This document lists problems encountered with using the Pronto97 IMAP client for reading E-mail in the UNINETT context.
The problems with MIME and character set handling are serious enough that the product is not usable for UNINETT as it currently exists.
This class of problems make it necessary to consider whether the product is usable or not.
Attachments are by default "application/octet-stream; encoding base64", no matter what the file extension or type is. This includes sound files recorded using the nifty "record" button.
When ticking the "text" entry in attachment options, the data is sent as text/plain, no charset, and with content-transfer-encoding: none. This is bogus; not only is the treatment questionable, the token "none" is not standard - it should be "8bit" or "binary". See RFC 1521.
MIME handling of incoming messages seems to depend on the Windows registry. I have not experimented extensively with this, but would think that this can land you in inapprorpiate situations; you do NOT want to use Excel to read an unverified Excel spreadsheet!
There's a nifty feature called "clear Inbox" which clears
the inbox on the client. Excellent when you have done considerable work
on the inbox from another client.
The problem: When you resync with the inbox, all the messages come
back, but they are now marked as read.
A message with an attachment, and no "content-disposition" headers, is shown as an empty message with two attachments; this is broken.
There is no way to ask for an update of all linked folders at one time (the "last thing done before rushing out of the office" problem).
There is no way (that I could see) to re-run your input filters on the content of the Inbox, so that you can see whether your new filters will do what you want.
There is no way to get the mail that would be fetched under the current location but were not fetched under a previous location. The nearest I came was to mark all messages (Message/Select All Messages), click to tag all of them, and then do "Online/Retrieve Marked".
There is no way to add multiple hierarchies under the Host node. Re-executing "Get hierarchy" will clobber the existing hierarchy, with disastrous results on your linking.
The "Tools/Search Messages" dialog does not offer search on
CC, "all recipient fields" or multiple expressions. This makes
it problematic to find all mail that is going to a certain mailing list.
Neither does it offer "search on other header", which is sometimes
useful.
Sorting of messages on date disregards timezone. 01:33 -0500 sorts before 04:53 -0800; since they are 22:33 GMT and 20:53 respectively, this is wrong, and can cause answers to be sorted before their corresponding questions. At least numeric timezone support should be easy!
I could find no way to scroll the present message; both downarrow and page-down brought me to the next message.
These are NOT bugs, rather things that can seem strange at first. I include them here for completeness.
There is no "mailbox icon" in the systray that I could find. Rather, the application has to run, but can be minimized, and the icon on the toolbar will flash.
A message is not marked as read when you read it, but about 3 seconds afterwards. (Settable delay). This is a feature! - it allows scanning past a message.