Open Bug 91246 Opened 25 years ago Updated 4 years ago

RFE: check all folders for new mail menu item

Categories

(SeaMonkey :: MailNews: Message Display, enhancement)

Product:
SeaMonkey
Component:
MailNews: Message Display
Type:
enhancement
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

People

(Reporter: blizzard, Unassigned)

References

Details

It would be nice to have a menu item in mozilla that would allow me to check all new folders for new messages. When you're reading mail on an IMAP server with filters from many locations sometimes the counts get screwed up and you can't tell where you have new mail and where you don't.
Related: bug 81303
as with all mailnews UI, we'd need to get jglick's opinion. so hold of on hacking up any new UI until we hear from her. she makes the UI decisions for mozilla mailnews. we're following her specs, see: http://www.mozilla.org/mailnews/specs
Probably a feature aimed at more advanced users (filter users + IMAP users + users who realize message counts may not always be accurate). Marking Future since this isn't a top priority right now.
Target Milestone: --- → Future
aren't both bug 81303 and this one dups of bug 18266?
No. Steve log this bug from bug 18266 to surface 18266 fix to the UI (see his comments on 2001-07-19 17:30 of bug 18266) I am adding 18266 for this bug's dependence, so we know that this bug is refer from bug 18266....
Depends on: 18266
QA Contact: esther → huang
But, are you all sure this bug will be Future?
I have mail sorted into folders which I access through IMAP. I get a few mails a day but rarely anything is left in INBOX. Mozilla only notices mails that come into inbox. Both when I start it up or when it does mailbox checks. I think this is a bug rather than RFE that Mozilla doesnt notice new mail in any folders except inbox. Any mail client I used so far either checks configurable list of folders or everything.
As a previous poster commented, this really isn't a feature request. Every other email client (if ones that aren't necessarily full-featured) implement this. This IMAP behaviour in Mozilla stems from the POP3 mail is handled: in POP3, the server doesn't HAVE subfolders, all mail comes in via the Inbox. Adopting this view in the IMAP world is simply wrong. It isn't enough to ALLOW subfolders for IMAP accounts, the client needs to treat those folders no differently than it would treat the Inbox (at a minimum) which means checking them for new messages. Features might be things like providing unread/recent/unseen counts instead of just unread counts or selecting how often a subfolder is polled, etc. I am sure others could go on for days on 'features' they'd like to see, once subfolder checking works reliably, but subfolder checking itself should be supported under any circumstances. I move that this bug be given a higher priority than simply 'normal' with a TM of 'Future'. That seems unacceptable when all other major IMAP clients support this functionality.
If an IMAP account receives new messages which get filtered into folders/subfolders, those folders should have bolded text (for contains "unread" messages) and the green arrow graphic on their folder icons (for contains "newest" messages). If that is not happening, that is a bug. Adding anything additional with some some sort of menu item would be an rfe.
Jen, > If an IMAP account receives new messages which get filtered into > folders/subfolders, Yes, just that this filtering happens on the server side.
Hi! Are you still arguing on this? Then let me give you a point from an IMAP user: I am sorting mail on the server side using procmail. This allows me to use _any_ imap client (Netscape Messenger, Eudora, Outlook, Mozilla) to access my mail, having hundrets of mailing list mails per day stored away into sub folders, leaving personal stuff in the inbox. This feature is crucial to me, bacause otherwise I wouldn't find mails I have to answer to. As I filter on the server, the client has to look into all sub folders for unseen messages. Netscape Commnuicator did this automatically upon start, and also had the "File > Update Mesage Count" option in the menu for manual updating. This worked great! Mozilla (as of 2002012903) doesn't do this, which gives me a headache. It means that I have to go and manually open folders which might contain new messages. As a consequence I every now and then forget to open a folder and don't see new messages. Please, get this "feature" in. Otherwise I will be doomed to kick Mozilla or get used to people kick my ass because I don't react to their mail. Thanks!
Marian, pleas read the summary and comments more carefuilly. The feature is *already there* (although bug 18266 is still open since it's not working as good as people want it to) and can be activated by hand-editing of prefs.js This bug is only about *adding a UI* for accessing that preference.
IMHO the best place for this setting would be: Edit / Mail/News Accounting Settings / (Account) / Server Settings / Advanced / "Check new Mail on these folders:" / (Folder List) I know that, for now, it is a "Only Inbox or all folders" implementation, but it should not. If you cannot implement checking new messages for individual folders by now, please, at least implement a checkbox like "Check new mail on all IMAP folders" in the dialog box described above.
Bug 18266 has been marked as fixed. The fix provides both the functionality and part of the UI changes (i.e. you can select in each folder properties if you want to check it for new mail). What's missing now it's the UI to surface the global option mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_true and/or change that to be specified per server.
I can only fully agree to the position as stated in comments #7, #8 and #9. I also have got a lot of folders plus subfolders. I am switching between various clients under Windows and Linux. But I am required to use Mozilla under Windows if I want to decrypt mails encrypted with GnuPG (Enigmail is wonderful btw.). IMHO it should be default that all folders and subfolders are beeing checked for new mail and marked accordingly if they contain new mail. - No other Windows or Linux mail client I know does NOT do this. - Any user (I know) would suppose a client to do this. - The possibility to at least activate globally it through the GUI is a must-have. Yes, I know you can activate this by hacking the profile.js. Should I tell my mother to hack this!? Dooing it it individually for a few dozends of folders!? you're kidding. I also compile my kernel (and my whole linux system) on my own but this does not mean that this is the way to go for everyone. To be honest I can't understand why this really has to be discussed! Just try using Mozilla Mail and check every single one of 50 folders manually for new mail (take some with more than 500 or 1000 mails if you'd like to really know how it feels). No thanks, I am paid for to do other things at work. :-/ Well, I really do not intend to rant and I am speaking in a foreign language so please, don't feel offended... It's only because I'd really like to use Mozilla Mail a lot more often than I currently do and this bug is just so annoying. A part of it, Mozilla is great. ;-) Thanks a lot.
Severity: normal → enhancement
*** Bug 241301 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
(In reply to comment #16) > *** Bug 241301 has bee > ma > ked as a duplicate of this bug. *** I am using Mozilla 1.7 and Still find this limitation of Mozilla mail not checking the new mails in the different IMAP folders. Hunted and found the resolution of marking each properties of each IMAP folder to check for new mails and highlight. Guys, this is a serious limitation for a new user and is way different from what other mail clients do. It is sensible for any user to expect mozilla mail to check for new mails in all the subfolders and folders of IMAP. Hope this bug is fixed soon. Thanks! Senthil
*** Bug 219214 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Product: Browser → Seamonkey
No action on this for a very long time.
Assignee: smeredith → sspitzer
QA Contact: huang
Assignee: sspitzer → mail
Please, this is the very last reason why I'm still stuck to KMail... :-(
(In reply to comment #20) > Please, this is the very last reason why I'm still stuck to KMail... :-( You may have missed this in the comments... the feature exists, but it's just not in the user interface. (and should be, IMHO). To check all folders select Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Config Editor Type "check_all" in the filter box. Set "mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new" to "true" Now you can move off KMail! Robert
not only should be this option in menu, but also this should be the default IMO
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 18 years ago
Resolution: --- → DUPLICATE
Not a clear dup. The other bug is about a pref, this one here asks for a menu item which you can use as one-off. Probably the other bug fulfills the user need, but it should be a conscious decision, not a dupping without comment.
Status: RESOLVED → REOPENED
Resolution: DUPLICATE → ---
I see no difference this is major change and shouldn't appear in menus thus can result unpredicted behavior for typical John Doe who accidentally touch it.
I don't know what you mean with "major change". We have a button "Get Mail". That currently checks only the Inbox. If the pref in the other but is set, it will check all folders. This bug here requests that there's a way to invoke the button to make it check all folders - once. The pref would stay the same (or change at most only momentarily, as implementation detail). At least that's how I understood this bug.
I don't use IMAP so maybe I'm off-target. "Get Mail" checks all _servers_. New mail (if any) from each server comes into the appropriate inbox (usually the Global Inbox) or, if there are filters, gets diverted from there to other folders. Then n (or "Go -> Next -> Unread Message") will check all folders and newsgroups (in a certain well-defined sequence) until it finds an unread message.
> I don't use IMAP so maybe I'm off-target. > New mail (if any) from each server comes into the appropriate inbox Yes, you're off-target. On IMAP, mail is held on server. If you have filters *on the server*, or there are other mechanism on the server, mail can also arrive in folders other than the INBOX. Given that mail is on the server, the client (Thunderbird) doesn't know anything about that, unless it checks these folders. Thunderbird currently doesn't - not even when you click "Get Mail", it only checks the INBOX. That's what this bug is about, to have a "Get Mail from all folders" or similar menu item to check *all* folders on server, not just INBOX, for new mail. Bug 289208 is an different way to achieve the same. That bug would make Get Mail *always* check all folders, if the user set a pref. This may be sufficient. Reporter and CCers here should decide whether this can be closed.
(In reply to comment #28) [...] > Bug 289208 is an different way to achieve the same. That bug would make Get > Mail *always* check all folders, if the user set a pref. This may be > sufficient. Reporter and CCers here should decide whether this can be closed. > ...except bug 289208 is in Thunderbird/Preferences, so fixing it wouldn't change anything in SeaMonkey.
Status: REOPENED → NEW
Target Milestone: Future → ---
Assignee: mail → nobody
QA Contact: message-display
Hardware: PC → All

