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Tags are not āfully interoperableā between NC Mail and other mail clients.
Iāve searched the internet, these forums and the Nextcloud documentation and there is no info on this problem that I can find.
Iām posting this here in the liklihood that is a config situation rather than a bug.
Although this problem seems bigger than Iād originally thought, Iām going to focus on my primary initial problem: Thunderbird tags are created as duplicate tags in NC Mail app and NC Mail Appās existing tags are not used/synched with Thunderbird. Iāll share below that there are some other symptoms of this non-interoperable problem.
The Basics
- Nextcloud Server version (e.g., 29.x.x):
Hub 10 v31.0.8
- Operating system and version (e.g., Ubuntu 24.04):
- Linux 5.15.0-153-generic x86_64
- Is this the first time youāve seen this error? (Yes / No):
Yes
- When did this problem seem to first start?
When starting to use Thunderbird
- Installation method (e.g. AlO, NCP, Bare Metal/Archive, etc.)
Hub
- Are you using CloudfIare, mod_security, or similar? (Yes / No)
No
Summary of the issue you are facing:
Instead of using existing NC mail tags when another client tags an email, a new, identical tag appears in NC Mail instead.
Iāve been using NC Mail as my mail client for a couple months, using my existing IMAP account. It works fine. I settled in, created all my mail tags and have been organizing my mail with tags and archiving.
On another device, Iāve setup Thunderbird to use the same IMAP account. After some reading, I was under the impression that if I setup tags in Thunderbird exactly the same as in NC Mail, it would be fully interoperable between clients and the tagging from TB would properly work in NC. Itās does not on my server. Instead of using the existing tag in NC it creates a new identical tag in the NC tag menu and sets that instead. Further, the mails Iāve tagged in NC do not appear as tagged in TB. Further further, Iāve just realized if they were āfully interoperableā Thunderbird would have my NC Mail tags already. Further further further, tagging a mail in NC mail app, does NOT tag it in any way in Thunderbird. The mail in Thunderbird remains untagged.
For example:
I have a tag called āMusic Licenseā in NC Mail. I have already organized multiple email using this tag. In Thunderbird I setup a tag using itās GUI with the exact same label: āMusic Licenseā. When I tagged a new mail in TB with this tag, instead of tagging the email in NC with the existing tag, it created a new identical tag in NCās tag menu and set that instead:
Steps to replicate it (hint: details matter!):
-
Create tags in NC Mail app. Use as desired.
-
Install and configure same IMAP account with Thunderbird.
-
Create tags in Thunderbird settings with identical labels as you have in NC.
-
Explore archive folder in Thunderbird and notice that none of the NC tagged mail appears tagged. To rule out a āno tagging before Thunderbirdā situation, mark a new mail in NC Mail app with any existing tag in NC Mail app. The tagging does not appear in Thunderbird on that email. However, if you use a tag that was placed into the NC tag menu by TB, it does appear tagged on TB.
-
Tag an email with a tag in Thunderbird.
-
Check the NC Mail tag menu and see that instead of tagging the email in NC with the existing tag, it has created a new identical tag with the same label in the tag menu and set that tag on the email.
What is expected instead:
What I would expect to happen is that any client with tags of the same label, use the existing tags and only create new tags in the client if they donāt already exist.
For example, if I tag an email with a tag called āMusic Licenseā in Thunderbird, it should also use the same tag in Nextcloud called āMusic Licenseā.
Additionally:
- Thunderbird is adding tags to Nextcloud - but not vice-versa. Nextcloud tags should have appeared in Thunderbird instead of my having to create a whole new set of tags, which then get added as duplicates to Thunderbird.
- Tags created by Thunderbird in Nextcloud are not editible, and also appear invisible (White text on white background) So they are not useful.
There seems to be the ability for clients to talk about tags between themselves since I can use a Thunderbird tag in Nextcloud and the change appears in Thunderbird. Itās just not happening both ways. If I set a Nextcloud originated tag on an email in Nextcloud Mail App, it does not seem to send that information to Thunderbird in any way. If I tag an email with a Thunderbird originated tag, Thunderbird sends the change to Nextcloud, and somewhere that tag is added to Nextcloudās tag menu and set on the email.
This behavior should work both ways and also not create duplicate tags.
Log entries
Nextcloud
There are no related log entries.
Conclusion
I realize this may be a configuration error somewhere, but I cannot find any settings or documentation or discussion about it. Iāve even looked in my mail serverās IMAP settings to see if thereās something I missed there. Thatās why I am posting here instead of creating a bug report.
Also, I realize I *could just use Thunderbird tags from now on, (and probably will practically) since that organization task gets sent to Nextcloud, but that doesnāt solve the actual problem, itās just a workaround.
If anyone has any ideas of settings or configuration to look for, please let me know.
