Understanding Email Sync

Understanding Email Sync

WRRK keeps your email in sync with your original email provider. Here is how synchronization works and what to do when things go wrong.

How Sync Works

When you connect an email account, WRRK establishes a persistent connection to your mail server:

• Gmail & Outlook (OAuth): Uses push notifications. New emails appear in WRRK within 1-3 seconds of arriving in your inbox.
• Custom IMAP: Uses IMAP IDLE where supported, or polls every 60 seconds.

Two-Way Sync

Actions you take in WRRK are reflected in your original email provider:

• Read/Unread: Marking an email as read in WRRK marks it as read in Gmail/Outlook (and vice versa).
• Archive: Archiving in WRRK removes the email from your inbox in the original provider.
• Delete: Deleting in WRRK moves the email to trash in the original provider.
• Send: Emails sent from WRRK appear in your Sent folder in the original provider.

Initial Sync

When you first connect an account, WRRK imports the last 30 days of email. This process typically takes 2-5 minutes depending on the volume. During initial sync, you can still use WRRK — new emails will arrive in real time while historical emails are imported in the background.

Sync Status

Check your sync status at Settings > Email > Accounts. Each account shows:

• Connected — Sync is active and working.
• Syncing — Initial import in progress.
• Error — Something went wrong. Click to see details and retry.
• Disconnected — Authorization expired. Re-authenticate to resume.

Common Issues

Emails appearing late? Check your internet connection and verify the account status is "Connected." For IMAP accounts, ensure your mail server supports IMAP IDLE.

Duplicate emails? This can happen during initial sync if you interact with emails in both WRRK and your original provider simultaneously. Duplicates resolve automatically within a few minutes.

Sent emails not syncing back? Some IMAP servers require explicit APPEND to the Sent folder. Contact support if this persists.