Euler,

I'd be happy to show screenshots of the information if I could get copy/paste to work for this discussion. In lieu of that I'll try to explain as best I can.

The method I use to collect mail is as follows:

I have 3 identities defined - All_Mail, Bob and Paula
I list POP3 hosts TWC, Gmail and Yahoo in the All_Mail identity "Receiving (POP3"/"Check these POP3 hosts for mail" section.
"Check whenever the new nail folder is opened" is marked in this section.
Both boxes in "Checking multiple identities" are blank.

The TWC definition shows
General Tab
Server host name: mail.twc.com
Username: **@rochester.rr.com
Server TCP/IP port: 995 Timeout: 120
"Delete mail on server once it has been successfully retrieved" IS Checked
Security Tab
The only thing marked is "Via direct SSL connect"
Download Controls Tab
The only thing marked is "Download" in the "Default action ... after filtering"

The Gmail definition
Server host name: pop.gmail.com
Oauth2 is used for signon
All other parameters are exactly the same as TWC

The Yahoo definition
Server host name: pop.mail.yahoo.com
All other parameters are exactly the same as TWC

I always use only the All_Mail identity to collect mail from the multiple servers.

Here are some of my (quite old) screeshots from Pmail Internet options:

and

Please disregard this poor example. As mentioned, these are old screenshots from a pre-OAUTH2 Pegasus Mail, but they should work.

In the list of email accounts you can see, only the first one is enabled for download, but if one or more of the others were also enabled, they would be automatically checked and their content downloaded if present. As many accounts as there are listed there, they would be checked and processed sequentially. This is the multiple downloads per account method mentioned earlier. This is the method I currently use.

Each account has this basic settings:

And here are SMTP screenshots:

Considering that you follow your mail service directions there's a pretty good chance that Pegasus Mail will carry on.

Again, please disregard the old graphics. I used these old ones because they were handy.

Please take a look at the forum editor's own toolbar just above the edit section you type into for uploading image files:

Euler,

Thanks for the examples. OK, I tried to upload images of my settings that I consolidated into a word doc in imgbb. Here's the link https://ibb.co/39k380tx
The interesting part is that they look almost exactly like your settings except you are using Server-side POP3 filtering. I tried that and that seemed to be when this problem started. I have since removed it. I'm not having any problems with SMTP so I didn't include any info on that.

Brian seems to think my computer is too old and slow to do the filtering and then handle the SSL request to the next server. Maybe so, I have a lot of rules in my filter but I've stacked the most commonly used ones at the beginning. I even tried the "Exit immediately" entry as the first rule but that didn't seem to make any difference either. Hope you can retrieve the imgbb examples.

Michael,

I have tried to use the upload icon from the editor's toolbar and it does nothing. I have tried both copying from my clipboard and storing them on a word doc and trying to upload with that upload service but nothing seems to work. Let's see if Euler's method works.

I just attempted to upload a .doc files and it fails which confirms that .doc files are not allowed. A .pdf should work, unless there are user restrictions in place. Image files should work. They get included in the body rather than as an attached file like a .pdf will.

These several POP3 hosts you see are the those that will be polled every 300 sec. of Pmail idle time. The one you see as Disabled is the same of <Default>'s account, thus no need to check it twice. I leave it in the list just in case the <Default> identity changes its mail account.

So, can you take a screenshot of Tools > Internet options... Receiving POP3 pane?

Euler,

The image I sent to IMGBB was 7 pages long. Either I sent it wrong or IMGBB captured only the first page. I'm trying the same screenshots as a pdf. I only included the first two POP3 servers because sending the third caused a size restriction on upload. The third server (Yahoo) is identical to Gmail except for the address. Screenshots 05232025.pdf

Another thing I have observed is that even when I selectively retrieve mail from the individual servers, when I retrieve multiple messages and the progress note (on the bottom) says applying mail filtering, it takes a long time and the "Not responding" alert is posted in the title line (at the very top). Eventually it completes filtering but it seems to take an extremely long time to process even 4-5 messages. When I tried the "Exit immediately" rule, it seemed to do the same thing so I don't think the filter rules are the problem.

Hmmm... I didn't realize this. When the "Always Exit" trick is used, the filter still gets invoked but that rule as the first rule stops the message from being processed through the rule set. How about testing with the rule set completely out of the picture. To do this, close Pegasus Mail, rename the WINRULES.PMC file located in your mailbox directory to something like WINRULES_PMC.SAVED. Pegasus Mail will now not know of any new mail filters so you should not see "applying mail filtering" related verbiage.

