IMAP file interpreted as a folder

16. October 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags: , , , , , , , ,
I have a problem with Outlook for Mac (2011 v14.2.4) using IMAP folders. My provider's mail server software (Qmail) creates a file in the root of the folder structure called .qmail - it keeps properties in it I understand - and Outlook seems to not only see this file but decide that it's a folder and subscribe to it automatically. Once this happens it turns into a folder (which then appears on other devices) and I can delete it (but not unsubscribe to it). I have to delete it to stop Outlook posting a 1025 error every 10 minutes or so because it's not accessible.

The .qmail file doesn't show up if the server is queried using the IMAP protocol (LIST "" "*") so I am disappointed that Outlook sees this file AND turns it into a folder by subscribing to it AND won't let me unsubscribe to it after that AND resubscribes me if I unsubscribe using the Webmail tools for this account. It could hardly be handling this more incorrectly if it tried...

Is there any way to check that Outlook is using the IMAP protocol correctly to build it's folder list? It seems from this and other issues on the site as though it really isn't.

For now I have set Tools / Accounts / <this account> / Advanced / Server and unchecked "Sync all IMAP folders every 10 minutes" and have deleted the folder from Outlook. Hopefully it will now stay gone and not give me the error any more but there seems to be a problem now with the unread message count. Presumably this is because the folder isn't being refreshed? In which case D'oh! I have been resetting the unread counts manually: because I read all the mail I can do this fairly easily but if I was using the unread message count seriously it would be completely broken for me now.

Any ideas about how I can get the IMAP folders enumerated correctly so that the .qmail file is not read as a folder? I think this would be okay if Outlook used the IMAP LIST command to read the server but I guess it has some extensions to work with Exchange that are actually not quite compatible...

Thanks for reading!

Richard