On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 12:07, Tom Hendrikx <tom@whyscream.net> wrote:
The IMAP protocol does not define folder names and such. Servers and clients only know how to create/remove/rename/relocate folders and files, and some other basics. The names that are used by default, is a choice of the user (mostly the default settings in the users' client).
I was afraid of that. A standard for syntax but not as much for semantics at a higher level.
'Trash' is the default trashcan folder in thunderbird, but in MS Outlook it's 'Deleted Items' (not even mentioning differences related to locale settings). When interpreting your experience with Evolution (never used it myself), I guess that it doesn't use the trashcan folder concept at all, but in stead flags a message as 'Trash', in the same way that you would set 'Seen' or 'Important' flags, and treats these message different from a UI perpective. AFAIK only the INBOX is a well-known default (and maybe even part of some RFC).
But that would mean there is some mechanism in IMAP for these flags. Dovecot is attaching the flag 'T'. But what does 'T' mean? If IMAP allows setting flags with arbitrary letters, then 'T' could mean Trash for one client and Terrorist for another client, or no meaning at all for yet another.
You could try to set up all clients' prefs to use the same naming scheme, and the same way of trash handling, when possible.
That'll be the hard part ... that I was was afraid of. It will require getting everyone to use their clients in the same way, disrupting what they already do. I guess it isn't much of a problem for most people because they rarely share a mailbox between different people with different clients.