dovecot - Jan 2022 - [OFFTOPIC] Outlook vs. Dovecot experience

Dne 15. 01. 22 v 18:46 Panayiotis Fafakos napsal(a):
> The same here in Greece.
> 
> The only Outlook version which respects open standards concerning the 
> IMAP protocol is Outlook 2010.
> We thought at first that Outlook 2013 would also be compatible with 
> dovecot. Yet, as said, it seems to be a Microsoft company (internal) 
> policy, not to comply with standards, since this would bring their 
> "tower of cards" down.
> We hoped that Outlook 2016 would make a difference, or at least Outlook 
> 2019, but none of the sort happened.
> 
> What is the exact problem? Well, here it is:
> Many times, users create folders with non-compatible characters in their 
> folder names, either slashes or dots, etc.
> Outlook accepts these characters as valid, while dovecot will not. Yet 
> Outlook creates the folder for the user and the user thinks he can use 
> the folder, although the folder does not exist on the server.
> The user stores emails in the folder and uses it, until one day he 
> either logs in via his webmail and does not see the specified folder. He 
> then does not worry very much, since he can still work from his PC where 
> Outlook is installed.
> Once the PC needs to have his hard disk replaced due to a failure, then 
> he/she discovers that his emails are lost forever.
Thanks for sharing your experience. We had exactly the same problem with 
Cyrus IMAP. Good to know this is not Cyrus' fault.

-- 
Best regards
         Vladislav Kurz

> On 17. Jan 2022, at 10.31, Vladislav Kurz <vladislav.kurz at
webstep.net> wrote:
> 
> Dne 15. 01. 22 v 18:46 Panayiotis Fafakos napsal(a):
>> The same here in Greece.
>> The only Outlook version which respects open standards concerning the
IMAP protocol is Outlook 2010.
>> We thought at first that Outlook 2013 would also be compatible with
dovecot. Yet, as said, it seems to be a Microsoft company (internal) policy, not
to comply with standards, since this would bring their "tower of
cards" down.
>> We hoped that Outlook 2016 would make a difference, or at least Outlook
2019, but none of the sort happened.
>> What is the exact problem? Well, here it is:
>> Many times, users create folders with non-compatible characters in
their folder names, either slashes or dots, etc.
>> Outlook accepts these characters as valid, while dovecot will not. Yet
Outlook creates the folder for the user and the user thinks he can use the
folder, although the folder does not exist on the server.
>> The user stores emails in the folder and uses it, until one day he
either logs in via his webmail and does not see the specified folder. He then
does not worry very much, since he can still work from his PC where Outlook is
installed.
>> Once the PC needs to have his hard disk replaced due to a failure, then
he/she discovers that his emails are lost forever.
> 
> Thanks for sharing your experience. We had exactly the same problem with
Cyrus IMAP. Good to know this is not Cyrus' fault.
Please also note that atleast for M365 licensed version of Outlook for Mac
(version 16.57) now forces sync to microsoft cloud by default when adding IMAP
account:

https://imgur.com/a/sB3Kfu6 <https://imgur.com/a/sB3Kfu6>

(says in image: For better experience, your messages will be synced to the
Microsoft cloud)

I cannot opt-out from this. (Just realised that this actually might be something
forced by my employers Intune policies)

Sami

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