Archiving Gmail messages so Opera ignores them

Archiving Gmail messages so Opera ignores them

I have a Google Apps account with the number of messages approaching 200,000.

I access this with Opera Email using IMAP and I prefer to have Opera download the full message, not just the message headers.

But the latest couple of Opera builds has freaked out with account. Previously versions of Opera never had an issue, but I'm thinking if I could reduce the number of message Opera loads, it might be a nice work around.

I don't want to delete these messages, but in some rare situations I may need to find an old email (I use it for work). But at the same time, they don't all need to be in Opera--I can go to the Google interface to look up old messages.

Does anyone have some suggestions about how I can manage this volume of email so Opera doesn't have to download so much data?

Originally posted by drworm:

Does anyone have some suggestions about how I can manage this volume of email so Opera doesn't have to download so much data?

At mail.google.com, you can create a Label and make sure those messages are only shown in that label. Then, in the label settings, you can uncheck "show in IMAP" for that label and for "All Mail". Then, those messages won't show up in Opera anywhere. Or, you could just archive your messages at mail.google.com and just uncheck "show in IMAP" for "All Mail".

Keep <http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=1391432> in mind when just unsubscribing from an IMAP folder though.

Originally posted by drworm:

I have a Google Apps account with the number of messages approaching 200,000.

Is that 200,000 messages in "[Gmail]/All Mail" or does the 200,000 include the copies of all/some of those messages in "[Gmail]/All Mail" that are in Gmail Labels?

200,000 messages in Opera isn't really a lot, so I'm not so sure the problems you're having are caused by the number of messages. Even though it'll take time to fetch, I'd set up the account in a standalone installation and set "make all messages available offline" to see if Opera misbehaves there or not.

Originally posted by burnout426:

Or, you could just archive your messages at mail.google.com and just uncheck "show in IMAP" for "All Mail".

Thanks. I wasn't sure "All Mail" would be needed for Opera to behave correctly with Gmail IMAP.

Is that 200,000 messages in "[Gmail]/All Mail" or does the 200,000 include the copies of all/some of those messages in "[Gmail]/All Mail" that are in Gmail Labels?

That probably includes copies. It's how many headers Opera Attempts to fetch.

200,000 messages in Opera isn't really a lot, so I'm not so sure the problems you're having are caused by the number of messages.

Neither am I. Opera never had a problem until build 1429. But a work around is all I can hope for and I'm hoping if I archive a few years of mail it might be ok.

Even though it'll take time to fetch, I'd set up the account in a standalone installation and set "make all messages available offline" to see if Opera misbehaves there or not.

That's a good tip. I spent ages installing, re-installing, importing, fetching, deleting appdata in an effort to get it to function (without success). I should have just done a portable install and messed around with that

I'm downloading the message headers now. I'll see how it goes. Note that whilst I would prefer to have Opera download the message body, this problem occurs when downloading the headers.

Yup, same problem with the portable install. When retrieving the headers, Opera locks up at the 70,000 mark.

I'm open to any suggestions you have in regards to this.

I check this account at work with Opera 1429 and it hasn't had an issue, so it's a little odd it happens on my home PC so reliably and consistently.

What operating system are you using ?, File system of the disk where Opera stores your messages (NTFS, EXT2, FAT32 etc) ?.

Have you tried checking your disk/s for errors ?. 'Fsck' for Linux (Make sure you unmount the partition first) or 'Chkdsk (disk c: d: etc) /R' from a command line in windows.

I'm running Windows 7 64 bit. The filesystem is obviously NTFS and there are no reported errors with the checkdisk.

One new piece of information is that when Opera locks up loading the mail DB, it is finite. Running a portable version meant I could let it run without feeling the need to kill it so I could browse some websites. So Opera will lockup for over 30 minutes (maybe even an hour), but it will start working smoothly after that.

Originally posted by drworm:

Thanks. I wasn't sure "All Mail" would be needed for Opera to behave correctly with Gmail IMAP.

"All Mail" is needed when you want to drag to it to archive (remove a label from) a message. Also, Opera usually hides messages from folders besides "All Mail" from other views and just shows the copies from "All Mail". Opera also IDLEs for IMAP on both "All Mail" and "Inbox" for new messages.

However, users with advanced needs should be able to use Gmail IMAP find without "All Mail". It's just not recommended to go without it for your average user.

Originally posted by drworm:

That probably includes copies. It's how many headers Opera Attempts to fetch.

Originally posted by drworm:

this problem occurs when downloading the headers.

O.K.

Originally posted by drworm:

Yup, same problem with the portable install. When retrieving the headers, Opera locks up at the 70,000 mark.

Originally posted by drworm:

One new piece of information is that when Opera locks up loading the mail DB, it is finite. Running a portable version meant I could let it run without feeling the need to kill it so I could browse some websites. So Opera will lockup for over 30 minutes (maybe even an hour), but it will start working smoothly after that.

You might want to enable logging to see if the Gmail IMAP server is disconnecting Opera or something because of all the headers that have to be fetched etc. Or, the log might so what message it's stalling on.

I enabled logging.

Because Opera locks up when loading the mail DB obviously no log entries are generated at that time.

I did another clean install and performed the first request for all headers with logging enabled, but I'm not sure what to look for in a 72MB log file

The process took a couple of hours--but it did complete. Maybe it's not unexpected for Opera to lockup for long periods during this time.

I think it's still odd that when starting Opera and the mail DB loads that it locks during this time for 30-60 minutes. I'm not sure what information I could provide in regards to that. Mail logs aren't generated during this time.

Originally posted by drworm:

I did another clean install and performed the first request for all headers with logging enabled, but I'm not sure what to look for in a 72MB log file

"error", "failed"/"failure", "disconnect" etc. "system". Stuff like that. If you use <http://jujusoft.com/jujuedit/> it won't be so slow to access the file.

Originally posted by drworm:

I think it's still odd that when starting Opera and the mail DB loads that it locks during this time for 30-60 minutes. I'm not sure what information I could provide in regards to that. Mail logs aren't generated during this time.

Did you test in Opera 11.64? In Opera 12, Opera freezes (maybe not forever) when loading the database. It's a known bug and it happens to me in Opera 12 too (I can't use Opera 12 right now because of it).

I saw that you tested in Opera 12 (1429), but I interpreted that as you just tried it in 1429 to see how if it worked any better, not that you were using Opera 12 regularly (especially since you posted this in the mail forum instead of the beta forum where problems with Opera 12 go).

I've been using Opera 12 since the first build. It was only with 1429 did email become a problem. Originally, after the upgrade, Opera would crash as it loaded the mail DB. I tried what I could before doing a clean install and creating the mail account from scratch.

I'm also using Opera 12 at work with the same set of email accounts without a hitch. I've been meaning to copy the `mail` folder from my work PC to see if works or not on my home PC... or try the portable version of Opera on work PC.

Sounds like you're just running into the known crashers and database loading problems that have been in the last few 12 builds.

Originally posted by burnout426:

Sounds like you're just running into the known crashers and database loading problems that have been in the last few 12 builds.

Ah, ok. I didn't find any reports of this when searching. But at least it's known.

The issue downloading and loading the mail database appears to be fixed now.

Thanks for the update.