[Evolution] gmail imapx extremely slow?

[Paul Smith <paul mad-scientist net>]

Has anyone else noticed that accessing gmail via imapx from Evolution
has gotten extremely slow a number of times over the last week or so?
Sometimes it's fine, then it will be unbearable for a few hours (or
more), then it seems fine again.

Probably it doesn't matter but FYI, I'm using Ubuntu 20.04 with
Evolution 3.36.4.

I have two gmail addresses; one a personal address and one a corporate
address.  The personal account is fine: no problems.

But the corporate address is ridiculous.  I'll add below a log of
imapx:io where it took 30 seconds to download and display one,
relatively small, message.

Also I've noticed that Evolution seems to be constantly rescanning all
my folders, including ones that are VERY large like my gmail "Sent"
folder, and this rescan takes forever.  Is there some setting I should
use to reduce this?  I only need to check for NEW messages, I don't
need to rescan all the already-known messages in the folder; isn't that
possible?

Actually I'd be happy enough to NEVER automatically scan my Sent folder
and only retrieve it when I actually visit it (which is rarely).  Can
that be done?

However, of course that is just for reducing overhead, it's not related
(I don't think) to why downloading a new message in my inbox is so
slow.


Here's an imap trace from imapx:io to get one message piped through ts
to get timestamps, lightly edited; the message was displayed right
around the 16:25:04 mark or similar:


