420711 - fcc on Exchange IMAP folder converts non-ASCII chars to "?"

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, defect)

Description

[Martin Wilck]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.8.1.12) Gecko/20080203 SUSE/2.0.0.12-0.1 Firefox/2.0.0.12
Build Identifier: Thunderbird version 2.0.0.12 (20080213)

I am using the fcc_reply_follows_parent=true feature of thunderbird.

When I do this for an email on an IMAP folder (IMAP server is Microsoft Exchange), any non-ASCII character in the reply saved to the IMAP folder is converted into a question mark ('?'). This is independent on the character set I am using.

The problem also occurs if I use an IMAP folder as default fcc folder (user_pref("mail.identity.id2.fcc_folder", "imap://[e-mail]/Sent");


Luckily, the conversion does not happen in the reply sent out by mail (all characters are fine there). The problem does also not occur if I am using the fcc_reply_follows_parent=true feature on a local disk folder. The problem occurs only when I am using the reply_follows_parent feature, not when I copy a message  between local and IMAP folders.


Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Set fcc_folder to an IMAP folder
2. Send email containing non-ASCII chars (e.g. German Umlaute)
3. Open message in fcc IMAP folder
Actual Results:  
All non-ASCII chars are replaced by '?'

Expected Results:  
Message unchanged

Comment 1

[Martin Wilck]

Attachment: Original message as sent

Comment 2

[Martin Wilck]

Attachment: Message saved to fcc

Comment 3

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Since the message in the sent folder apparently is rewritten by exchange (Content-Transfer-Encoding and Content-Type changed at least), I think this is a server bug. 

Comment 4

[Martin Wilck]

That's what I thought initially. But copying/moving a message from a local folder to an IMAP folder works correctly, so thunderbird obviously treats these two cases (1. copy a message from local to IMAP, 2. create a new message in IMAP folder) differently. I see no reason for that.

IOW: If thuderbird created the FCC message in a local folder and moved it to IMAP afterwards, the error would be gone.

Comment 5

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

I don't think thunderbird does that, it's buggy exchange that threats the Sent folder differently... As I said, the source of the two messages are not the same, which they would be if thunderbird was the only one doing things with them.

Comment 6

[Martin Wilck]

The "Sent" folder is not treated differently from other folders. If I activate fcc_reply_follows_parent=true, the reply is placed in the folder which contains the message I am replying to. I have tried this with several folders. Results:

 1. Fcc to Local folder: no problem
 2. Fcc to IMAP folder, regardless which one: error
 3. Copy to any folder, IMAP or local: no problem

I am not saying that it has nothing to do with "buggy Exchange", but please don't blame on Exchange too easily. Point 3. shows that it's possible to put messages into Exchange IMAP folders without mangling the non-ASCII characters.

Comment 7

[Martin Wilck]

I checked at home with a different IMAP server (Cyrus) and you are right, the problem des not occur there.

However it's a matter of interaction between thunderbird and exchange. Repeat: if Thunderbird just did the same as it does when copying/moving messages, it would work.

Comment 8

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

I would assume that's basically what it does... If you first let it fcc a local folder, and copy *that* message to the exchange imap folder, does it work ok?

Comment 9

[Martin Wilck]

For some reason, the error is gone since today. I have no idea what the reason could be. Sorry for bothering. I will reopen this bug if I can ever reproduce it again.