IMAP and Outlook 2003

[Darren]

Microsoft claims you can configuring Microsoft Outlook to connect to an
Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP4) server.

I have set up the account in Outlook, but it works poorly. Articles in
the knowledge base seem to admit that it works poorly. Is Microsoft
attempting to force the use of Exchange?

Has anyone had sucess with IMAP and Outlook?

If so, how?

Which server did you use?

 

[Brian Tillman]

Has anyone had sucess with IMAP and Outlook?

Outlook 2003. in my opinion, a poor IMAP client. It works, but it's not
really production quality. I understand, however, that the IMAP capability
in Outlook 2007 has been improved.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

About the only thing good to say about it is that there is no where to go
but up. There are much better imap clients out there...

Part of the reason behind Outlook's poor imap support is that the percentage
of users using imap accounts in outlook is very low. Whether it is because
imap support sucks or because there aren't a lot of imap users is open for
debate. It may be a little bit of both.

 

[Darren]

The University of Minnesota reports that a performance issue was
discovered in Outlook 2003 when several (or large) IMAP folders are
subscribed. The problem arises when Outlook checks for mail, scanning
not only the Inbox but also all the IMAP mail folders stored on the
server. Combined with a frequent mail check interval or a relatively
slow Internet connection, this unfavorable configuration can cause
slowness and timeouts in Outlook.

It recommends lengthening the time for automatic Send / Receive.
Tools> Options> Mail Setup> Send / Receive> Setting for group

It recommends unsubscribing from folders and removing the check from
the checkbox "When displaying hierarchy in Outlook, show only
subscribed folders."
Tools> Options> Mail Setup> Send / Receive> (Choose group with IMAP
account)> Edit>

I created a new group to Synchronize one a day and subscribed to all
IMAP folders. I can then work off line without speed issues. Outlook
creates an offline file, or
ost file, if the box is checked in the Send / Receive Group.

There may be better clients available, but I do not want to learn
another programing language. I have spend hours learning VBA and have
numerous macros which I have written.

Thunderbird looks promising, but I do not know how to write extension
in ZUL.

I wish I could but more copies of Outlook 2002. It works great.

There is one more fix I am working on. Outlook sometimes generates an
error "Outlook is unable to download folder (null) from the IMAP" I am
told this can be fixed by setting the Root folder path, but I do not
know what the path is and the Microsoft held does not help.

Change an E-mail account, click "Change", then "More Settings", then
"Advanced" and write "<path>" in Root folder path.

What is the path?

"INBOX" does not work becasue the subfolders disappear.

I am going to try "INBOX/*" and see if that works.