Topic: IMAP sub-folders have disappeared

[Jason Judge]

My IMAP sub-folders have disappeared from Outlook Express 5.5 and IMP. They were there - now they have gone. I'm using SME 5.1.2 and the folders are still there correctly on the server in the user's home account.

I can create a new sub-folder, and it appears on the server, but as soon as I reset the IMAP list it disappears from view again - both on OLE and IMP.

Any idea where the problem could lie?

Good. Now any idea how we can fix it? I use my e-mail heavily and need a way to organise the messages.

-- Jason

[Jason Judge]

Here's the Outlook Express (OLE) log file for a 'reset imap folders' command. Does anyone know enough about the IMAP commands to see what is happening? Is it SME that is not traversing the sub-directories properly in response to an LSUB command or is it OLE that is failing to recursively issue an LSUB command for each directory it gets back? There should be a number of sub-folders under Mail/IEMA and Mail/Suppliers - Tech. Serv.

Any ideas?

-- Jason

IMAP: 21:29:18 [tx] DONE
IMAP: 21:29:18 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] 003N OK IDLE completed
IMAP: 21:29:18 [tx] 005K LIST "" "Mail"
IMAP: 21:29:18 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LIST () "/" Mail
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] 005K OK LIST completed
IMAP: 21:29:18 [tx] 005L LIST "" "Mail/*"
IMAP: 21:29:18 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LIST () "/" Mail/sent-mail
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LIST () "/" Mail/IEMA
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LIST () "/" "Mail/Sent Items"
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LIST () "/" Mail/Drafts
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LIST () "/" "Mail/Suppliers - Tech. Serv."
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] 005L OK LIST completed
IMAP: 21:29:18 [tx] 005M LSUB "" "Mail/*"
IMAP: 21:29:18 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LSUB () "/" Mail/sent-mail
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LSUB () "/" "Mail/Sent Items"
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LSUB () "/" Mail/Drafts
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LSUB () "/" Mail/IEMA
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LSUB () "/" "Mail/Suppliers - Tech. Serv."
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] 005M OK LSUB completed
IMAP: 21:29:18 [tx] 005N LIST "" "INBOX*"
IMAP: 21:29:18 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LIST (\NoInferiors) NIL INBOX
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] 005N OK LIST completed
IMAP: 21:29:18 [tx] 005O LSUB "" "INBOX*"
IMAP: 21:29:18 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LSUB () "/" INBOX
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] 005O OK LSUB completed
IMAP: 21:29:18 [tx] 005P LIST "" "Mail/sent-mail"
IMAP: 21:29:18 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LIST () "/" Mail/sent-mail
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] 005P OK LIST completed
IMAP: 21:29:18 [tx] 005Q LSUB "" "Mail/sent-mail"
IMAP: 21:29:18 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LSUB () "/" Mail/sent-mail
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] 005Q OK LSUB completed
IMAP: 21:29:18 [tx] 005R LIST "" "Mail/Drafts"
IMAP: 21:29:18 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LIST () "/" Mail/Drafts
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] 005R OK LIST completed
IMAP: 21:29:18 [tx] 005S LSUB "" "Mail/Drafts"
IMAP: 21:29:18 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] * LSUB () "/" Mail/Drafts
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] 005S OK LSUB completed
IMAP: 21:29:18 [tx] 005T IDLE
IMAP: 21:29:18 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 3
IMAP: 21:29:18 [rx] + Ready for argument

[Des Dougan]

Jason,

Have you tried Darrell May's How-to for changing the default IMP folder location?

http://myezserver.com/downloads/mitel/contrib/imp-folders-0.0.1/imp-folders-howto.html

That may be what's causing your problem.

Des Dougan

[Jason Judge]

Des,

Thanks. I've seen a number of posts showing how to change the root directory, but I have never seen an explanation as to why it needs to be done.

I have set up the OLE root folder to Mail/, IMP uses Mail/, procmail uses Mail/ - they are all consistent, so that should be enough, yes? Wrong! I would really love to know why not because this seems to be a very common problem across a number of e-mail clients.

