# Only new emails shown, why?

**URL:** <https://forum.delta.chat/t/only-new-emails-shown-why/2483>\
**Category:** Mutual Help\
**Created:** [March 16, 2023, 7:25pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/only-new-emails-shown-why/2483 "2023-03-16T19:25:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DaveScream](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/davescream/32/1745_2.png) [@DaveScream](https://forum.delta.chat/u/DaveScream)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2023, 7:25pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/only-new-emails-shown-why/2483/1 "2023-03-16T19:25:01Z")

</div>

After login and check to show all emails, I see only newly received emails. As if my mail is new and clear. How to see all mails I received before?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Raiden](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/raiden/32/2544_2.png) [@Raiden](https://forum.delta.chat/u/Raiden)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2023, 8:53pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/only-new-emails-shown-why/2483/2 "2023-03-16T20:53:04Z")

</div>

Hello 👋,  
in the past all emails were displayed.  
But there was a bug and that’s why this function was deactivated for now.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![melonion](https://forum.delta.chat/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@melonion](https://forum.delta.chat/u/melonion)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 8:27am UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/only-new-emails-shown-why/2483/4 "2023-04-04T08:27:30Z")

</div>

Just encountered this as well, if this bug is staying longer would be good to add a warning, otherwise any ETA on a fix?  
Maybe a link to the issue? Cannot find it in the repo 😕

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Simon](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/simon/32/287_2.png) [@Simon](https://forum.delta.chat/u/Simon)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 12:13pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/only-new-emails-shown-why/2483/5 "2023-04-04T12:13:36Z")

</div>

the config key for this is called `fetch_existing_msgs`.

you can find issues regarding it when searching for it:

- issues: [Search · repo:deltachat/deltachat-core-rust fetch\_existing\_msgs · GitHub](https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Adeltachat%2Fdeltachat-core-rust+fetch_existing_msgs&type=issues)
- pullrequests: [Search · repo:deltachat/deltachat-core-rust fetch\_existing\_msgs · GitHub](https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Adeltachat%2Fdeltachat-core-rust+fetch_existing_msgs&type=pullrequests)

Might be that there are still some small bugs but the bigger issue basically is that you don’t have the key to decrypt your messages anymore and there is no feature to decrypt messages after receiving/loading them from the server, here an example:

- I enable `fetch_existing_msgs`, then login
- it fetches all old messages (that are still present on the imap server, we have a feature that allows deleting messages on imap after time X. but lets say all messages are still there)
- I get tons of messages with “Failed to decrypt message, was it encrypted to another key?”
- I import my old key because I still had it somewhere (like on another device)
- Deltachat does not attempt to decrypt the messages again with the new key ← that’s the missing feature

If you need it to setup a new device import/export a backup file or use the upcoming networked backup transfer feature that we are developing right now (its already out in the mobile test versions, desktop will be out in a week probably)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/r10s/32/1513_2.png) [@r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/u/r10s)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 3:11pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/only-new-emails-shown-why/2483/6 "2026-10-06T15:11:45Z")

</div>