[Dovecot] STATUS command and total/read message count

Hello,

I'm running Dovecot 1.0.15 with Thunderbird 3.0.1. TB can query folders for messages in two ways: Either by using the STATUS command, or by opening the folder (don't know the respective IMAP commands, sorry...).

Querying via opening the folder is reliable, but via the STATUS command, only new/unread messages are shown. If I want to have the total number of (unread) mesages in a folder, I have to manually open it, so the headers are loaded. Is this a Dovecot issue, or a problem with Thunderbird?

In other words: Does the STATUS command only return new/unread messages, or can this be configured on the server side?

Thanks, Florian