dovecot - Jun 2020 - Special use folders in mailbox hierarchy

Dear Dovecot Gurus,


Setting up my first IMAP server and looking at the folder structure, I had a
mailbox I built on a Dovecot server and a mailbox configured by a hosting
provider next to each other in Thunderbird and I noticed that the special use
folders (Drafts, Trash and Sent) in my default-ish (I did set them to auto =
subscribe) Dovecot install make these folders appear parallel to my Inbox folder
where my hosting provider?s default configuration has them under the Inbox
hierarchically, along with all the folders I built for mail storage over the use
of the account.


I did some googling, but I cannot find any guidance on which of these is
preferred, why, or how they could be controlled in Dovecot. The default Dovecot
config is ambiguous (IMHO) in that the mailbox config elements are children to
the inbox namespace (implying they go under Inbox in the hierarchy) but their
special_use parameter names are \Name which (if you use a UNIX filesystem
paradigm) implies they should be at the root of the hierarchy and, therefore,
parallel with Inbox, which is how Thunderbird shows them, but I?m not sure if
that?s a mail client decision and not anything to do with the server
configuration.


Since I can?t access the config of my hosting provider, I can?t make any
comparisons, so I thought I?d ask on the list if there is any standard guidance
on server side configuration of special use folders in Dovecot or if there?s no
guidance available because I?m overthinking this. :)


Thanks,


Scott

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> On 8. Jun 2020, at 0.23, Scott A. Wozny <sawozny at hotmail.com>
wrote:
> 
> Dear Dovecot Gurus,
> 
> Setting up my first IMAP server and looking at the folder structure, I had
a mailbox I built on a Dovecot server and a mailbox configured by a hosting
provider next to each other in Thunderbird and I noticed that the special use
folders (Drafts, Trash and Sent) in my default-ish (I did set them to auto =
subscribe) Dovecot install make these folders appear parallel to my Inbox folder
where my hosting provider?s default configuration has them under the Inbox
hierarchically, along with all the folders I built for mail storage over the use
of the account.
> 
> I did some googling, but I cannot find any guidance on which of these is
preferred, why, or how they could be controlled in Dovecot. The default Dovecot
config is ambiguous (IMHO) in that the mailbox config elements are children to
the inbox namespace (implying they go under Inbox in the hierarchy) but their
special_use parameter names are \Name which (if you use a UNIX filesystem
paradigm) implies they should be at the root of the hierarchy and, therefore,
parallel with Inbox, which is how Thunderbird shows them, but I?m not sure if
that?s a mail client decision and not anything to do with the server
configuration.
> 
> Since I can?t access the config of my hosting provider, I can?t make any
comparisons, so I thought I?d ask on the list if there is any standard guidance
on server side configuration of special use folders in Dovecot or if there?s no
guidance available because I?m overthinking this. :)
It's totally up to you. What ever you prefer. Some people put special use
folders into root, some put them under INBOX.
That is why special_use exists so that server can tell clients which folders are
for special use.

Sami


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Version: 2.2.27 (c0f36b0)

Hi,

I inhertited a mailsetup that allow users to login to pop/imap with up 
to three different user names for the same mailbox. We use SQL and I 
think I can manage that with just pointing to the same mailbox with the 
same userid.

But I also use the quota plugin. And the quota plugin users the username 
(full e-mail address) to identify a mailbox. That can probably be solved 
to use the count: option in the quota plugin to store the quota-data in 
the dovcot index files.

But I was wondering if perhaps there is a better / alternative way to 
'alias' different logins to the same mailbox?

Thanks for any tips!

Alex.