[MlMt] messages not actually moving to Trash/Deleted

[Bill Cole]

On 2024-05-28 at 10:05:34 UTC-0400 (Tue, 28 May 2024 15:05:34 +0100)
Jason Davies <mailmate at lists.freron.com>
is rumored to have said:

> Hi folks,
>
> I have MailMate running on two machines (rarely at the same time), a 
> Mac Mini (MMini) and a Macbook Pro (MBP). Both run the latest version 
> of Mailmate (Version 1.14 (5937). I also use Preside for iOS on a 
> phone and iPad.
>
> It's taken me a while to understand what is going on but I suspect I'm 
> still missing some details. Uniquely on the MMini, if I delete a 
> message, it *appears* to move to the Deleted Items folder. No other 
> device registers this move, however. It remains in the inbox 
> indefinitely on all other devices.
>
> If I delete something on the MBP, it appears to move to Deleted Items 
> and *does* register on iOS.
>
> If I move items via Move..., they *do* register as moving out of the 
> inbox, unless it is to Deleted Items. 'Delete immediately' *does* 
> remove it (but I don't want to use that very often).
>
> Basically, if I delete something from Mailmate on the MMini, it only 
> appears to be deleted, and I end up deleting it via another device.
>
> Any suggestions about how to fix this? It sounds simple but has taken 
> far too long to diagnose;)

I do not have a fix but I do have what I think is an explanation...

There are different procedural mechanisms to "delete" messages on an 
IMAP system. Some common ways start with marking a message with the 
standard "\Deleted" keyword. At that point, some IMAP clients will hide 
the message, others will show it in a Deleted Messages (or Trash) IMAP 
folder which may or may not really exist as a folder on the server, some 
will show the message with an indication of its \Deleted state. Some 
IMAP clients will issue an EXPUNGE immediately afterwards, causing 
deletion, others will wait until switching folders, and some IMAP 
servers will auto-EXPUNGE \Deleted messages whenever a SELECT or 
UNSELECT is issued for a folder. These variabilities and how different 
clients react to others deleting messages has led to a simpler model 
commonly being used, using the MOVE command to move a message into a 
Deleted Items (or "Trash") folder and then maybe (<sigh>) marking it as 
\Deleted. Actual deletion of messages is then left until the user 
empties the Trash. In  some cases a server will implement auto-emptying 
of Trash.

So, what I think is happening is that you've somehow gotten your 2 Macs 
deleting by different procedures. I know that I discussed this issue 
some years ago with Benny (here) and I thought the result was a 
configurable setting, but I cannot find that setting now. You may find 
it by doing a settings dump ("defaults read com.freron.MailMate" ) on 
both Macs and comparing them.



-- 
Bill Cole
bill at scconsult.com or billcole at apache.org
(AKA @grumpybozo at toad.social and many *@billmail.scconsult.com 
addresses)
Not Currently Available For Hire