[chandler-users] Re: Have you experienced IMAP woes?

[Mimi Yin]

Hi Jeffrey,

I agree that we can't start down the path of trying to fix all the  
IMAP issues. See more below:

On Aug 13, 2008, at 1:32 PM, Jeffrey Harris wrote:

>> *- IMAP folders stop syncing if you move the Chandler Folders from  
>> where they were originally created.* So I wonder if when users  
>> accidentally move folders around in their email clients and/or an  
>> admin reconfigures the hierarchy on the server...Chandler can no  
>> longer locate the 3 Chandler IMAP folders.
>
> This is actually what I'd expect, we can't really track moved IMAP  
> folders.  I'm OK with not fixing this (maybe adding something to  
> the FAQ about this).

Can we amend the "Folder not found." error message with a little more  
information? I can add this to the Get Started Guide as well.

*****

"Chandler Mail" IMAP folder not found.

Troubleshooting: Make sure the folder has not been moved on the server.

If you're not sure:
1. Delete the Chandler IMAP folders from your email application.
     (You may need to wait a while for the folders to be deleted from  
your email server as well.)
2. [Edit Account Settings...] and [Remove]  the folders and then  
[Configure] them again.

												[Cancel] [Edit Account Settings...]

*****

>> *- Finally, there is the mysterious, Microsoft - Email users often  
>> report IMAP issues*...I'm not sure if these reports are actually  
>> time out issues in disguise and the frequent appearance of  
>> Microsoft products in these reports is simply a reflection of  
>> market share ;)
>
> OK, at first I thought this was too big an issue for too small a  
> fraction of our userbase (of course I want to fix everything for  
> everyone, but we just can't).

I guess I'm not so sure how small this is. It's hard to tell without  
understanding which IMAP problem people have run into when they  
report that IMAP isn't working for them. My concern is that without  
better error messaging and troubleshooting advice in the get started  
guide, many users are simply giving up before they've had a chance to  
try out the app ;) So again, I don't know that we need / can "fix"  
all the issues, but I'd like to have a better sense of what's going  
on so we can unblock users with the right advice.

> But, I spent a few minutes looking at past commits involving  
> timeout. To my surprise, our IMAP timeout is pretty low (30  
> seconds).  We're splitting up our searches into small batches,  
> which ought to make that timeout adequate (it works on many IMAP  
> servers), but it's easy for me to imagine some servers taking more  
> than 30 seconds for our queries.
>
> I think it WOULD be worth either:
>
> - Upping that timeout by quite a bit (I don't see a big danger  
> here. Having one twisted request block for a long time shouldn't be  
> hurting the rest of the app)

We might want to up the time out first since it's a less radical  
change. (Am happy to help test.)

We may also want to amend the time out error with troubleshooting  
advice.

*****

Email sync timed out after 1?5? minutes.
Server not responding.

Troubleshooting: Try reducing the number of
messages in your Inbox and then sync again.

		[Cancel] [Edit Account Settings...]

*****


> - Stop attempting to scan the INBOX.  This just isn't a very  
> heavily used feature, now that we've got Chandler specific folders.


Users also seem to get confused because it takes a while for the IMAP  
folders to show up in their email clients. We have a warning about  
that on the confirmation dialog when you finish creating the 3  
folders, but the text arrangement is very loose and I imagine  
tightening it up will make the note about waiting for the IMAP  
folders stick out more.

(Note there are some text changes.)

*****
Configure Chandler Folders
-----

The following folder(s) have been created in your account:

<p>Chandler Mail - Add messages here to download them into Chandler  
as mail.
<br>Chandler Starred - Add messages here to star them.
<br>Chandler Events - Add messages here to add them to the calendar.

<p>Note: These messages will appear in Dashboard, In and Out  
accordingly.
<br>Note: Folders make take a while to appear in your email application.

												[Close Window]
*****

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