[Evolution] Several Issues/Suggestions with Evolution

[Devnull <devnull subject2change com>]

Devs,

First off, I am new to this list, but have gone over the last months
archives, so I am fairly aware of the current issues. Second, this email
is not looking for advice or immediate resolutions. Rather, I simply
want to make sure you're aware of the problems I have had with ev1.2 and
ev1.4. Some deal with IMAP. I am aware a complete overhaul of the imap
implementation is scheduled for 1.6, and await that release with bated
breathe. I'm just afraid some of these issues will not be noticed, and
I'll be stuck with a second-rate email program named something other
than Evolution. After all, Evolution is the only first-rate email
program on Linux.

Btw, how soon till 1.6?

I hope I won't sounded too brash. I just woke up, and haven't had my
Mountain Dew yet. These things have irked me for months, and I've
finally gotten around to talking about them. Actually, I'm
procrastinating on much more important work. ;-)

Ok, here they are:

Note: I use ev to check 3 separate accounts on the same imap server. I
only use imap, never pop3.

1. Seeing deleted messages
I use spamassassin to delete spam. My imap server is remote, so I use a
local copy with a perl script(imapassassin) to bring in the messages for
processing, then send the commands to mark the spam for deletion on the
server, after copying them to a special spam folder for later perusal.
Typically, when I go into an already running Evolution, it refuses to
acknowledge any emails were marked for deletion. It may see new mail as
it comes into that folder, but it still does not see new marks for
deletion. In order to purge the mail, I have to restart Evolution
completely.

2. Manual refreshing of folders
There does not appear to be a way to manually refresh the view of an
IMAP folder.  No, this is different from hitting send/recieve.  I do a
lot of processing outside ev, as evidenced in #1. I need to see that
processing reflected in ev, immediately. To have ev always do a full
refresh on a folder may be ok for fast servers, but mine is not fast. I
think a manual refresh button, coupled with an option in settings to do
always a full refresh(for those fast servers) would work well.

3. Killing evolution
Up to ev1.2, there was a killev command that worked wonderfully. With
1.4, you claimed to have fixed the problems, and brought the killev
functionality into the evolution command itself. Well, I still have the
same problems(notably ev sitting around waiting for IMAP commands to
finish, which I won't address here). And your new ev-killing switch does
not appear to work. I now have to kill each process one by one. And I
have to do it about once a day, due to problem #1 above.

4. Send/Receive dialog uninformative
As I mentioned above, my three imap accounts are on the same server.
When I use Send/Receive, the dialog pops up with a list of the accounts
it is checking. That would be Server: mail.domain.com, Server:
mail.domain.com, and of course, Server: mail.domain.com. See a trend
there? So, which is which?

5. Order of email accounts on folders bar can't be changed
Murphy's Law, or a derivative thereof, seems to control my Folders bar.
My most important email account has landed at the bottom. My second-most
important account is at the top. I have to scroll often. And lets get
rid of Summary, Local Folders, and Other Contacts. I never use them.

6. Save Draft needs a shortcut key
I'm one of those guys that feels odd writing on paper. Where's the save
button? In other words, I like the comfort of occasionally hitting save
as I type. I've saved this email as draft several times already.

Finally, I'd like to commend you developers for a job well done. I did a
project for a college class last year which involved creating a simple
email client. I used Delphi (it was a Delphi class) with the Indy pop3
components, but delved into the imap protocol to see if I wanted to
extend it. No way. Implementing that protocol looked extremely
complicated, and I now admire anyone who attempts it, especially those
who strive for a full implementation. Kudos to you..

.jeremy.