Re: [Evolution] Filtering folders other than INBOX

[Not Zed <notzed ximian com>]

On Fri, 2004-08-13 at 12:29 +1000, Andrew Cowie wrote:
> In an IMAP account, one can tell Evolution to automatically apply
> filters to new messages coming in in INBOX.
>
> Is there a away this could be changed to to all folders [or, perhaps all
> new messages?]
Only by using server-side rules.
> I note that the Junkmail settings include an option "check for junk in
> all folders"; we already have significant junk testing (sa, etc)
> happening server side, but we also have server side sorting into various
> folders - result, I get new messages all over the place.
If you already have server-side filtering, why would you want to slow it down and do it on the client too?
> [This is in place to make webmail worthwhile. I could, of course, jsut
> have everything come through INBOX and have evolution sort them client
> side, but it would make our webmail interface largely useless as my
> inbox there would be crammed full. I'm on the road enough that I
> regrettably cannot always get a laptop with Evolution hooked up to the
> internet to do the sorting]
>
> It would be brilliant if filters could be automatically applied to new
> messages regardless of the folder they come in on, rather than just
> INBOX.
There are several technical reasons why this is difficult, and philosophical reasons why it is bad:
- client side filtering is already not a great idea, this would make any delays you already experience somewhat worse.
- with most servers there is no way to know if the mail has already been filtered by evolution or not
- finding out about new messages is already unreliable at best, searching all folders for them would also impact performance a lot
- server-side filtering, if you already have it, is entirely the way to go anyway
- semantically only filtering inbox fits in the idea of what inbox is, if its not going into inbox it''s already been filtered.
> I looked through the list archives but couldn't find anything to answer
> this - sorry if it's been discussed recently.
>
> AfC

-- 







Michael Zucchi <notzed ximian com>

"born to die, live to work, it's all downhill from here"

Novell's Evolution and Free Software Developer