thunderbird / thunderbird/thunderbird-android

IMAP: Fetch message headers for x latest messages for all folders

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type: enhancement
Dominant language
Kotlin
Stars
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Forks
2.8k
Avg merge
3d 3h
Merged PRs (30d)
57

Description

Currently, many IMAP folders are left empty and, when opened, we can fetch "up to 25 more" (by default) messages.
Fetching those 25 last messages is slow and if we want an older message than that, we have to do it again.

Instead of that, we could use the IMAP command to fetch only the headers of the first messages in those folders. Scrolling down would fetch the following headers, ideally soon enough to avoid any delay.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No files or tests are named. Start by locating the code that loads IMAP folders and fetches messages, then trace how the current batch of up to 25 messages is requested. Done means initial folder views fetch only recent headers and scrolling retrieves later headers without waiting for full messages.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
kotlin
Domain
mobile
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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