dovecot - Dec 2019 - Fast searching from android device with Dovecot/Maildir

Hello,

I am using dovecot as an imap server, mail is stored in mail directories.
Configuration is below.

One mail directory has about 14 Gb of mail in the inbox and .Sent 
directories.

Searching from an Android phone with gmail is slow or doesn't work (it 
times out).

Is there a configuration for Dovecot that can improve this? A better 
e-mail client
for Android?

Thanks,

John


root at giraffe:~# dovecot --version
2.2.27 (c0f36b0)
root at giraffe:~# doveconf -an
# 2.2.27 (c0f36b0): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
# Pigeonhole version 0.4.16 (fed8554)
# OS: Linux 4.9.0-11-amd64 x86_64 Debian 9.11
...
mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir
namespace inbox {
 ? inbox = yes
 ? location  ? mailbox Drafts {
 ??? special_use = \Drafts
 ? }
 ? mailbox Junk {
 ??? special_use = \Junk
 ? }
 ? mailbox Sent {
 ??? special_use = \Sent
 ? }
 ? mailbox "Sent Messages" {
 ??? special_use = \Sent
 ? }
 ? mailbox Trash {
 ??? special_use = \Trash
 ? }
 ? prefix }
...
protocols = " imap"
...

Hi,

you probably need to set up some kind of FTS backend and index your mails.
See https://doc.dovecot.org/configuration_manual/fts/
<https://doc.dovecot.org/configuration_manual/fts/>

Sami

> On 1 Dec 2019, at 23.18, John Gateley via dovecot <dovecot at
dovecot.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I am using dovecot as an imap server, mail is stored in mail directories.
> Configuration is below.
> 
> One mail directory has about 14 Gb of mail in the inbox and .Sent
directories.
> 
> Searching from an Android phone with gmail is slow or doesn't work (it
times out).
> 
> Is there a configuration for Dovecot that can improve this? A better e-mail
client
> for Android?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> John
> 
> 
> root at giraffe:~# dovecot --version
> 2.2.27 (c0f36b0)
> root at giraffe:~# doveconf -an
> # 2.2.27 (c0f36b0): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
> # Pigeonhole version 0.4.16 (fed8554)
> # OS: Linux 4.9.0-11-amd64 x86_64 Debian 9.11
> ...
> mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir
> namespace inbox {
>   inbox = yes
>   location >   mailbox Drafts {
>     special_use = \Drafts
>   }
>   mailbox Junk {
>     special_use = \Junk
>   }
>   mailbox Sent {
>     special_use = \Sent
>   }
>   mailbox "Sent Messages" {
>     special_use = \Sent
>   }
>   mailbox Trash {
>     special_use = \Trash
>   }
>   prefix > }
> ...
> protocols = " imap"
> ...
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I dont't know the capabilities of gmail, but IMAP supports server side
search which is quite fast if the Solr full text search plugin for dovecot is
used (wiki.dovecot.org/Plugins/FTS/Solr). For debian "dovecot-solr"
can be used.

For Android K9-Mail does not really support server side search, Aquamail does
and for other mail clients I don't know.

Am 1. Dezember 2019 22:18:37 MEZ schrieb John Gateley via dovecot <dovecot at
dovecot.org>:
>Hello,
>
>I am using dovecot as an imap server, mail is stored in mail
>directories.
>Configuration is below.
>
>One mail directory has about 14 Gb of mail in the inbox and .Sent 
>directories.
>
>Searching from an Android phone with gmail is slow or doesn't work (it 
>times out).
>
>Is there a configuration for Dovecot that can improve this? A better 
>e-mail client
>for Android?
>
>Thanks,
>
>John
>
>
>root at giraffe:~# dovecot --version
>2.2.27 (c0f36b0)
>root at giraffe:~# doveconf -an
># 2.2.27 (c0f36b0): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
># Pigeonhole version 0.4.16 (fed8554)
># OS: Linux 4.9.0-11-amd64 x86_64 Debian 9.11
>...
>mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir
>namespace inbox {
> ? inbox = yes
> ? location > ? mailbox Drafts {
> ??? special_use = \Drafts
> ? }
> ? mailbox Junk {
> ??? special_use = \Junk
> ? }
> ? mailbox Sent {
> ??? special_use = \Sent
> ? }
> ? mailbox "Sent Messages" {
> ??? special_use = \Sent
> ? }
> ? mailbox Trash {
> ??? special_use = \Trash
> ? }
> ? prefix >}
>...
>protocols = " imap"
>...
-- 
Diese Nachricht wurde von meinem Android-Mobiltelefon mit K-9 Mail gesendet.
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Thank you Frank-Ulrich, this looks perfect.

John

On 12/2/19 7:25 PM, Frank-Ulrich Sommer via dovecot
wrote:
> I dont't know the capabilities of gmail, but IMAP supports server side 
> search which is quite fast if the Solr full text search plugin for 
> dovecot is used (wiki.dovecot.org/Plugins/FTS/Solr). For debian 
> "dovecot-solr" can be used.
>
> For Android K9-Mail does not really support server side search, 
> Aquamail does and for other mail clients I don't know.
>
> Am 1. Dezember 2019 22:18:37 MEZ schrieb John Gateley via dovecot 
> <dovecot at dovecot.org>:
>
>     Hello,
>
>     I am using dovecot as an imap server, mail is stored in mail
directories.
>     Configuration is below.
>
>     One mail directory has about 14 Gb of mail in the inbox and .Sent
>     directories.
>
>     Searching from an Android phone with gmail is slow or doesn't work
(it
>     times out).
>
>     Is there a configuration for Dovecot that can improve this? A better
>     e-mail client
>     for Android?
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     John
>
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