Mailtraq Professional -
The easiest full-function email server to administer |
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Mailtraq's IMAP Server (available in the Professional Edition) provides a complete IMAP implementation offering a powerful remote mail storage solution which is ideal for roaming users. IMAP stores all configuration and e-mail on the server, which is perfect for shared terminals.
Each mailbox may have any number of sub-folders within it, and users can configure these using a standard IMAP client.
Mailtraq's implementation also supports shared IMAP folders allowing either read-only or read-write access, and also supports push-email clients for 'instant' delivery of email to mobile devices.
Mailtraq 2.12 provides SSL/TLS support for IMAP.
Installing
IMAP is available in Mailtraq Professional editions and can easily be added to the basic services that Mailtraq provides at start up.
In the Mailtraq Console go to Options | Services,
and when the Service Manger opens
Add - Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
It is important to remember that IMAP runs on the standard TCP/IP Port 143, so you must set your router or firewall accordingly.
We recommend using Mailtraq's AFX Database for IMAP and webmail - read more here
Push-email Support
Mailtraq's IMAP service supports IDLE and so will provide immediate delivery of messages to suitable clients. This is particularly of interest to users of mobile devices with push-enabled clients (eg www.chatteremail.com).
You can read more about Mailtraq's support of the IDLE command here.
New to mail servers? Read our Beginners Guide here.
Consider using Mailtraq's webmail system
Unless you have a particular requirement for IMAP, many users find Mailtraq's EWA webmail system a more convenient way to have centralized access to their mail from anywhere; share mail boxes; share calendars; share and access multiple address books and generally be more productive. Webmail is a powerful email client and is included with your Mailtraq Professional purchase - no additional license costs.
Read about the Group Ware features included with Mailtraq Professional:
Configuring IMAP Email Clients
Mailtraq's IMAP service is standards-compliant to IMAP4, so all the popular IMAP clients such as Outlook Express, MS Outlook, and Mozilla Thunderbird can be used. Smartphone users, such as the Treo 600 and 650 can easily use SnapperMail's IMAP4 client with Mailtraq.
Read about using Outlook with IMAP here
Getting started is a simple as creating a new email account and setting it to be IMAP. You then tell the email client that the IMAP server and the SMTP server are at the IP address of the Mailtraq machine. Your login information is the Username and Password for your Mailtraq mailbox.
Using Outlook with IMAP
New users should be aware that there are differences in message handling in, say Outlook, between POP3 and IMAP. Two of the most common are deleting messages and filing copies of sent items.
Deleting Messages
Message deletion is typically a two step process. First the message marked for deletion has a line drawn through it, but it is not actually removed until a separate Purge action is taken. You must Purge from time to time to prevent your mailbox filling up with unwanted emails.
For example: Outlook | Edit | Purge deleted messages
Outlook offers you a couple of additional settings:
To hide messages already marked for deletion in Outlook:
Select View | Current View | Hide Messages Marked for Deletion from the menu.
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In Outlook 2003, select View | Arrange By | Current View | Hide Messages Marked for Deletion.
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Select View | Reading Pane | <desired setting> to re-enable the preview pane.
Purge Deleted Messages Automatically in Outlook when you leave a folder:
- Select a Folder.
- Select Edit | Purge | Purge Options... from the menu.
- Make sure Purge items when switching folders while online is checked.
- Click OK.
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WARNING: When you change folders, all the deleted items in the folder you left will be purged.
You will not be able to recover or 'undelete' purged messages. |
Filing Copies of Sent Items (Outlook 2003 and earlier)
Outlook does not automatically save a copy of 'sent items' on the server - it only saves them locally. You can use the Tools | Rules & Alerts object in Outlook to create a custom rule to do this. Remember that there needs to be a User Profile created in Windows - Control Panel - Mail to access this object within Outlook.
Microsoft say that there are significant improvements to Outlook's IMAP performance in Outlook 2007, which supports the direct ability to store Sent items on the server, and also performs tasks in the 'background'.
Outlook problems: There are a number of known issues with Outlook and IMAP (some of which depend on the edition of Outlook you are using), for example: Outlook cannot handle sub-folders of the Inbox. If you are experiencing problems using IMAP with Outlook we suggest you set up a test IMAP account using Outlook Express to check your configuration.
Microsoft provide this guide to using Outlook with IMAP and there are many other guides available.
Thunderbird
Working with subfolders
You need to be aware that many versions of Thunderbird do not recognize subfolders, so you may need to be using at least Thunderbird 2.0.0.12 (and, even there, you may need to adjust Server Settings | Advanced).
If you are using an older version:
Try clicking on the account in question (that is - one level up from your Inbox), then click 'Manage Folder Subscriptions' - then find the folders, and check the boxes.
Thunderbird may not check sub-folders for mail by default.
Open up the Preferences dialog (either Tools | Preferences or Edit | Preferences),
then click Advanced | General | Config Editor.
In the filter box start typing 'mail.check' and then double-click on mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new
It also may depend on the operating system - even the latest Linux based Thunderbird clients may not have access to sub-folders.
Configuration Tips:
Reduced Event Logging
IMAP event logging is verbose and produces many lines of entries per event. This option allows you to reduce the logging to Errors Only to simplify the Event Log and make it more readable.
Migrating from another IMAP server
If you need to migrate from another mail server to Mailtraq and keep your existing mail and folders - use IMAP to make an IMAP connection to Mailtraq and to your old server, then use the client to 'drag' folders from one to the other.
Automatically clearing Junk and Deleted folders
Administrators should guard against allowing excessive build up of junk or deleted mail in Users mailboxes. Effective spam filtering can divert many thousands of messages to Junk - and this build up of messages can slow the overall performance of the mailserver - particularly the responsiveness of webmail.
Use Mail Group Maintenance to automatically purge aged items - read more here