May 18 16:24:38 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00437 SELECT myfolder'
May 18 16:24:42 [imapx:G] I/O: '* OK Gimap ready for requests from <ip> xxxxxx'
May 18 16:24:42 [imapx:G] I/O: 'G00438 CAPABILITY'
May 18 16:24:42 [imapx:G] I/O: '* CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UNSELECT IDLE NAMESPACE QUOTA ID XLIST CHILDREN 
X-GM-EXT-1 XYZZY SASL-IR AUTH=XOAUTH2 AUTH=PLAIN AUTH=PLAIN-CLIENTTOKEN AUTH=OAUTHBEARER AUTH=XOAUTH
May 18 16:24:42 G00438 OK Thats all she wrote! xxxxxx'
May 18 16:24:42 [imapx:G] I/O: 'G00439 AUTHENTICATE XOAUTH2'
May 18 16:24:42 [imapx:G] I/O: '+ '
May 18 16:24:43 [imapx:G] I/O: 'yyyyyy'
May 18 16:24:43 [imapx:G] I/O: ''
May 18 16:24:47 [imapx:G] I/O: '* CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UNSELECT IDLE NAMESPACE QUOTA ID XLIST CHILDREN 
X-GM-EXT-1 UIDPLUS COMPRESS=DEFLATE ENABLE MOVE CONDSTORE ESEARCH UTF8=ACCEPT LIST-EXTENDED LIST-STATUS 
LITERAL- SPECIAL-USE APPENDLIMIT=35651584
May 18 16:24:47 G00439 OK me@myhost authenticated (Success)'
May 18 16:24:47 [imapx:G] I/O: 'G00440 CAPABILITY'
May 18 16:24:47 [imapx:G] I/O: '* CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UNSELECT IDLE NAMESPACE QUOTA ID XLIST CHILDREN 
X-GM-EXT-1 UIDPLUS COMPRESS=DEFLATE ENABLE MOVE CONDSTORE ESEARCH UTF8=ACCEPT LIST-EXTENDED LIST-STATUS 
LITERAL- SPECIAL-USE APPENDLIMIT=35651584
May 18 16:24:47 G00440 OK Success'
May 18 16:24:47 [imapx:G] I/O: 'G00441 ENABLE UTF8=ACCEPT'
May 18 16:24:47 [imapx:G] I/O: '* ENABLED UTF8=ACCEPT
May 18 16:24:47 G00441 OK Success'
May 18 16:24:47 [imapx:G] I/O: 'G00442 NAMESPACE'
May 18 16:24:47 [imapx:G] I/O: '* NAMESPACE (("" "/")) NIL NIL
May 18 16:24:47 G00442 OK Success'
May 18 16:24:49 [imapx:G] I/O: 'G00443 SELECT INBOX'
May 18 16:24:49 [imapx:G] I/O: '* FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Draft \Deleted \Seen $Labelimportant $Labellater 
$Labeltodo $Labelwork $NotJunk $NotPhishing $Phishin'
May 18 16:24:49 [imapx:G] I/O: 'g $has_cal JUNK NOTJUNK)
May 18 16:24:49 * OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Draft \Deleted \Seen $Labelimportant $Labellater 
$Labeltodo $Labelwork $NotJunk $NotPhishing $Phishing $has_cal JUNK NOTJUNK \*)] Flags permitted.
May 18 16:24:49 * OK [UIDVALIDITY 1] UIDs valid.
May 18 16:24:49 * 846 EX'
May 18 16:24:49 [imapx:G] I/O: 'ISTS
May 18 16:24:49 * 0 RECENT
May 18 16:24:49 * OK [UIDNEXT 82586] Predicted next UID.
May 18 16:24:49 * OK [HIGHESTMODSEQ 35642413]
May 18 16:24:49 G00443 OK [READ-WRITE] INBOX selected. (Success)'
May 18 16:24:49 [imapx:G] I/O: 'G00444 IDLE'
May 18 16:24:50 [imapx:G] I/O: '+ idling'
May 18 16:24:53 [imapx:F] I/O: '* FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Draft \Deleted \Seen $Labelimportant $Labellater 
$Labeltodo $Labelwork $NotJunk $NotPhishing $Phishin'
May 18 16:24:53 [imapx:F] I/O: 'g $has_cal JUNK NOTJUNK)
May 18 16:24:53 * OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Draft \Deleted \Seen $Labelimportant $Labellater 
$Labeltodo $Labelwork $NotJunk $NotPhishing $Phishing $has_cal JUNK NOTJUNK \*)] Flags permitted.
May 18 16:24:53 * OK [UIDVALIDITY 12] UIDs valid.
May 18 16:24:53 * 136 E'
May 18 16:24:53 [imapx:F] I/O: 'XISTS
May 18 16:24:53 * 0 RECENT
May 18 16:24:53 * OK [UIDNEXT 83662] Predicted next UID.
May 18 16:24:53 * OK [HIGHESTMODSEQ 35642413]
May 18 16:24:53 F00437 OK [READ-WRITE] myfolder selected. (Success)'
May 18 16:24:53 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00445 UID FETCH 83661 (BODY.PEEK[])'
May 18 16:25:02 [imapx:F] I/O: '* 136 FETCH (UID 83661 BODY[] {30883}
May 18 16:25:02 Delivered-To: <msgheaders>
May 18 16:25:02 ARC-Authentication-Results: i=1;'
May 18 16:25:02 [imapx:F] I/O: '<msg>'
May 18 16:25:02 [imapx:F] I/O: ')
May 18 16:25:02 F00445 OK Success'
May 18 16:25:02 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00446 NOOP'
May 18 16:25:04 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00446 OK Success'
May 18 16:25:04 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00447 UID FETCH 83662:* (UID FLAGS)'
May 18 16:25:05 [imapx:F] I/O: '* 136 FETCH (UID 83661 FLAGS ())
May 18 16:25:05 F00447 OK Success'
May 18 16:25:05 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00448 UID FETCH 1:83662 (UID FLAGS)'
May 18 16:25:07 [imapx:F] I/O: '* 1 FETCH (UID 63709 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 2 FETCH (UID 65159 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 3 FETCH (UID 70203 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 4 FETCH (UID 70352 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 5 FETCH (UID 70353 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 6 FETCH (UID 70354 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 7 FETCH (UID 70371 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 8 FETCH (UID 70383 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 9 FETCH (UID 70459 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 10 FETCH (UID 70503 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 11 FETCH (UID 70585 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 12 FETCH (UID 70715 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 13 FETCH (UID 70811 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 14 FETCH (UID 70929 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 15 FETCH (UID 70948 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 16 FETCH (UID 70969 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 17 FETCH (UID 71044 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 18 FETCH (UID 71127 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 19 FETCH (UID 71188 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 20 FETCH (UID 71190 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 21 FETCH (UID 71228 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 22 FETCH (UID 71239 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 23 FETCH (UID 71281 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 24 FETCH (UID 71293 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 25 FETCH (UID 71297 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 26 FETCH (UID 71299 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 27 FETCH (UID 71352 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 28 FETCH (UID 71554 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 29 FETCH (UID 71901 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 30 FETCH (UID 72042 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 31 FETCH (UID 72065 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 32 FETCH (UID 72131 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 33 FETCH (UID 72134 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 34 FETCH (UID 72156 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 35 FETCH (UID 72189 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 36 FETCH (UID 72197 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 37 FETCH (UID 72242 FLAGS (\Seen))'
May 18 16:25:07 [imapx:F] I/O: '
