My sub-folder with Outlook work-around to date

[mj]

Hi,

What we do, on the dovecot side, is:

mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir:LAYOUT=fs:DIRNAME=mAildir

See: https://wiki2.dovecot.org/MailLocation/Maildir

This has been working out very nicely for many years.

I'm not sure though that there is a way to 'move' to that config without 
having to basically migrate all your mailboxes.

MJ

On 10/06/2017 04:08 AM, David.M.Clark wrote:
> Hi All, please be kind, this is my first e-mail to the list :-)
> 
> I actively support CentOS based e-mail servers running Dovecot, 
> Sendmail, Spammassassin and 3 x SOGo based setups.
> 
> Dovecot is my goto IMAP server and have used it and modifications to it 
> to net excellent results for years.
> 
> Then we have people who insist on only using Outlook (and in some 
> instances the MS Live Messenger thingy).
> 
> Some shenanigans in recent years have arose with using sub-folders in 
> the Outlook clients (2013 and 2016).
> 
> Traditionally, placing a "/" after the name of a newly desired e-mail 
> folder has netted the result of something like:
> 
> "Rentals/"
> 
> creating:
> 
> /u/home/someuser/mail/Rentals/
> 
> Under which users then create actual e-mail folders under the "Rentals" 
> Linux directory as such.
> 
> With Outlook 2013 and 2016 this seems to have stopped working and so I 
> implemented a work-around where the user creates a normal folder, 
> example "Rentals++", and I have written a cron script that trawls the 
> $HOMEs each minute and if it finds a folder with a "++" at the end, it 
> creates the folder as a directory, so:
> 
> /u/home/someuser/mail/Rentals++
> 
> becomes:
> 
> /u/home/someuser/mail/Rentals/
> 
> and adds this new subscription to their .subscription folder. It also 
> sends an e-mail to the user advising that the new folder is created and 
> they can proceed to use the "Rentals" folder for adding sub-folders (as 
> in real text based mail folders).
> 
> The script was a quick work-around one weekend in a mad flurry to get 
> things working and to date works but is not 'user-proof'. So I am now 
> looking at developing an internal web interface to do the same thing and 
> hoping with more controls, has no or far less margin for user error. 
> Long times of Outlook folder refreshes don't help and users sometimes 
> end up with issues that require my Linux command line help.
> 
> I have been trawling e-mail forums for some time now and have not seen 
> any other work-arounds (or perhaps I am living under a rock) but before 
> I embark on this web interface adventure, I just wanted to make sure I 
> had not missed some fundamental 'bit' that I should be observing.
> 
> All servers are either CentOS 6.9 (or slightly less) and CentOS 7 with 
> the latest updates and for things like Thunderbird and Roundcube and 
> SOGo, work well. I need to experiment with the whole "/" for these but I 
> am currently driven by the enforced Outlook chains.
> 
> Any input from you guys on whether this is my best approach or 'hey 
> mate, just do this', would be much appreciated.
> 
> I am happy to share my travels script/web-wise if this is the only 
> option to date.
>