[Bug 171523] New: KMail should prefetch the next email(s) to be read

[Kirk Strauser]

http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=171523

           Summary: KMail should prefetch the next email(s) to be read
           Product: kmail
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: FreeBSD Ports
        OS/Version: unspecified
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: wishlist
          Priority: NOR
         Component: general
        AssignedTo: kdepim-bugs at kde.org
        ReportedBy: kirk at strauser.com


Version:            (using KDE 4.1.1)
Installed from:    FreeBSD Ports

When using IMAP, KMail should offer the option of prefetching the next email
(or emails?) that the user is likely to read so that when they go to the next
message, it is likely to already be available on the local computer.  This
would make KMail *much* more responsive, especially for users with slow
connections to their mailservers.

I would suggest making this setting a slider for the number of emails to
prefetch, from 0 (the default and current behavior) to, say, 5 or 10 (which
seems high, but hey, some people might like that).

Limit prefetching to the current folder; lots of people have mailing lists or
other mail that they don't read often unless they specifically visit those
folders.

Do not change the status of a prefetched message in any way.  In particular,
don't mark it read just because it's been retrieved.

Suggestions for the which message to fetch:

- The next unread message
- The message listed immediately above the current message
- If the user most recently used "Previous Message" or "Previous Unread
Message", then then the same as above but in the other direction

I don't think I'd make the ordering configurable since I think the above would
work for almost everyone.

Again, I think this could make KMail feel much more responsive for a lot of
people with little additional overhead.  Since I'm very likely to read the
email after the one I'm currently looking at, KMail should get it for me before
I ask for it.


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