Interesting results! I set up the suggested changes, "check every 300 sec" "idle box checked" and renamed WINRULES.PMC to another name. I shut down Pagasus and reopened it. I'm not sure this is significant but when it first opened, the desktop was not completely restored, only the New Mail box and a couple other folders were displayed. It may have been a startup lag? Eventually the desktop was completely populated but it took an extremely long time, over a minute. I watched the progress notes at the bottom and "Applying mail filtering" still appeared and the desktop was finally completed. The result was that all the new mail stayed in the New Mail folder - no filtering actually took place that distributed the new mail to other mail folders. I looked at some of the new mail and could see that it came from all three servers. Just for kicks I turned on TCP logs and collected mail with the "Check your POP3 host for new mail" icon. As expected there was no mail in any of the servers the second time through but they all connected and signed off successfully.

This test suggests that there may be an issue with the filtering process or the rules themselves. I've gone over the rule set quite carefully and can't see anything wrong. Would it be helpful for me to redact the filter rules and send them for your review?

A follow-up on the report above. The "Check every 300 sec" parameter invoked 14 instances of polling all 3 servers since I posted the above report. In all cases, the servers connected and closed successfully. Two instances actually had mail to receive. All that happened while the filtering was set off (no WINRULES.PMC file).

I restored the WINRULES.PMC and restarted Pegasus. Again the desktop was slow to populate, but I noticed 20 messages in the NMF. In about 30 seconds, they were processed. I believe they were from the first 2 servers because I got a connection error on the third server which I've included here. Screenshot 052925.pdf

I just turned the TCP trace on with the filtering back in place and all three servers connected and logged off successfully (no messages on any server). I'll let it run that way and see what happens. BTW, my Pegasus usually runs 24/7 but the Idle Polling time was never set so there was always a buildup of messages when I checked mail. Hopefully that's a solution or at least a work-around for the connection failures.

BTW, I apologize for not be very responsive. I'm traveling so with family so opportunities to stick my head in here will be limited for another couple of days.

I use both sets of rules, but for different purposes. Typically, most of my messages are automatically directed to their archive folders via the WINRULES.PMC action. These are messages that don't require my immediate attention. Pegasus highlights the folders that have received these recent messages in a bold color, different from the one used to indicate a folder with unread messages. The remaining messages in the NMF are those that require my attention and I read them immediately and take appropriate action. Once I have finished reading the NMF, I close it and its messages are sent to the appropriate archive folders. So, if I have made myself clear enough, this is why I do not use the open and close method of the NMF.

Drive safely, my friend!

This makes perfect sense, and is a valid consideration, worthy of the question "Do you use a NMF folder-close filter set?" before suggesting the close/open cycle.

Something that befuddles me with Bob's issue is how long his filtering is taking. In my experience, the time it takes to process hundreds of messages through an extensive NMF filter set is barely noticeable so I'm wondering whether different filtering could be active.
Also, an unknown to me is what happens when the logic in a NMF set is faulty, say with an infinite loop.

Considering that a set of rules is executed from top to bottom, I think it is a good idea to create them as subroutines (Labels, preferably commented). This will give the user more control over the actions and will offer him the chance to chain them together to satisfy more complex actions.

Finally, actions such as moving messages to folders, changing colors, statuses, and other parameters are practically instantaneous. Others, such as saving attachments to disk (I use this option frequently), take longer, but are rarely noticed. Another action that has a greater impact on execution time is reading and/or maintaining lists, especially if they are very large. Since these lists are not indexed, their reading, I believe, is also top-down until they are satisfied (or not). I also keep a small window displaying System Messages. It helps me keep track of most actions.

I agree that it seems to be the filtering that is causing a problem. After taking Euler's suggestion to establish Polling Controls, I set them up with 3600 seconds and checked the idle box. With those parameters on, mail collected for the entire day and at the end of the day, I had collected many emails, mostly junk, in my NMF. When I opened that folder Pegasus went immediately into the filtering process. As it progressed, at the top of the window the "Not Responding" message appeared for a few seconds (maybe 10-12). The process eventually finished and all the mail was distributed to its appropriate folders or deleted per the filtering instructions. I'm not doing any unusual filtering, just checking headers (From, Subject & Sender) for certain text or email addresses and moving the mail to a specified folder or deleting it. I only have 2 "Logical And" rule sets, all others are either Move or Delete. I have structured the rules so the the most frequently received mail (junk usually) is at the top of the filter set so it doesn't require a long search time.