maddog2010's profile

Frequent Visitor

 • 

22 Messages

Friday, November 14th, 2025 6:04 PM

Missing email folders in Mail app after deleting and reinstalling Mail app

I spoke with a Comcast technical support person on the phone yesterday because the mail app on my Apple devices was getting error messages, including, “Authentication failed,” and “Alert.”  The tech told me to delete my email account and then reinstall it. I followed those instructions, but now all of the folders I had set up in my Mail app are missing. I still see them on Comcast webmail, but they no longer exist on my iPad. I’m afraid to delete the Mail app on my iPhone because I assume I will also lose all the folders there.

Is there any way to find the folders or do I need to laboriously go to the Comcast webmail, then use that as a model to re-create all of the folders, I had set up and try to find all those emails that had been nicely organized in the folders?

thank you in advance for your help

Oldest First
Selected Oldest First

Official Employee

 • 

1.7K Messages

20 days ago

Hello maddog2010! I'm sorry to read that your mail folders are missing after re-adding the email account to the mail client. I have come across this hiccup myself, but fortunately when I expanded the sub folders in the mail client I was able to locate the folders that I had built in my comcast.net email account. I take it you are using mac mail since you have Apple devices. In mac mail on your ipad, do you have a drop-down arrow next to the inbox? The folders could be hidden in that area. 

Frequent Visitor

 • 

22 Messages

I am using the Mail app on my iPad and my iPhone.  Below is a screenshot of the only remaining folders. That drop-down arrow you see only shrink the screen so all that is left is Comcast and not the folders

Official Employee

 • 

1.7K Messages

maddog2010 Thank you for that picture. It's a perfect view to see the options that are there for the client. 

In case the errors are related to the migration to yahoo for our email services when you re-added the details on the ipad in the mail client, what was the SMTP and IMAP server addresses? 

Did you need to reset your password while working with our support team yesterday? 

 

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

Frequent Visitor

 • 

22 Messages

I have not migrated to Yahoo yet

SMTP server port 465

I do not see the IMAP server information.

I did not have to reset my password

Official Employee

 • 

1.1K Messages

If you search "mail accounts" in your Apple settings and find the comcast emails. There should  be an incoming server and outgoing server option listed. 

 

IMAP server settings:
Incoming Mail Server: imap.comcast.net

Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.comcast.net
Port: 587
SSL: Yes
Authentication: Use your full email address and password

 

If trying this already are there any other error messages you are receiving besides ones provided above?

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

Frequent Visitor

 • 

22 Messages

I found everything you mentioned above.  Yesterday, at the suggestion of the Comcast tech, I deleted the Mail app from my iPad and then reinstalled it. Not all of my emails have been populated and all of my folders are missing.  After deleting the Mail app and reinstalling it on my iPad, I am able to send and receive emails.

I have not done the same on my iPhone yet because I’m afraid the same problem (loss of folders) will happen.  In the meantime, I am unable to send and receive emails on my iPhone.  


here is the message my iPhone receives when I try to access the mail app:

my iPhone cannot get mail.

forum icon

New to the Community?

Start Here