Exchange Server - Deleting Emails Issue - A Fix

[jjwdesign]

Recently I started to look closer at the Exchange Server / IMAP email deletion problem. For many of us using MS Exchange with SugarCRM, the deletion process does not work correctly. I've taken a closer at this problem, and have come to the following conclusions and solutions.

See the attached file.

Main Files/Functions:

modules/InboundEmail/InboundEmail.php
	 function deleteMessageOnMailServer
	 function moveEmails

The deleteMessageOnMailServer function controls the deletion (and/or expunges) of emails, but in an IMAP case it tries to move the emails (instead of just deleting them). I've noticed from several dozen tests that the moving is not working properly. The first problem is that the Sugar CRM programming attempts to move the message to the "Inbox.Trash" folder, which unfortunately does not exist. I tried to setup a "Trash" folder, but the Sugar CRM programming also has problems moving emails to any subfolders to the Inbox. It does seem to work when moving emails from the INBOX to other folders at the same level (only). I'm not sure if this is an Exchange issue, or something deeper.

Regardless, MS Exchange likes to delete emails by placing them into the "Deleted Items" folder (not the INBOX.Trash folder). So, I changed the code in "modules/InboundEmail/InboundEmail.php" to use the "Deleted Items" folder. This accomplished the moving of the email from the INBOX to the Deleted Items folder. I also added an imap_expunge before the end of the deleteMessageOnMailServer function to ensure the deletion of any emails marked as deleted.

Feel free to give these changes a try on your SugarCRM / MS Exchange Server combination and let me know if it works for you. I've commented most of the changes. Use at your own risk!

[kuske]

Thank you for this detailed description.
Now I understood that this issue can only be solved by some kind of language file.
In Germany e.g. the exchange server names the "deleted items" folder to "Gelöschte Objekte".
So Email will only work correct if there is a customizeable file for the Exchange folder names.

[SugarDev.net]

Thank you very much.

[jjwdesign]

No problem kuske. You've helped me out in the past. I like to return the favor when possible.

Concerning the language file: I believe this needs to be programmed as an Inbound Email setting. Since each account may have a different Trash folder, this needs to be configurable at through the Mail Account settings screen. It might also be nice to be able to select/set the main Inbox to check mail.

[sgandhi]

Hi All,
I am about to add the facility to choose the Trash folder on the UI when you create a Mail account. So for the deletion process we will move the emails to that particular folder.

We had some issues in moving emails to subfolders of INBOX but its not because of the sugarcrm programming. In the forum post someone posetd a solution and it was the exchange server setting which was prventing that and after making that change it started working.

Thanks for all your help.

Thanks
-Samir Gandhi

[jjwdesign]

Samir,

Hopefully SugarCRM will consider supporting MS Exchange accounts with v5.1. I'm interested in that thread about the moving of emails within the Inbox. If you can find the message, please post it here.

Thank you.

[andrewm]

Feel free to give these changes a try on your SugarCRM / MS Exchange Server combination and let me know if it works for you. I've commented most of the changes. Use at your own risk!

Woohoo - very nice!!!

I see you also catered for (though commented out) the deleted items folder not existing, in which case you do a direct delete of the message. This is guaranteed to be the case when using MS Public Folders, which don't have a deleted items folder (or rather not an accessible one).

The only problem I'm seeing now is when you do an Empty Trash operation, or a direct delete operation, the message list is not updated. So currently you'd have to do a manual resync. Any idea what the fix for this would be?

[andrewm]

The only problem I'm seeing now is when you do an Empty Trash operation, or a direct delete operation, the message list is not updated. So currently you'd have to do a manual resync. Any idea what the fix for this would be?

The fix for the delete operation is in deleteMessageOnMailServer

        
        $GLOBALS['log']->debug("INBOUNDEMAIL: MoveEmail to Deleted Items FAILED - trying hard delete.");
        // JJW Added as delete; in-case the Trash Folder doesn't exist, we can just delete it.
        // Uncomment if you preferr hard deletes
        if(!imap_delete($this->conn, $uid, FT_UID)) {
                $return = true;
                // RAM update cache on fromFolder
                $newOverviews = $this->getOverviewsFromCacheFile($uid, $this->mailbox, true);
                $this->deleteCachedMessages($uid, $this->mailbox);
                // RAM update cache on fromFolder
        }
        // JJW - End

I can't as yet get the display to update on 'Empty Trash'

[andrewm]

I just upgraded to v5.2.0f and I see these fixes still haven't been applied

Attached is a new inboundemail.php file with the required mods applied

[zlatan24]

Samir,

Hopefully SugarCRM will consider supporting MS Exchange accounts with v5.1. I'm interested in that thread about the moving of emails within the Inbox. If you can find the message, please post it here.

Thank you.

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