Kmail and sent-mail

[wtb32141]

I'm using Kmail version 4.13.2.

When I create and send a new email, it is sent, and my sent-mail folder shows it as having been sent. But when I reply to an incoming email, my reply is sent, but Kmail’s sent-mail folder does not show my reply as having been sent. Several prior versions of Kmail always showed my replies as having been sent.

Have you any idea as to the source of the problem? Your help will be appreciated.

[SteveRiley]

Are you connecting to an IMAP server, a POP3 server, or something else?

Have you checked the properties of your Inbox or other folder where the incoming mail arrives? There's a setting that may have affected what you see. Right-click the Inbox folder and choose Folder Properties. Have you perhaps selected the indicated item below?

[wtb32141]

Steve, thank you for your input. The replies are being stored in the sent-mail folder, but they are not being displayed as having been sent. I know they are there because (1) I searched the sent-mail folder to find a reply I sent yesterday, and it's there (I read it today) and (2) I replied to an email today, and the count of files in the sent-mail folder increased by 1. New emails that I send are being displayed as having been sent, but replies I send are not being displayed as having been sent. Both types of sent messages are in the sent-mail folder, but (for some reason) the replies are not being displayed as having been sent.

I looked for settings that might solve the problem, but I saw nothing that sounded like it might work. It's as if replies are being filtered out when messages in the sent-mail folder are being displayed.

[wtb32141]

Steve, I forgot to say that I am connecting to a POP3 server.

[SteveRiley]

Ah, I think I understand now... the sent replies are in the correct folder, but they're appearing as unsent. When I first read your post I thought you meant that the sent replies weren't even in the folder at all.

Anyway, weird. I don't have any way to duplicate this, as I use an IMAP server. My first troubleshooting step would be to delete and recreate the corresponding Akonadi resource for your mail receiving account. But I'm hesitant to suggest this, as I don't know how mail collected from POP3 servers will react to this. It's not a problem at all for mail collected from IMAP servers, as those servers keep copies of all messages.

Sounds like this might be a KDE issue, rather than Kubuntu. I'd recommend creating an account at the KDE Forum and posting your question in the correct place there. Perhaps someone will have an idea. Or perhpas someone here with POP3 experience might also have an idea.

[wtb32141]

Steve, thanks for your reply and your helpful suggestions. I just stumbled upon some VERY interesting info. One way for me to have a record of my replies to emails is to (1) send myself a copy each time I reply to an email and (2) to insert the word Reply into the subject line of the email (thereby alerting me that the email should be in my sent-mail folder instead of my inbox folder). So just a few minutes ago I replied to an email, and I copied the reply to myself. I was stunned when I looked at my sent-mails as displayed on the screen. There was my reply displayed as having been sent. So I did a 2nd test. I replied without inserting the word Reply in the subject field and without sending myself a copy. Result: the reply is not displayed as having been sent (the original problem). So I did a 3rd test: I replied by inserting the word Reply in the subject field but without sending myself a copy of the reply. Result: my reply displayed as having been sent.

Conclusion: By inserting the word Reply in the subject field of the reply (as the very first word), the problem I was having disappears. This solution is not elegant, but it works!!

[SteveRiley]

For so long as I've used KMail, a reply to a message has always added "Re:" to the beginning of the subject line. Is this not happening in your case?

[wtb32141]

Steve:


On 8-5-2009, I received an email from Mr. X. That email is displayed in my inbox. That very same day I replied to him. My reply is displayed in my sent-mail folder, and you are correct: the subject line begins with “Re:”.



Today I reply to an email from person Y, and my reply is not displayed in my sent-mail folder; it’s displayed in my inbox but on a line right under and somewhat indented from the email to which I replied. My past experience with sending replies (as indicated in the prior paragraph) had led me to expect my replies to be displayed in the sent-mail folder. Instead they are being displayed in the inbox folder, as I just described.


So we can mark this problem as SOLVED, and I genuinely appreciate your help.