Subscribing via IMAP ?

[gbr96]

I've installed the latest beta release of zcs 5.0 and am pleased that there is now a way to share mailbox folders, much like you could already do with calendars and address books. I believe I read somewhere that this functionality in version 5 was only for the web client. I do however, see these shared mailbox folders show up as an available folder to subscribe to when I connect to my account through an IMAP client like Thunderbird. I can subscribe to this folder just fine but never see the contents like I would expect. The fact that I see these folders in the list of available folders to subscribe to makes me wonder if that functionality might eventually be there in zcs. Can someone answer that for me - will subscribing to these shared folders from an IMAP client ever be possible in zcs?

Thanks.

[angusc]

I have not found a way to do this via IMAP. The Zimbra provider I use does not allow me LDAP access, so I have been researching ways to sync Zimbra's Address Book Contacts with Thunderbird.

The closest thing I found was a Thunderbird Add-On called "Addressbook Synchroniser" (at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/2533)

this however also does not sync your Zimbra Address book with Thunderbird Address book either

I think that IMAP Contacts is not a standard (IMAP is for mail!) and different strategies are being developed by different groups to use IMAP for holding contact type information. Of course, different people have different ideas - the Addressbook Synchronizer mentioned for example , [I think] looks for a MAB file (Mozilla Address Book) in the IMAP folder specified, alas, Zimbra does not store the information that way.

Let me know if you get any further

/A

[gbr96]

Connecting to my Zimbra address book from Thunderbird is no problem at all. Without installing anything extra, I can create a new LDAP address book in Thunderbird, provide the necessary server information, and it's there.

What I was referring to is being able to "subscribe" to mailbox folders from Thunderbird that my Zimbra account has access to because they have been "shared" with me in Zimbra. e.g. from the Zimbra web client, bob shares his Inbox with joe. From the Zimbra web client, joe accepts the share. Joe now sees bob's Inbox folder (and any subfolders underneath bob's Inbox) along with whatever folders he himself had in the first place. This is the functionality of "sharing" mailbox folders that was added in zcs 5.0 and works just fine.

If I now connect to joe's Zimbra account from Thunderbird via IMAP, I can see his mailbox folders just fine as well. If I choose to "subscribe", I see the list of folders I can subscribe to - Inbox, Drafts, Sent, Junk, etc, along with bob's Inbox that he has shared with joe. I can choose to subscribe to bob's Inbox and it will then show up in the of folders underneath joe's account in Thunderbird. Clicking on that folder though does not show me the contents that I know should be in there.

We are currently running a Cyrus IMAP server with Thunderbird as the email client. We have several people who make extensive use of subscribing to shared mailbox folders. Although it is nice to see sharing/delegation of mailbox folders added in zcs 5.0, I was hoping that there would be some way that this functionality would extend outside of just the Zimbra web client. I'm trying to minimize having to force people to change email clients right away, if at all, and would have an easier time of selling Zimbra if that were the case.

[jross-racemi]

I have the same problem/question.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by jross-racemi

I have the same problem/question.

You don't actually give any information about what your problem is, how about ZImbra version, Thunderbird version and a description of the problem.

FWIW, I can subscribe (via Thunderbird 2.x & Zimbra 5.0.4) to a shared mail folder and view/manage the contents.

[jross-racemi]

That's most gratifying to know. Now the question is how? Perhaps I'm missing something obvious

Thunderbird 2.0.0.12 with lightning 0.8,
ZCS 5.0.3, Windows Vista sp1

How does one connect to another users shared folder through Thunderbird. If this is already documented somewhere a link would be spiffy.

[phoenix]

OK, I owe you an apology here - I missed a vital bit of information. Currently you need to have a share sent to you and accept it via the Web UI. That will allow you to manage the shared folder. Access to the shared folders via an IMAP client is in this RFE: Bug 6937 - imap acl and support for shared folders via IMAP clients - it is being worked on and should not be too far down the road.

[jross-racemi]

Hot diggity! that was it! Thank you much.