Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016 IMAP account can't download messages because of UID SEARCH command
Original KB number: 3216722
Symptoms
You create an IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) mailbox account in Microsoft Outlook 2016 or Outlook 2013. When you sync the mailbox with the IMAP server, the folder list and folder hierarchy are downloaded. However, no email messages are downloaded. No error or warning messages are received in Outlook.
The Outlook IMAP transport log shows that the connection is closed after Outlook sends the UID SEARCH
command:
IMAP: 11:40:24 [tx] tbqs UID SEARCH SINCE 13-Dec-2016
IMAP: 11:41:17 [db] Connection to 'IP address' closed
Cause
This issue may occur if the IMAP server does not support the UID SEARCH
command.
Installations of Outlook 2013 that have the Description of the Outlook 2013 hotfix package (Outlook-x-none.msp; Outlookintl-.msp): October 16, 2013 or a later update installed send the UID SEARCH
command when communicating with the IMAP server. All versions of Outlook 2016 send the UID SEARCH
command.
Resolution
To fix this issue, the IMAP server must be updated to support the UID SEARCH
command. Contact either the Internet service provider (ISP) or the IMAP server manufacturer to report the issue.
More information
Customers have reported that one third-party IMAP server that does not support the UID SEARCH
command is Alfresco 5.1.
After you enable transport logging in Outlook, the IMAP transport log is generated in the following location:
%temp%\Outlook Logging\IMAP-<usernamedomainname>-<date>-<time>.log
When the issue occurs, the following events are logged in the Outlook transport log:
IMAP: 11:40:24 [tx] wk2e SELECT "Drafts"
IMAP: 11:40:24 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 11:40:24 [rx] * 1 EXISTS
IMAP: 11:40:24 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 11:40:24 [rx] * 0 RECENT
IMAP: 11:40:24 [rx] * OK [UNSEEN 1] Message 1 is the first unseen
IMAP: 11:40:24 [rx] * OK [UIDVALIDITY 1477650566] UIDs valid
IMAP: 11:40:24 [rx] * OK [UIDNEXT 2504] Predicted next UID
IMAP: 11:40:24 [rx] * FLAGS (\Answered \Deleted \Draft \Flagged \Seen)
IMAP: 11:40:24 [rx] * OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Answered \Deleted \Draft \Flagged \Seen)] Limited
IMAP: 11:40:24 [rx] wk2e OK [READ-WRITE] SELECT completed.
IMAP: 11:40:24 [tx] tbqs UID SEARCH SINCE 13-Dec-2016
IMAP: 11:41:17 [db] Connection to 'IP address' closed.
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