IMAP Issues (WP7 doesn't fully support IMAP...)

[computrav]

I wanted to make this post to bring issues regarding WP7's incomplete implementation of IMAP to everyone's attention. For people such as myself that have multiple IMAP accounts, the WP7 is missing crucial functionality that are pretty much deal-breakers for me to use WP7. I have not seen anything in discussions of the Mango update that address these issues either.

Anyone from Microsoft reading these forums that can clear up my concerns or verify that Mango will fix things?

Here are the issues:

1) You cannot set the follow-up flag for messages. Every other IMAP email client I have used (both mobile and desktop) allows this. The flags are stored on the server with the message, which is great because when you view the messages from other devices, they are still there. I typically will set the follow-up flags when I need to follow-up on something later, often setting the flag from my mobile and then doing the follow-up via my desktop. I'm aware that I can set a message read/unread, but this is a bit different and the features are separate for a reason and have different purposes.

2) When you reply to a message, the reply flag (for lack of a better term) is not set. Again, this is normal and is quite useful. I have some IMAP inboxes that are shared with other people (think customer support), so they need to know when an email has been replied to. Since WP7 does not set this value, it doesn't show as being replied to, and it's possible that someone else will reply to the message as well, which is not good.

3) You cannot define IMAP folders for core folders such as Sent mail and Trash. Right now, when you send from an IMAP account on WP7, it just puts messages into a "Sent Items" folder on the IMAP server. Similarly, when you delete items, then go to "Deleted Items". It's good that it's actually storing messages to the server, but most IMAP clients use "Sent" and "Trash" by default. So this means that if you send or delete messages from WP7, they are not in the normal folders when you go to view the messages from other IMAP clients. All IMAP clients I've used allow you to specify where messages go when they're sent or deleted, but not WP7.

Am I alone here? Is everyone else just using Gmail and Exchange and don't care about the above issues? For anyone using IMAP, these seem to be pretty major issues...

 

[gerrymad]

I am using Mango. I just added an IMAP account as a test and it pretty much acts a lot like POP.

 

[kg4icg]

I have no problems with WP7 and IMAP configuration on GMail

 

[gerrymad]

I have no problems with WP7 and IMAP configuration on GMail

GMail has its own setup. Perhaps that is getting handled differently.

 

[computrav]

I am using Mango. I just added an IMAP account as a test and it pretty much acts a lot like POP.

Are you implying that in Mango, none of the issues I listed are addressed?

 

[gerrymad]

As far as I can tell there is no difference. I set up my mail as IMAP and I don't have the flag option and forwarding and reply tags only appear on my phone. They do not get passed back to the server. The only IMAP type of activity I see is that the read/unread status is being set properly.

 

[Sogeman]

Yes, it's not good, especially with Gmail. I actually disabled email sync on my gmail account and made an ugly shortcut for the ugly mobile website they give wp7 users. But at least I get every functionality I get from the web version.

 

[Jake_M]

The biggest problem is like what you said, when I delete it, it doesn't get deleted on the server. At least a "Yes delete on server/Only delete on device" switch for preference.

 

[henrik32259]

I agree. It sure would be nice if they added options in the account settings to specify what folder names to use for sent and deleted items.

 

[selfcreation]

WP7 feedback / suggestion page : Customer Feedback for Windows Phone

that’s where you need to go to have improvements looked at by MS..... they don’t read the millions of complaint treads on this site. lol

good luck

 

[amb9800]

Yeah, not too hopeful on this, as these exact problems have existed for many, many years (since Windows Mobile). For some reason MS doesn't take IMAP connectivity seriously, and the underlying IMAP handling seems to be carried over from Windows Mobile.

For the hardcoded folders issue, the only solution is to create a symbolic link on the server side from the "Sent Items" folder to "Sent," which of course only works if you control the server.

There are plenty of other issues, but one thing that bugs me every day is the slow email download speed. My old first-gen iPhone from 2007 downloads IMAP email headers and messages faster on EDGE than my Mango HD7 does on 3G or Wifi! Again, same issue as in Windows Mobile.