May 18 16:25:07 * 38 FETCH (UID 72243 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 39 FETCH (UID 72365 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 40 FETCH (UID 72577 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 41 FETCH (UID 72584 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 42 FETCH (UID 72669 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 43 FETCH (UID 72716 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 44 FETCH (UID 72724 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 45 FETCH (UID 72731 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 46 FETCH (UID 72766 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 47 FETCH (UID 73075 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 48 FETCH (UID 73131 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 49 FETCH (UID 73152 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 50 FETCH (UID 73176 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 51 FETCH (UID 73258 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 52 FETCH (UID 73276 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 53 FETCH (UID 73684 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 54 FETCH (UID 73686 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 55 FETCH (UID 73687 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 56 FETCH (UID 73875 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 57 FETCH (UID 73878 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 58 FETCH (UID 74440 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 59 FETCH (UID 75232 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 60 FETCH (UID 75233 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 61 FETCH (UID 75356 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 62 FETCH (UID 75363 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 63 FETCH (UID 75364 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 64 FETCH (UID 75383 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 65 FETCH (UID 75398 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 66 FETCH (UID 75430 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 67 FETCH (UID 75481 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 68 FETCH (UID 75503 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 69 FETCH (UID 75661 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 70 FETCH (UID 75847 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 71 FETCH (UID 75949 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 72 FETCH (UID 75955 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 73 FETCH (UID 75956 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 74 FETCH (UID 75991 FLAGS'
May 18 16:25:07 [imapx:F] I/O: ' (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 75 FETCH (UID 75992 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 76 FETCH (UID 76000 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 77 FETCH (UID 76648 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 78 FETCH (UID 76747 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 79 FETCH (UID 76754 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 80 FETCH (UID 76942 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 81 FETCH (UID 76975 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 82 FETCH (UID 77402 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 83 FETCH (UID 77403 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 84 FETCH (UID 77404 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 85 FETCH (UID 77592 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 86 FETCH (UID 77931 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 87 FETCH (UID 77954 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 88 FETCH (UID 78063 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 89 FETCH (UID 78357 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 90 FETCH (UID 78426 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 91 FETCH (UID 78429 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 92 FETCH (UID 78481 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 93 FETCH (UID 78482 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 94 FETCH (UID 78487 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 95 FETCH (UID 78488 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 96 FETCH (UID 78489 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 97 FETCH (UID 78509 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 98 FETCH (UID 78681 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 99 FETCH (UID 78701 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 100 FETCH (UID 79056 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 101 FETCH (UID 80725 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 102 FETCH (UID 80730 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 103 FETCH (UID 80734 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 104 FETCH (UID 81494 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 105 FETCH (UID 81500 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 106 FETCH (UID 81804 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 107 FETCH (UID 82061 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 108 FETCH (UID 82226 FLAGS (\Se'
May 18 16:25:07 [imapx:F] I/O: 'en))
May 18 16:25:07 * 109 FETCH (UID 83040 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 110 FETCH (UID 83053 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 111 FETCH (UID 83173 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 112 FETCH (UID 83174 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 113 FETCH (UID 83187 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 114 FETCH (UID 83198 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 115 FETCH (UID 83225 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 116 FETCH (UID 83226 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 117 FETCH (UID 83245 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 118 FETCH (UID 83330 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 119 FETCH (UID 83362 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 120 FETCH (UID 83369 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 121 FETCH (UID 83372 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 122 FETCH (UID 83375 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 123 FETCH (UID 83376 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 124 FETCH (UID 83380 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 125 FETCH (UID 83381 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 126 FETCH (UID 83385 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 127 FETCH (UID 83386 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 128 FETCH (UID 83388 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 129 FETCH (UID 83443 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 130 FETCH (UID 83537 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 131 FETCH (UID 83552 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 132 FETCH (UID 83595 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 133 FETCH (UID 83658 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 134 FETCH (UID 83659 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 135 FETCH (UID 83660 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:07 * 136 FETCH (UID 83661 FLAGS ())
May 18 16:25:07 F00448 OK Success'
May 18 16:25:07 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00449 UID STORE 83661 +FLAGS.SILENT (\SEEN)'
May 18 16:25:08 [imapx:F] I/O: '* 136 FETCH (UID 83661 FLAGS (\Seen))
May 18 16:25:08 F00449 OK Success'
May 18 16:25:10 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00450 NOOP'
May 18 16:25:10 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00450 OK Success'
May 18 16:25:10 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00451 IDLE'
May 18 16:25:11 [imapx:F] I/O: '+ idling'
May 18 16:25:11 [imapx:F] I/O: ''
May 18 16:25:11 [imapx:F] I/O: 'DONE'
May 18 16:25:11 [imapx:F] I/O: ''
May 18 16:25:11 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00451 OK IDLE terminated (Success)'
May 18 16:25:13 [imapx:F] I/O: 'F00452 IDLE'
May 18 16:25:13 [imapx:F] I/O: '+ idling'