IMAP: restrict synchronisation by total size

Many IMAP clients allow the user to configure them to only synchronise the most recent X days/weeks/etc of emails, e.g. the last 30 days.

Is it possible for an IMAP client to allow the user to instead configure the client to only synchronise the most recent X MB of emails?

If so, is this possible in any existing free software IMAP clients (e.g. Mutt, OfflineIMAP, or Thunderbird) and what steps does the user need to take with these clients in order to achieve it?

sampablokuper

Posted 2016-02-12T19:51:24.587

Reputation: 2 389

Are you using Gmail? – user2924019 – 2016-02-22T11:11:30.820

Are you using Gmail? Possibly. Does it make a difference whether the IMAP server is Gmail or not? – sampablokuper – 2016-02-22T16:26:55.933

Yes it does actually. – user2924019 – 2016-02-23T15:51:42.687

Yes it does actually. Please can you provide an answer that covers both Gmail and non-Gmail cases? Also, please can you be clear whether you're speaking of Gmail as the email client, as the email server, or both? Thanks! – sampablokuper – 2016-02-24T02:54:13.580

Here is your answer: No it is not possible with known current software. – user2924019 – 2016-02-24T11:16:08.693

Answers

Are you trying to keep under your current data limit? I have found a article from Mozilla on how to achieve that, but not from a client. A far as I know there isn't such setting for available on major email clients today.

However, there is no 'Folder Quota' option available for Windows computers, so the only option available would be creating partition then storing all email client data there instead of it's default folder.

Link to guide: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/avoiding-quota-limits-mail-servers

Gabe Zimbric

Posted 2016-02-12T19:51:24.587

Reputation: 70

Thanks! It's not about a quota imposed by the server. Rather, it's about minimising the amount of storage needed on the client. Specifically, the use-case is to be able to clear an email backlog from a particular account's inbox, while storing minimal data on the client. By using the size of the inbox as the sync criterion, each time an email is dealt with & removed from the inbox, another, older email would be brought into the client via IMAP. With age-based sync, that would not be possible unless the user increases the age limit setting each time the inbox is empty. – sampablokuper – 2016-02-22T16:24:58.950

No need for a Windows solution, btw :) – sampablokuper – 2016-02-22T16:26:14.263