Making Mail notifications work consistently

tomseys · 20 Nov 2015

I repeated a small test that I've done before. My Mail app is currently not opened, the way I usually keep it. Right now my email notifications are not working. I receive emails and get no Action center notification from the mail app (email reception into inbox confirmed by either logging into microsoft account or by Thunderbird).

So I sent a test email to myself from Yahoo mail and the email just like the other ones failed to cause any notification response (but were delivered to the inbox confirmed as before). I then opened the Mail app, minimized it to the taskbar, again sent a test email from yahoo mail, and instantly got a notification. I then closed the mail app and then tried the test email again. It failed to send a notification. So based on what I've read and seen myself I'd say that when the mail app is opened, notifications generally work. Though I guess I can't say with 100% certainty that they always work. When it's closed sometimes it works, but oftentimes it doesn't.

Note: When the Mail app is in a "working phase" while closed, that test email from Yahoo mail will generate a Mail notification banner and sound from the action center.

I should also note that when I open the Mail app, and it is presently not working in a closed state, only emails that come after I have opened the app will generate the notification.

tomseys · 20 Nov 2015

One odd little thing I've noticed sometimes is when I start the computer up, the action center notification icon shows a little circle on the bottom. This I believe is supposed to indicate that "quiet hours" are in effect. Quiet hours blocks all notifications. But I don't have them in effect. In order to remove the circle, I have to click on the quiet hours tile in the action center twice (on and then off) to make the circle disappear. Strange. I wonder if this apparently buggy behavior has something to do with this issue.

Anyway, I'm not able to get the mail app to work at all no matter what I do in the closed state so I've uninstalled Mail and Calendar via powershell and will reinstall soon (I'd like to see if the store will offer it to me instead of me looking the app up and downloading) so this way I can at least get it listed in the background apps area in Settings/Privacy. I know from before it seems to work a lot better but still inconsistently when it is listed in background apps. It's not working at all now with reboots, settings on and off, removing accounts etc. So when I install it it will start working but then stop after a while. If it starts working consistently somehow, I'll update.

tomseys · 20 Nov 2015

Actually, last quick update. I did reinstall the Mail app by going to the app page and installing it. It now is listed in the background apps. I turned the settings on and now it works. To keep things simpler, I'm just going to use one email with it. If everything goes as before eventually notifications will stop working and then will work again on a reboot. There may be other triggers to get it working again. Anyway, if anything changes in a positive way I'll update. Thanks.

stephen · 21 Nov 2015

[QUOTE=tomseys;473612]"They keep it open and then minimize it to the taskbar and it works. Some people even seem to think that is the way it is designed to work - while it is open. My understanding is that it should work open or closed. "
[/I]
Tell me if my logic is faulty..... but my windows live mail only notifies me when it's open, my gmail only when I have Chrome open,
I only have a local account with my new mail app, I wouldn't expect it to notify me unless it's open. If I was logged into a Microsoft account all the time, then yes I would, open or not. ?????

If we don't know what is expected of it, how can we tell if it is performing as it should ?

tomseys · 21 Nov 2015

tomseys said:

"They keep it open and then minimize it to the taskbar and it works. Some people even seem to think that is the way it is designed to work - while it is open. My understanding is that it should work open or closed. "
[/I]
Tell me if my logic is faulty..... but my windows live mail only notifies me when it's open, my gmail only when I have Chrome open,
I only have a local account with my new mail app, I wouldn't expect it to notify me unless it's open. If I was logged into a Microsoft account all the time, then yes I would, open or not. ?????

If we don't know what is expected of it, how can we tell if it is performing as it should ?

Well for one the Mail app actually does send notifications when it's closed using a local or Microsoft account. It's just not consistent for many. My Thunderbird for example cannot give me notifications unless it is open. The Mail app also seems to be different in the sense that it is a built in app and is not easily uninstalled... like it is meant to be a part of the OS.

Also, in Settings/Privacy/Background apps, it states words to the effect of choose which apps can send notifications even when they are not in use. This implies to me that if they are not in use then they are not open. Background apps suggests to me that this is a way to keep some of their functioning on/open while appearing closed.

But I agree some clarification of the functioning would be nice. Also the ability to set quiet hours would be good. I noticed that at one time you could but this option disappeared some time ago.

stephen · 21 Nov 2015

Also, in Settings/Privacy/Background apps, it states words to the effect of choose which apps can send notifications even when they are not in use. This implies to me that if they are not in use then they are not open. Background apps suggests to me that this is a way to keep some of their functioning on/open while appearing closed.

Aha , I am starting to understand some of your experiments now, I don't have the mail in the app back ground list either, I've just done a clean install ... can you tell me where is the sync/timing adjustment ?

That's ok found it.

tomseys · 21 Nov 2015

I seem to recall when I first upgraded that the Mail and Calendar was listed there in BA. Then I think after an update it wasn't listed only calendar which supposedly works hand in hand with Mail and they call it Mail and Calendar yet they list it separately in BA. Then I put mail back there by uninstalling and reinstalling Mail and Calendar and did it again on another Reset. I think that is how it went. Maybe they are keeping it out of background apps (as opposed to it being a glitch) because they know it's not working. In any case it has never worked consistently for me no matter what was where and when.

paulsalter · 21 Nov 2015

As long as Calendar or Mail are showing in background apps it is ok, mail itself does not need to be there, IMO its the first one of these after install that you run or get a notification from that gets set as the background app

My tablet has Calendar in there and gets all notifications for mail, as soon as I unlock it they start appearing from when I last used it, all new emails then come in while I use the tablet, this is with mail open or closed, it makes no difference

My Laptop used to have Calendar in background apps, but since I re installed the app, mail is now there instead, notifications are only reliable with the app open

With my Laptop

tomseys · 21 Nov 2015

paulsalter said:

My Laptop used to have Calendar in background apps, but since I re installed the app, mail is now there instead, notifications are only reliable with the app open

With my Laptop

That's the way mine is now. I'm pretty sure that I first ran Mail after Reset but it still put Calendar there.
What's your sync setting for the emails on the tablet?
With download, I usually use at any time but I'm currently auditioning 3 days.
I wonder if it is a resolution related issue if changing screen resolution on laptop might make difference.
Since getting Mail placed in background apps via reinstall replacing Calendar, notifications have been perfect for me with it closed. But I imagine it will stop like before and be same old and I'm back to where I started. But it does seem to work a little better with Mail there in BA than when Calendar is there, at least on my laptop.

Update: So it stopped working during the day. I decided to see if the latest Windows updates have corrected any hp driver issues so I updated all drivers to the latest versions. So far no shutdown problems and the notifications are back to working for now.

paulsalter · 21 Nov 2015

I will check the tablet, its whatever the default is, I have never changed it

Resolution is the only common thing I have found with people who have the issue, seems to be laptops with an x768 resolution, it looks like mail has problems when the resolution is below x800, not sure why