[Dovecot] mbox vs maildir

[William Blunn]

On 18/09/2010 18:43, Jim Pazarena wrote:
> I've had clients 'request' nested folders, and it would seem that 
> maildir is designed with that ability while with mbox it is difficult 
> and.or impossible to implement (nested can be achieved; but not nested 
> AND populated in each nest level).

You can, under mbox, have mailboxes containing messages which are also 
the parents of other mailboxes, though it requires special configuration.

Two approaches are described at http://wiki2.dovecot.org/MboxChildFolders

> My question is, is one format 'better' than the other? It would take a 
> fair bit of time to convert my system to maildir and I would want to 
> feel comfortable that this would be a true 'upgrade' in abilities, 
> rather than simply a change to accommodate nested folders.

Maildir and mbox both have advantages and disadvantages.

If you are thinking about re-assessing your mail store strategy, you 
might also want to consider single-dbox and multi-dbox.

http://wiki2.dovecot.org/MailboxFormat/dbox

Bill