So far as I know, the e-mail client has been correctly configured. However, something is not working as it should. I have log files to show what is happening (though not necessarily why) in the finest detail. Any experts out there who can debug IMAP?

I have seen references to a restriction on IMAP which states a folder can contain other folders or mail messages - but not both. Neither SME nor OLE enforce this, so that could be a problem. I think the use of the Mail folder is how it should be done - it keeps the mail in one place and not scattered around the user's home directory potentially with other unrelated files.

I won't be confident about this until I know exactly what is wrong and know it is fixed for good. I make changes that seem to get it working - do a reboot etc - and it works for a while - sort-of. I still get errors moving folders, saving drafts, disappearing folders - different things on different days - it seems to be inconsistent as it works for a while, then stops working for no apparent reason.

-- Jason

Frustrated.

[stephen noble]

this has a patch to get procmail to send mail to folders in ~/
OLE  can't see mail in ~/Mail

http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/dungog/sme/howto/procmail.html#imap

regards
stephen

[Jason Judge]

I don't get this. In OLE 5.5 there is a configuration option to set the IMAP base directory to anything you like. I set it to Mail/ and it seems to work. I just can't see sub-directories under that.

Is this a bug in the OLE handling of a non-null base directory or are people talking about earlier versions of OLE that did not have this option? All the evidence I have seen points to the latter. Nowhere have I seen it stated that there is a bug in the way OLE handles non-null IMAP base directories. If you can point me to one, I'll go with it

Also - the IMP sub-directories are not visible. Why should OLE handling of IMAP directories prevent IMP from seeing the same sub-directories? I've checked the raw files on the Unix account and it does not appear to be corrupt or incorrect in any way.

-- Jason

[stephen noble]

i tried OLE 5.5 from XPhome
yes you can see the folders but you can't read from them
ask microsoft

[Jason Young]

Jason,

I too have had a similar problem to you, where with Outlook 2000/2002 and an IMAP account, subfolders dissapeared. They also dissapeared under IMP. The only brute force way I could find them again was to continually change the root folder path and re-query IMAP folders and re-subscribe in Outlook. After I had done this for the IMAP directory tree, I had to kill the account and recreate it.

Tedious , but it got the folders back.

eg. first set the folder to Mail/ , query IMAP folders and subscribe to all of them then as in your example rest the root folder path to Mail/IEMA/ and repeat......

After you recreate the IMAP account all of  your subfolders and their messages will be back. Don't know what changes, but it works.

When you recreate the account you can reset the root path to either nothing or Mail/

Hope it helps get the mail back if not to give you an answer as to why it happens.

I also would love to know.

Jason

[Matt]

Perhaps this an old issue, and I'm hoping it has been solved.

Neither Netscape Mail nor Outlook Express seem to support IMAP folders deeper than 3 folders deep

ie.
inbox -> friends -> ottawa  
is okay

inbox -> friends -> ottawa  -> central
is *not*

I can create the "Central" folder, copy mail there, but when netscape or outlook is restarted, the messages are no longer there!

They are there on the linux side and look EXACTLY the same as any other folder.


Any ideas!?

I spent a LONG time sorting a LOT of mail, and would like to be it in accessable folders!

[Jason Judge]

It works for me - Outlook Express 5.5 - down to five or six levels at least.

One thing to be aware of though, is that when you move or copy mail between folders, OLE does not seem to be able to keep track of them properly. You can help it along, after moving messages, by selecting the very top level of your IMAP folders account, then hitting refresh - F5. That seems to stop the frequent "an unknown error occurred", somthing which I always suspect may corrupt mail.

Also, if you create a folder, then delete it, some kind o 'ghost' of that folder gets left behind. That ghost can then interact with existing mail and folders in some unpredictable ways.

I would also love to know if these problems have been fixed in the latest SME. I'm running 5.2.1, and I need to be sure 5.6 handles mail better before it is worth the immense effort upgrading, reconfiguring and reapplying my various customisations.

-- Jason

[Matt]

It happened because I switched client (not server) computers, and created the folders using the old one.

I recreated the folders in outlook, and suddenly they were filled with the messages I had originally put there.

So I guess thats one solution to the problem!