[wuug-list] wuug-list Digest, Vol 25, Issue 3

[Matt Draisey]

Perhaps it is my debian build that is broken.  It is version 2.6.3.

> Evolution uses "flags" for Trash (/deleted) and Junk - and display
> "virtual" folders.. they are not physical folders.  It appears
> gmail's imap server honours at least the /deleted flag.

There are subtleties in the way gmail maps their tags to folders, but
I never got the programme stable enough to play with this.

> When you say "synchronize my local hierarchy of mail with online
> version", this won't happen automagically..  to achieve this you
> would have to MOVE your email from your "local" folders to your IMAP
> folders.  You were likely using POP before and removing the mail
> from the server..  IMAP is completely opposite - as all mail remains
> on the server.

What I like about gmail is that you get mail backup for free.  POP on
gmail actually works quite well; I get a local copy that is downloaded
in a batch once or twice a day, and the server is set to archive any
POP'ed mail automatically (in gmail-speak archiving is the same as
removing the "inbox" tag from a message).  The shortcomings of the
scheme are obvious, any organization of mail you do locally is not
refelected on the server, so actually trying to find a six month old
email via the web interface is very difficult.

>From what I have read I should be able to set up an imap client
similarly, so it will batch download mail from the server into a local
cache.  None of the clients I have tried can do this properly --- all
have been painfully slow to use.  Evolution has been no worse that
the others in this regard but if there is a way to force it to
preload mail in my inbox I haven't been able to find it from the
documentation.

> I haven't tested moving a top-level folder from one server to gmail
> - so I cannot say it will work.. but you can test with a small
> subset folder.

For me, simply copying a single email message led to a crash.  I won't
be moving my old mail to gmail any time soon.

Thanks for the input.  I am looking forward to getting
evolution working.  Hopefully before debian lenny is released!