Is this still not possible?

It seems like the only way to fetch messages in all folders is to restart Thunderbird, or click each folder icon individually. This makes Thunderbird almost unusable for me as I frequently miss mail because it does not go to my inbox.

Yes, it’s still broken.
I ask thunderbird to sync for offline use a few times each day (i’m afk atm, I can post the actual name in the menu if needed)
so I at least know there are new items in my folders,
But the silly thing only downloads their headers regardless of settings, so when I want to open those I still have to wait for tbird to fetch them from the imap.

Please note that this bug report is now a Seamonkey bug, not a Thunderbird bug.

Did you try right-click/context menu on folder, Properties..., '[x] Check this folder for new mail' ?
If you have mail arriving in other folders, then it's typically because of server-side filters, and they move only into specific folders. So, you can tell Thunderbird to check exactly those.

The problem is inherent, because IMAP only allows to monitor one mailbox at a time. The client needs to either open a TCP connection for every single folder (I have hundreds of folders...), or close and open all these folders on every biff (again, hundreds! every few minutes), both causing a lot of stress on the server, and the client, and the network.

So, arguably, this is a feature that should not be implemented, but you should specifically mark the folders that you want to be checked. And that should already be possible in Thunderbird. If that doesn't work, please file a specific bug against Thunderbird, describing your exact circumstances.

Thanks Ben, I didn't know this setting existed and sorry for commenting on the wrong bug.

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