Coordination of R7 and user's IMAP client

There have been several mentions of cases where the status shown in the R7 Inbox does not agree with what is shown in a user’s email client Inbox (such as Thunderbird). To help clarify the situation, I have run a number of tests.

Ground rules:

  • IMAP
  • running R7 in synchronized mode
  • no manual screen refreshes

Notes:

  • running R7 and Thunderbird on separate computers
  • R7 can be very slow to show a new message as read/unread
  • R6 operates properly :slight_smile:

Tests:
1- mark as read at R7 FAILED
2- mark as read at TB OK, but slow (about 5 minutes)
3- delete at R7 FAILED
4- delete at TB FAILED
5- move a msg from another folder to Inbox at R7 FAILED
6- move a msg from another folder to Inbox at TB FAILED

Thanks for the detailed test report. We have identified issues with changes made via IMAP due to the way the IMAP server processes moved messages, which could explain several of the symptoms you describe.

We are working on this problem in issue [#772].

  • Geir

Good. Let me know when this is fixed and I will repeat the tests if you like; even some additional OSs and browsers.

Since updates have been deployed and my email has been re-indexed, I have repeated the test I had run earlier, but with more variations. Here are the tests and results:

Runbox tests - Setup:

R7 bundle 201803130935
tests run 21 Mar 2018 08:00 CDT (GMT - 5)

Linux Antergos

  • tested with the following web browsers:
  •   Firefox
    
  •   Chromium (Chrome for Linux)
    
  •   Vivaldi
    
  • RB7 running in synchronized mode
  • no manual screen refreshes

Mac OSX

  • tested with the following email clients using IMAP:
  •   Thunderbird
    
  •   Mac Mail
    
  •   Opera Mail
    
  •   DCSMail
    

Test 1

  • send a message from gmail to my Runbox account
  • read at R7
  • wait for email client to show message read

Test 2

  • send a message from gmail to my Runbox account
  • read at email client
  • wait for R7 to show message read

Test 3

  • send a message from gmail to my Runbox account
  • delete at R7
  • wait for email client to show message deleted

Test 4

  • send a message from gmail to my Runbox account
  • delete at email client
  • wait for R7 to show message deleted

Test 5

  • move a msg from another folder to Inbox at R7
  • wait for email client to show message in Inbox

Test 6

  • move a msg from another folder to Inbox at email client
  • wait for R7 to show message in Inbox

Results:

Tests 1-4 Pass.
Test 5 FAILS except with DCSMail. Also there is a disparity between the number of messages shown in the R7 Inbox and the count shown next to the Inbox folder.
Test 6 FAILS in all cases.
To get everything back in sync after the tests, I had to stop synchronization, delete any messages which didn’t agree between ends, and start synchronization again.

Thanks for the further information, this will be very useful as we continue to address this issue. We may ask if you can repeat these tests please once we have a further update on this.

I’ll be glad to. Also, I don’t think the OS is a factor, but can use Win 10 and Edge just to cover the bases.

I have done a little more testing since you re-indexed yesterday, and found that the re-indexing works fine until changes are made via an IMAP client. At that point the two interfaces get out of sync again. Do you maintain two separate indices - one for IMAP and one for R7? If so, is that necessary? I’m sure I am not the only user who mixes web mail and IMAP among multiple devices.

Are your developers doing tests with R7 and IMAP? If so, what OS and browser(s) do they use?

At this point I am forced to rely on my email client and R6 to provide a dependable service, but I am very willing to do as much testing and support as you would like.

BTW, the bundles referenced in the R7 page source don’t seem to be related to a date anymore. Is there a way to tell when it was built?

Barry: IMAP and conventional webmail rely on a central database with which the local index synchronizes.

Fixes for the issues produced when moving messages via IMAP have been deployed – are you seeing any improvement?

Thanks for continuing to test.

  • Geir

We seem to having this conversation in two different threads. See my latest posts in “Synchronizing Account Index”. Do you want to combine the two threads?