GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 604027
Offline IMAP synchronisation unreliable
Last modified: 2010-10-01 07:14:49 UTC
Reported downstream from https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+bug/492248 ** Appears to be related to large folders - small folders appear to synchronise off-line successfully ** ** Request to flag as high priority as this is the main required feature for using Evolution rather than other clients ** Binary package hint: evolution Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) Evolution 2.28.1 IMAP - confirmed with Gmail and local ISP mail server I have set folders to be marked for offline synchronisation, as well as enabling the automatic synchronisation option. Have synchronised for offline use and switched offline, and synchronised again when prompted. Many emails are *not* available when offline, and network usage indicates that not much has been downloaded. Have attempted on two different systems, both using Karmic (Ubuntu). This is very important to me as this is the main reason to use Evolution, as I currently have no other way to backup an IMAP email folder or use IMAP offline. Seems to happen on large email accounts. Tried on a small email account, and seems to have worked. On large email accounts, it seems only a small number of random emails are downloaded. One other user has confirmed this is a possible bug: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1333737#r13
I can also confirm this bug. I'm using the same version and OS as demonsthenes. I have a workaround for the issue: copy all messages from your IMAP inbox to a local folder. This forces them to be downloaded. Afterwards, the messages in the local folder can be deleted and the local IMAP cache will still have them for offline usage. I've set up a filter to automatically copy new incoming messages to a local folder, so they always get downloaded.
I use the same OS (Ubuntu 9.10) with the same version of evolution and can confirm the bug and the workaround described by David Chamberlain. I assume that the bug appears always for messages that consist of several (MIME) parts. After some tests I succeeded in reproducing the following behavior: 1) I uploaded a new folder with messages to my IMAP account (different program). 2) I switched to offline mode and marked the folder for offline synchronization (automatic synchronization was always enabled). 3) I switched several times between online and offline mode, closed and restarted evolution, however, I never opened the folder in online mode. The messages in the new folder were never accessible in offline mode. 4) I visited the folder when evolution was in online mode. Now a download for offline synchronization started. Afterwards, I was able to read all messages that consisted of a single text part in offline mode, i.e., all messages _not_ consisting of several (MIME) parts were downloaded. Messages consisting of several (MIME) parts were not completely downloaded, only their headers were available. When I looked at the files on my local file system I only found the MIME descriptions of the different parts but not their contents (see example below). 5) Similar to David Chamberlain's workaround I copied the complete folder to a local account. After evolution completed the download I removed the folder on the local account and switched to offline mode. Now all messages were readable in offline mode and all attachments were accessible. The behavior was found for a mailbox with 19 messages. Message 16 consisted of five MIME parts. After step 4) the following files with the message header and the MIME descriptions were saved on the local file system: 16.1.MIME 16.2.MIME 16.3.MIME 16.4.MIME 16.5.MIME 16.HEADER After step 5) the contents of the (MIME) parts were added and the following files appeared on my local file system: 16.1 16.1.MIME 16.2 16.2.MIME 16.3 16.3.MIME 16.4 16.4.MIME 16.5 16.5.MIME 16.HEADER
I can confirm I also have this problem using Evolution 2.28.2 running Fedora 12.
I can confirm too, Evolution 2.28.1 on Ubuntu 9.10, the IMAP server is GMail. - David, could you just explain the filter you have set up a little bit more please? Are you doing it for each folder?
I have put a fix for this issue for the existing imap provider - http://git.gnome.org/browse/evolution-data-server/commit/?id=a967797fad1cd391e3df7b2643f691d64b3d5ab7 to master. Will get these fixes on to gnome-2-28 branch as well. This should completely download all the contents of the email for offline usage if the folder is marked for offline.
(In reply to comment #4) > I can confirm too, Evolution 2.28.1 on Ubuntu 9.10, the IMAP server is GMail. > > - David, could you just explain the filter you have set up a little bit more > please? Are you doing it for each folder? Select Edit >> Message Filters. Show filters for "Incoming" and select "Add". Add a new condition and set it to "Match All". Add a new action and select "Copy to Folder". Set the "copy to" folder to anything under "On This Computer". Close all the filter/rule dialogs. Now select Edit >> Preferences >> Mail Accounts. Edit the IMAP account. Under the "Receiving Options" tab check the box labeled "Apply filters to new messages in INBOX on this server."
Seems bug has been fixed and patch has been committed. Thanks a lot for reporting bug, closing this now.