Re: Evolution email (problem?) (IMAP, Gmail, email compacting)

[Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com>]

On 01/05/2023 05:36, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> > According to this:
> > https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/compacting-folders
>
> This basically explains that compacting is an operation that should
> fundamentally be transparent to the user, and that Thunderbird makes the
> user aware of it for ... no good reason.

This support page discusses behavior for local folders. This thread is 
dedicated to specific of Gmail and Evolution interaction in respect to 
IMAP protocols. I mentioned compacting of folders in Thnderbird because 
earlier I have seen that performing "Compact" in Thunderbird expunges 
messages earlier marked for deletion. Strike through in message list may 
be a sign that the message is marked for deletion.

I expect that the following applies to message state on server, not to 
local folders:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3501#section-2.3.2
RFC 3501 IMAPv4
2.3.2.  Flags Message Attribute

> \Deleted
>    Message is "deleted" for removal by later EXPUNGE

It is independent of maildir or mbox storage format of local folders or 
local offline cache of remote folder. Gmail may use internally some 
proprietary format that is neither mbox nor maildir, e.g. records in 
some database.

I like that Thunderbird exposes the "compact" option to UI because I 
earlier used it to forced removal of large messages from server account 
with rather strict quota. Several times I used "undelete" to recover 
messages I deleted by mistake, so I like that messages just marked for 
deletion by default as well.

The following is related neither to Evolution (at least directly) nor to 
Thunderbird, but still might be relevant:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/restore-deleted-messages-when-using-an-imap-account-4559a297-4d46-47e7-bfbf-71287b1935ed

> If you use Google Gmail as an IMAP account, messages marked for deletion
> are permanently deleted from their original folder but may still appear
> there in strikethrough text. These messages are still recoverable
> because a copy is kept in the Gmail Trash folder.

On 01/05/2023 05:24, Default User wrote:
> compacting does not:
> - delete messages
> - remove messages

These statements may be confusing in the context of this thread. It is 
true that the action does not deletes messages if the user earlier has 
not requested removal. However in some cases it possible to undelete 
message before compacting, but not after. So it really deletes messages, 
perhaps hidden from UI (or displayed as strike through and still available).