messages are always displayed on the first, or last, index page.

You can resort messages in any folder by Date header, Arrival time, Subject, Sender email address, message "From:" header, status, attachments or size by clicking on the link (underlined) header above the message list. For example, to sort messages by "Date:" header, click on the Date link.

Last modified: September 21, 2006