[Bug 303793] New: emails lost when moving between folders

[net at brazosnet.net]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=303793

            Bug ID: 303793
          Severity: normal
               URL: http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=215&t=106908
           Version: 4.8.4
          Priority: NOR
          Assignee: kdepim-bugs at kde.org
           Summary: emails lost when moving between folders
    Classification: Unclassified
                OS: Linux
          Reporter: net at brazosnet.net
          Hardware: Ubuntu Packages
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
         Component: folders
           Product: kmail2

New to Linux and Kubuntu - I've only had it for a week.  This is my first bug
report, please forgive me if I'm doing it wrong.

I setup my primary email address in Kmail. After downloading messages to the
inbox for the first time, I decided I wanted to sort them into subfolders
inside the inbox. So far so good. Then I changed my mind and tried to move the
folders outside the inbox. I created a new folder outside the inbox, then tried
to move all the folders in the inbox to the new folder.

Kmail crashed, and when I opened it again, whenever I tried to open one of my
folders it said "Local Folders: MailDir (subfolderName) for collection
(collectionName) is invalid." I could still see the emails, but I was annoyed
at the constant error messages, so I tried to create more new directories and
move the emails out into new directories.

When I did so, the emails disappeared from the old directory, but didn't arrive
at the new directory! Now I was getting angry. Where'd my emails go? I started
manually looking in hidden directories (such as the one listed in the error
message), but those were all empty. I finally found them inside
Home>.local>share>local-mail>.inbox.directory>(subfolder) ... which is where
they started?

The emails are all there. I can open them (using Dolphin) with Kmail Viewer. I
can see them in Kmail, but I can't open them, and if I try to move them in
Kmail they get lost, which is scary. I don't want to lose those emails! Some of
them are important.

I've noticed the problem is that when I try to open the folder the error says
it can't find the subfolder.  However, the subfolder listed is different from
the actual location of the emails on my computer.

For instance the emails are at:
Home>.local>share>local-mail>.inbox.directory>(subfolder)
But it tries to find them at:
Home>.local>share>local-mail>.inbox.directory>(subfolder)>(subfolder)

I fixed the problem by creating a new folder in Kmail, then manually copying
the emails (using Dolphin) from the directory where they are to the new
directory. Now I can see all my emails in Kmail in the new folder, and I can
move them without problems, and I feel confident deleting the old folders. Even
so, I'm gonna back up before I do...

Reproducible: Didn't try

Steps to Reproduce:
The effect was scary, so I did not want to try to reproduce it.


Expected Results:  
If it crashes while moving folders it needs to keep the structure in a safe
state.

If a folder is invalid, there needs to be a way for the user to intervene to
correct the address of the folder.

If it moves emails from an invalid folder, it must not lose those emails!  For
safety, if it can't move them, then it shouldn't try.

If the folders are listed in the folder structure, there should be some way to
"clean up" the folders so it knows where they all are again.

Because I was able to find the emails and move them manually (using Dolphin),
data was not lost.  However, it's still a very scary error.  For someone that
isn't computer literate (and couldn't fix it themselves), they'd probably never
touch Kmail again.

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