Re: [Evolution] Filter question

[Matt Nelson <mnelson dynatec com>]

Ok, let's clarify things a bit.

- Mozilla/Netscape filter IMAP on headers (to/from/subj).  This is what 
I use.

- I haven't looked into the possibility of doing server-side filtering 
yet, but yes, that is obviously the correct way to handle things. (does 
M$ Exchange Server allow for this?)

- There are good reasons not to use POP.  The most important is that our 
server is backed up, and the client is not.  And my email archives are 
too important to risk losing.

Thanks for the discussion!

-matt

--
Matthew Nelson
Dynamics Technology, Inc.
21311 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 300, Torrance, CA 90503-5610
Voice: (310) 543-5433 FAX: (310) 543-2117 Email: mnelson dynatec com


Jeffrey Stedfast wrote:

> Uhh, why don't you use POP then? I'm baffled by this. I really am...
> It sounds to me that POP would be your ideal protocol since that's what
> you are treating your IMAP mailboxes as anyway...
>
> Jeff
>
> On 21 May 2001 15:48:52 -0400, Michael Haun wrote:
>
> > Actually I have been using netscape to filter mail via IMAP for about 6
> > months.  Also I don't filter and send back to the server. I filter to
> > move things out of the IMAP server Inbox to local folders so it is
> > basically a download/remove instead of uploading a changed message.My
> > IMAP folder is for accessing my Inbox only. Anything I need to access
> > from anywhere else I keep there and everything else gets moved to local
> > folders.
> >
> > Mike...
> >
> > On 21 May 2001 14:57:42 -0400, Jeffrey Stedfast wrote:
> >
> > > On 21 May 2001 11:22:40 -0700, Matt Nelson wrote:
> > >
> > > > You should re-consider your priority for this feature.  It makes Evo 
> > > > nearly unusable for people who use IMAP and subscribe to several mailing 
> > > > lists.  Here is a rundown of my email use:
> > > This feature is one of the next things Dan will be implementing from
> > > what I understand. Currently he's working on disconnected IMAP.
> > >
> > >
> > > >  - subscribed to many mailing lists
> > > >  - depend on email for important business communications
> > > >  - have email client "automatically check" for new mail so that 
> > > > business-related messages don't go unnoticed.
> > > >  - filter out list-related messages so my Inbox should only contain 
> > > > business mail, and will be quickly noticed when it arrives.
> > > >
> > > > I doubt that the above is an unusual use of email.  In fact, I suspect 
> > > > that it is very common.
> > > I would agree that that is pretty common, that describes my mail setup
> > > as well.
> > >
> > >
> > > > Without automatic filtering, the above is not really possible because 
> > > > the Inbox is always cluttered so always demands attention.  I know that 
> > > > I won't use Evo as long as automatic IMAP filtering is missing.
> > > It is possible, you just need to setup server-side filtering. This is
> > > what I did.
> > >
> > >
> > > > BTW, was there a specific decision to exclude this functionality?  I am 
> > > > a bit confused, because all other email clients I have used seem to 
> > > > filter automatically.
> > > There was not a specific decision to exclude this functionality at all.
> > >
> > > You are quite a bit confused, there aren't many (if any?) mail clients
> > > that filter IMAP mail unless they treat IMAP like POP, in which case
> > > using IMAP is useless. If there is a client that does IMAP filtering
> > > without treating IMAP as if it were a POP server, then I'd like to know
> > > which one? I know Balsa, mutt, Netscape, Mozilla, pine, etc don't filter
> > > IMAP mail.
> > >
> > > I think you're thinking of mail clients that filter POP mail
> > > automatically (which Evolution *does* do).
> > >
> > > Filtering IMAP mail is not as easy as you would like to believe and in
> > > most cases, filtering IMAP mail is tremendously SLOW because you'd have
> > > to download the message, run your filter rules on it, and then append it
> > > back to the server. Now just imagine, if you will, opening Evolution and
> > > connecting to your IMAP server after you get back from a long vacation
> > > when you get 500 emails per day? I'm sensing that you would then be
> > > bitching that Evolution doesn't filter fast enough.
> > >
> > > What you *really* want is server-side filtering. With some IMAP servers
> > > this can be done using procmail on the server. To find out how you can
> > > do server-side IMAP filtering with your account, you should contact your
> > > administrator or someone who would know for sure.
> > >
> > > Future plans:
> > >
> > > There is a recent protocol (of which I forget the name) that defines a
> > > means for an IMAP client send filtering rules to the IMAP server but as
> > > far as I know, there are few (if any?) servers/clients that implement
> > > this yet. We do plan on supporting this but probably not until after
> > > 1.0.
> > >
> > > As another solution, we also plan on adding automatic filtering
> > > capability to Evolution before 1.0, but do understand that this might be
> > > slow and that these filters will NOT be applied when you connect using
> > > another IMAP client like mutt or whatever.
> > >
> > > Jeff
> > >
> > >
> > > > Jeffrey Stedfast wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > filters do not get applied to IMAP mail automatically because they are
> > > > > not "downloaded" when you hit Send & Receive. We do plan on adding a way
> > > > > to automatically filter IMAP mail at some point but I'm not sure when
> > > > > this will happen.
> > > > >
> > > > > Jeff
> > >
> > >
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