einar wrote:The duplicate emails are in an IMAP inbox, or a local folder? I see a few issues there and I want to make sure.

einar, I appreciate the fact that you probably have a lot to do and don't have lots of time, and your own time here is likely voluntary... at the same time, I need to some direction and some thoughts on what to do.

I have been using kmail for over a decade, but recently have experienced more and more issues - this is not the only one, that I am reporting here. I have an attachment to kmail and prefer it over Thunderbird or Evolution - but at least they work and manage email.

I've got many years of emails in my kmail though. At the same time, I operate a business that is highly dependent on email, accessing emails, organizing them, and responding. Presently, no matter how many times I akonaditctl restart, stop, start, fsck or vacuum - it's really hard on my time.

I am trying to load a message from a client and it's been 20 minutes of "Retrieving folder contents Please Wait."

If you are seeing some issues, are you able to provide more information as to when it might be fixed, or what I should do? Perhaps I should try to go back to a previous version of Kmail? Maybe I should not be using Tumbleweed, but OpenSuse Leap which I believe has more stable software.

I am just not sure what to do here - I need email, and yes... I realize that most of the developers put a lot blood sweat and tears into this... but at the same time, I need my email!

If I knew how to help you out in diagnosing the issues, I would do so.

But I especially need to know some kind of prognosis so I can make some decisions that will help me be efficient in my own business.

Thanks so much for your consideration.

As I said, I'd like to know if the issues you have are with local mail (local folders) or IMAP mail. The two are handled in two completely different ways in KMail, and so even the mode of diagnosis change.

Hello Einar - I replied to your question back on January 14th -

It is Local Folders. I am not using IMAP.

My reply is here: viewtopic.php?f=215&t=138233&sid=59f060299baf3875203335fa565045cb#p370262

Almost the same is happening is me too. You people have made a world class plasma desktop and giving LTS version with 5.8.5 but how can it ever work in a business or professional environment without even proper functioning kmail / akonadi.

I agree. This version of Kmail is just so frustrating. I wish I knew whether I should remove it and go back to something else - there are just SO many issues. In addition to what I've already reported.. today, I turn on my computer, open Kmail and it proceeds to download hundreds of messages that I've already seen and deleted or organized into other folders... and now have to spend time re-deleting/dealing with them.

It is useless (and not made with any intent to offend developers - just stating a fact) to any kind of business environment. Heck, even to a personal environment, it has become something that wastes so much time for anyone using it.

I need an email management application that will manage email. Not an app that I have to manage, troubleshoot, and deal with weirdness in order to use email.

Very sad to say that I too have had enough of all the problems of KMail and its ilk. I recently switched to Evolution. Oh joy! It works. And, as a backup, I have Balsa. Light and fast.

That also means that I have switched to XFCE4. Fast, easy to manage and well presented, even if it is a little bit old-fashioned. But then, so am I. (And XFCE4 runs KDE software really well.)

Regards,

Bob

I do not know if it is related, or a different issue - but I tried to empty the trash folder.

It appears to be empty. There are no messages viewable in the folder.

Yet, the indicator says there are 26 unread messages in the Trash folder.

Doing akonadictl restart, fsck and vacuum does not clear this up.

My problems with "Retrieving Folders....." is getting worse. No matter how many times i've akonadictl fsck/vacuum now, nothing improves (it used to clear the problem). I am now pretty much locked out of kmail on one of my logins as every folder i touch displays this problem. I've even tried wiping the database to see if that did anything but no change. Kmail is getting all the bad press but akonadi seems to be the point of failure.
Another thing i noticed which i think is incorrect. I used dolphin to check the "local-mail" folders and there are old emails in the "new" folder in each kmail folder, i thought those were supposed to move to "cur" once they were read.

opensuse:tumbleweed:20170131, Qt: 5.7.1, KDE Frameworks: 5.30.0, KDE Plasma: 5.9.0, kwin5-5.9.0-1.1.x86_64, kmail2 5.4.1, Kernel: 4.9.6-1-default, Nouveau: 1.0.13_2.2

Maybe this deserves a new thread - something else that has just occurred and was very very weird.

I needed to search for some emails in my Inbox.

I typed:
kol
in the search field.

The search worked alright. It brought up a bunch of emails that contained that term and as I took my hands away from the keyboard so I could use the mouse to open one of them... I watched as all of the emails being displayed were being deleted!!

It was the most bizarre thing.

Kmail/Akonadi really has some gremlins going on.

Having the same "retrieving folder contents" on imap. if you find a solution, please share on the thread.
kmail2 5.2.3 kubuntu 16.10

Sorry friend.. I've given up on Kmail. It literally takes up hours of my day - just to read and respond to email if I am using Kmail - and there doesn't seem to be much activity from developers to help solve issues, like there was back in the "old days."

It's sad because at one time, Kmail was the best email application and along with Kontact, a wonderful PIM. But it has just become totally unusable for me, and I don't have time to find solutions to crazy issues and bugs - Kmail has basically become a broken toy - and no longer a serious app.

I've moved to Thunderbird - no, I do not like it either, but at least I can find emails, I can delete the ones I want to delete quickly and without hassle, emails aren't duplicated, triplicated and quadbazilionocated, emails don't go mysteriously missing or deleted by doing a search, and I don't have to go to a console to vacuum and fsck. Not that that even works with kmail & akonaditctl anyway... fsck and vacuum don't really seem to do anything.

I've been really attached to Kmail since about 2003, so the divorce is a bit bitter for me. But a divorce it must be. I have had not a single solution to any of the issues I've posted about

By the way, all you have to do is a google search on kmail bugs, kmail issues, and kmail is dead, etc... and you will find droves of posts of old happy kmail users, now leaving because of issues.

It seems that there is a huge problem where kmail/akonadi developers aren't really listening to their users anymore. There seems to be some kind of stubborness to make something work, which is not working very well, for many. I can't put my finger on what the issues are exactly - but definitely the present development appears to have some goals based on "features" but not robustness - and certainly it is not anything to do with the Mission Statement on the KDE website which is: "...team dedicated to creating a free and user-friendly computing experience,..."

There is ZERO user friendliness anymore, about Kmail.

Kmail has become a horrible experience. Which is sad, because I used to be a KDE/Kmail evangelist. Kmail seems to have become a wasteland.

It seems that there is a huge problem where kmail/akonadi developers aren't really listening to their users anymore.

No, there aren't enough developers for what it is a large, old and complex code base. Currently just two people work (intermittently) on KDE PIM.

einar wrote:

It seems that there is a huge problem where kmail/akonadi developers aren't really listening to their users anymore.

No, there aren't enough developers for what it is a large, old and complex code base. Currently just two people work (intermittently) on KDE PIM.

Hello einar,

So do you recommend we move away from kmail/kontact/akonadi for the time being? I have similar problems as the ones mentioned above, and if there is no solution in the foreseeable future...

Cheers

Paul

Bro wrote:So do you recommend we move away from kmail/kontact/akonadi for the time being? I have similar problems as the ones mentioned above, and if there is no solution in the foreseeable future...

I do not think Einar can answer your question, beyond what he said. With two developers you can not expect wonders. It is your call...

If you can, try to move your mails to an IMAP server, it works for me quite well for me.