 

[Billone]

Since WP7 had a "Flagged" view of emails, I'd like to think that the ability to Flag emails is coming.

 

[amb9800]

Since WP7 had a "Flagged" view of emails, I'd like to think that the ability to Flag emails is coming.

The "toggle flag" option and the flagged view are only present for Exchange accounts, not IMAP.

 

[hilleldk]

Hi computrav,

You're quite right about this! And noticed you wrote this in 2011 - now July 2012 but still no fix or changes.

I've written to Microsoft support plenty of times + HTC support, notifying them about this issue, I even told Microsoft that I found it strange that Apple are the only one that seems to support IMAP correctly.

For now, only the inbox works ok, while sent items (sending from the WP7) has to be manually moved to the IMAP sent folder, or if you delete some emails from the inbox on your WP7, it will be placed on WP7 trash not on the IMAP server, since you can't set up the sent and trash folder.

It seems to be the same problem for Android.. If Apple can do it right, why can't Microsoft (WP7) or Google (Android) do the same, perhaps they just focus on the Exchange services for business and doesn't care about the consumers, where most users today connects via IMAP.

Microsoft also has a problem with IMAP in Outlook, since the sent and trash folder would only be named as on the server - again not as on Apple iPhone/iPAD where trash is trash and sent is sent.

So if the server language is German, Spanish etc., the trash and sent folder would be named as on the server... but no answer from Microsoft support..

/Mike

 

[amb9800]

Hi computrav,

You're quite right about this! And noticed you wrote this in 2011 - now July 2012 but still no fix or changes.

I've written to Microsoft support plenty of times + HTC support, notifying them about this issue, I even told Microsoft that I found it strange that Apple are the only one that seems to support IMAP correctly.

For now, only the inbox works ok, while sent items (sending from the WP7) has to be manually moved to the IMAP sent folder, or if you delete some emails from the inbox on your WP7, it will be placed on WP7 trash not on the IMAP server, since you can't set up the sent and trash folder.

It seems to be the same problem for Android.. If Apple can do it right, why can't Microsoft (WP7) or Google (Android) do the same, perhaps they just focus on the Exchange services for business and doesn't care about the consumers, where most users today connects via IMAP.

Microsoft also has a problem with IMAP in Outlook, since the sent and trash folder would only be named as on the server - again not as on Apple iPhone/iPAD where trash is trash and sent is sent.

So if the server language is German, Spanish etc., the trash and sent folder would be named as on the server... but no answer from Microsoft support..

/Mike

WP7 seems to use the same underlying email components as Windows Mobile 6.x did, as it has all the same quirks vis-a-vis IMAP, but with even fewer configuration options. Back in 2009, I started a thread on the MS Answers site about this (for WM6.1!), and three years later, WP7 doesn't address the issue:

WM 6.1 - How to set IMAP Sent folder? (T-Mo Touch Pro 2) - Microsoft Answers

Desktop Outlook works fine with IMAP, since you can configure the folder names to match whatever you have on the server (or create a new folder, etc.).

Interestingly, the Windows 8 Mail app doesn't support IMAP or POP accounts at all (in the Consumer and Release Previews), though MS says the final version will. Hopefully this means they're rewriting the IMAP bit, which would then reach WP8...

 

[Baron Max]

Hi computrav,

It seems to be the same problem for Android.. If Apple can do it right, why can't Microsoft (WP7) or Google (Android) do the same, perhaps they just focus on the Exchange services for business and doesn't care about the consumers, where most users today connects via IMAP.

No I have Maildroid on Android and it deals with IMAP perfectly. That said the stock HTC mail app (on HTC desire) didn't work properly because it wouldn't sync the Sent email folders (it might have improved by now). If you have Android I wholeheartedly recommend Maildroid. But I recently got an HTC 8X so seeing the shortcomings with IMAP/ Windows Phone 8 is disappointing. Maybe like Android someone will write a better app in due course...