[SOLVED] Empty folder field in web interface

[jmarriott]

Hi all,

We've got a Zimbra ZCS 5.0.9 (Standard edition) for our in house email and some users have started complaining that the Folder column in the Mail view is empty. This means that when you search for mails you can't easily tell which folder they are stored in. I've tried re-indexing their mailboxes but that didn't fix it.

Has anyone come across this before or got any ideas on things I could try to fix it?

Many thanks,
Jon

[soxfan]

I've seen this happen on a few very rare occasions, but usually just logging out of the web client and back in fixes the problem.

What OS and browser are your users using? The first thing I would try is clearing browser cache, but if this issue is happening to multiple users on a regular basis it would seem like a deeper problem. Were these folders migrated over from a previous mail system, or are they newly created? If they were migrated then maybe there are some special characters causing issues, or something like that.

[jmarriott]

Hi Soxfan, thanks for responding.

I think the issue is quite solidly linked to accounts rather than the platform. I can view the same account on several browsers and it will have the same problem each time. Likewise, a properly functioning account works properly on all platforms. I've testing Firefox 3.0.1 and 3.0.2 on Linux and Windows XP and IE7 in Windows XP. The flush and refresh method doesn't fix it.

I can't seem to find any correlation between the problem and the accounts it appears on which is immensley frustrating. It occurs on old accounts, new accounts, non-admin accounts, admin accounts, massive mailboxes and small mailboxes alike.

Most of the accounts were created in Zimbra 4.5.something and had mail imported although I do not know which method as I didn't set this server up. This doesn't seem to have any effect either though as some of these accounts have the problem and some don't.

It' _may_ have started when I upgraded from 5.0.6 to 5.0.9 but I can't be sure.

Thanks,
Jon

[soxfan]

So, just to be sure I'm understanding the problem, when these users login to the web client their folder list on the left hand side is blank? Is this correct?

Have you had these users try a different theme? Even if you can't narrow the problem down to one or two themes, I'd be interested to see if switching the theme helps at all.

[jmarriott]

Not that folder column! I wasn't clear, sorry.

The folder column in the pane that shows your messages. Example use would be search for "Internet" to bring up any relevant messages and you have a pane with From, Subject, Received, Folder columns e.t.c. This is the folder column that is blank.

The folder tree, which is on the far left in most themes as you say, is fine.

I've just gone through all the themes anyway but changing them didn't help either

Thanks,
Jon

[soxfan]

Ahh, I've got you now. That folder column! Hmm... I don't recall ever seeing this issue. Any shared folders or anything like that in the mix?

[jmarriott]

Sorry about the delay Soxfan, I went away for a bit!

There is some shared folders around but not all the accounts affected have shared folders!

I think I'm going to have to open a support ticket with Zimbra... my users are getting upset!

I'll try and remember to post the solution here, if I ever fix it, for others to use!

Thanks,
Jon

[mmorse]

WAG: Bug 28381 - unchecking received column hides mail
Could you attach some zmprov ga user@domain.com output for those affected vs those not?

[mmorse]

This only AJAX client or HTML & Mobile clients as well?

[jmarriott]

That bug doesn't seem to be relevant... at least not that I can see. I've IM'd you about the zmprov output.

The problem is consistent accross the AJAX web UI and Zimbra Desktop but the standard client doesn't appear to feature the Folders field at all. We don't have access to any mobile clients so I'm afraid I can't test that.