IMAP + kmail + Outlook = problem

Server:

• Linux Fedora Core


• Dovecot IMAP Server

Client:

• Windows XP SP2


• Office 2003 SP1

Problem:

We had one laptop where Outlook was giving us hell -- couldn't open the inbox of Brent's email account. We tried re-installing Office to no avail.

We looked at this Linuxgems article to sort the .subscriptions directory in alphabetical order,
but that didn't work either.

Solution:

In the end, the fix was to:

1) cd $HOME; rm -rf Mail mail

2) DO NOT USE kmail (or possibly even evolution) on the server

3) Go to Outlook, delete any old IMAP accounts, and add a new IMAP account

Explanation:

The problem seemed to be caused by using kmail. kmail seems to set up a $HOME/Mail directory, while Outlook seems to setup a $HOME/mail directory, but basically once you use kmail, you can no longer use Outlook to view your IMAP email. I did extensive google searches on this but found nothing, so hopefully this page gets picked up in google some day so future people who are still using Windows 2003 and IMAP can find a solution.