Hi Bec,
Email uses a store and forward approach, the computer wanting to send the email stores the email until it can see another computer that it forwards it to that is closer to the recipient, when it will forward the email to the next computer, which will start the process over again. This is repeated until the mail gets through. I am sure there is a way to look at the email headers to see the number of these hops the mail has made to get from user A to user B. But it could be quite a few. All you need is one of those computers to lose the email (should be a rare occurrence), or go off line during the store phase and you have a lost or delayed email. With the number of hops that the email has to go through, there are going to be multiple different OS’s and mail programs that will be touching the email, each of which may have different processes. This is a classic case of if any of them go wrong, the mail will not get through! 99.9% plus of the time it works great, but you have to allow for the possibility that one of the machines between user A and user B ate the email. If an email is important, you should copy it to a third party, so that you can ask that third party, did you get it to prove that it was sent and/or follow up the email with a direct call to the recipient to make sure it was received, read and understood! The answer to your question “Is it possible to achieve this by tampering with the mail server settings or some other way?” I would be about 99% sure it is, but if you brought in the forensic IT guys, I am sure that they could find some form of audit trail to show the manipulation of the system. Regards Greg On Sat, Nov 29, 2014 at 10:31 AM, ILT (O) <il.tho...@outlook.com> wrote: > Bec - have you looked at the (prior) email headers from this person? That > will tell you what email client is normally used, and some other > intermediate server information. > > I have just tested this, and It’s possible for (for example) using Outlook > desktop versions to copy or move items to and from the Sent Items folder. > > Without looking at the sender’s emailer, and forensically examining the > headers - Sent, Received, Created dates (etc) - you’re not going to win an > argument though, I reckon. > ------------------------------ > > Ian Thomas > Albert Park, Victoria > > > > *From:* ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com [mailto: > ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] *On Behalf Of *Bec Carter > *Sent:* Saturday, November 29, 2014 9:57 AM > *To:* ozDotNet > *Subject:* Re: [OT] Turning off outgoing mail possible? > > > > Haha thanks guys but this case is quite suspicious. It was sent over two > weeks ago and it just happens the most important email is the only one > which didn't arrive. All others arrived. I'm not buying it. :-) Is it > possible to achieve this by tampering with the mail server settings or some > other way? > > > > Noonie- I've not been able to replicate this by dragging into the sent > folder in gmail. Perhaps Outlook will do it but that would be quite dodgy. > > > > Cheers > > > > > > On Sat, Nov 29, 2014 at 2:15 AM, Stephen Price <step...@perthprojects.com> > wrote: > > I always marvel at how people use email for business. As if it were > guaranteed delivery. The technology has been around longer than the > internet and I'd not be surprised if its not been changed in all that time. > I'd like to hope it has but not looked into it. Might put that on my > weekend reading list. Right after a few marvel comics. :) > > On Nov 28, 2014 4:12 PM, "noonie" <neale.n...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Bec, > > The mail client might let you drag an email into sent items. > > Email is not guaranteed to be delivered. That's not part of the spec > (though you might be able to interpret it that way). > > So they could have sent it and you still might receive it next week, or > never... > > Isn't that just peachy? > > -- > Regards, > noonie > > On 28/11/2014 5:17 pm, "Bec Carter" <bec.usern...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Sorry everyone but this one is way way off topic. > > > > Someone claims to have sent me an email. I never received it- yes I > checked the Junk folder :-) > > They've shown me their mailbox and its sitting in the Sent folder. > > > > Can someone with control of their web domain send an email, have it pop > into the Sent items folder but not actually send? Say by somehow turning > off (or providing a faulty) outgoing mail server setting or similar? > > > > Cheers > > >
