[plug] Overly mobile mail solution

[Gregory Orange]

Brad Campbell wrote:
> Adrian Chadd wrote:
>> I'd suggest putting a box somewhere well-connected (with decent upstream
>> bandwidth), aggregate mail on it, and then run something like IMAP sync
>> to sync to your local machine.
> 
> mmm that looks like about half what I really want. I'll certainly have a 
> play with it.
> 
> What I *really* want is 2 way sync, so when I delete mail on my laptop 
> while disconnected when I reconnect it deletes it from the other IMAP 
> server also.. but if I can't make that work then this will do pretty 
> much what I need.

Thunderbird's "Select this folder for offline use" works properly since 
about version 2. Simply right-click the folder -> properties -> Offline, 
and tick. First time you probably want to click the light bulb in the 
bottom left once you've configured it all up, then "Download" or "Yes" 
or whatever it is.
There's also an Offline section in the Account Settings which is better 
for multiple configuration.

When Thunderbird is in 'offline' mode, it doesn't attempt to contact any 
servers, but does recognise you deleting, sending etc. Sent mail is put 
in the Local Folders "Unsent Mail" folder, then you get nagged to send 
it when it detects online next time.

We've been using it sporadically, and since installing "Sync on arrival" 
on tbird 1.5.x and without it on 2.x I've heard no complaints.

Note: This is nearly all under Windows, but I vaguely recall that I used 
to use it a bit in my Ubuntu bootup.

Ah, the joys of trying to find the best of the POP world and marry it 
with the best of the IMAP world. Do we need a new protocol? (:

HTH,
Greg.