[imp] Virtual inbox and Trash

[Craig White]

On Wed, 2006-01-04 at 19:01 -0600, John H. Bennett III wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> In the imp 4.1-RC1 announcement it states that users can use a
>    - Virtual Inbox and Virtual Trash folder.
> 
> Would someone please take a moment and explain to me what a virtual inbox
> and trash folder is and when or what scenario I might use them in.
----
An IMAP server would normally mark a message as deleted but not move it
anywhere. With a virtual trash folder, the email would appear in a
'Trash' folder which satisfies some people's expectations though the
file really isn't moved at all. This would in essence duplicate the
metaphors typical of a POP3 retrieval of email in a typical mail client.

The reason that IMAP servers don't ACTUALLY do this is because of all of
the wasted effort it takes. Consider...mail in INBOX. Select it and
click delete. This would copy the email to the Trash, mark the email in
the INBOX as deleted and then purge the deleted mail from the INBOX.
Then at some point in the future, it would have to be purged from the
Trash. IMAP is more frugal with it's energy as it simply flags the email
and various clients will either display the email tagged as deleted
(usually drawn with a line through it) or hide the deleted email.

I can't explain a virtual INBOX. I would guess that it goes hand in hand
with the Virtual Trash in that it doesn't ever display the deleted items
which is not a true picture of what the INBOX is.

Craig