Howto set up IMAP with folders Trash, Sent mail and Drafts

One of the problems of IMAP is that it does not standardize the names of common folders, such as trash, sent mail and drafts. Every mail client names them differently by default, but most allow renaming or mapping the default configuration. Read on to figure out how.

Basic assumption:
Mail server uses mbox format
Folder names are: Drafts, Sent, Trash, Spam

Webmail / Squirrelmail

Works by default

MS Outlook

Outlook cannot map standard Outlook folders to differntly named IMAP folders: To tell Outlook 2007 to place outgoing messages in the Sent folder, first subscribe to that folder by selecting the IMAP Inbox, then click Tools>IMAP Folders. Click Query. Select the Sent folder and click Subscribe.

MS Outlook Express

Go to Accounts, click properties/settings.
Go to the IMAP tab and set the names for sent objects to "Sent" and for drafts to "Drafts"
Now click Tools>Account Settings. Select the IMAP account and click Change, then More Settings. In the Internet E-mail Settings dialogue, select the Folders tab. Click the radio button labeled "Choose and existing folder or create a new folder to save your sent items for this account in". Expand the IMAP folder list and choose the "Sent" folder.

Apple Mail

Select [mail account] in the left sidebar.
1. Highlight Sent in the sidebar and select Mailbox (menu bar) > Use This Mailbox For > Sent.
2. Highlight Drafts in the sidebar and select Mailbox (menu bar) > Use This Mailbox For > Drafts
3. Highlight Trash in the sidebar and select Mailbox (menu bar) > Use This Mailbox For > Trash
4. Highlight Spam in the sidebar and select Mailbox (menu bar) > Use This Mailbox For > Junk

iPhone

1. Open Settings > Mail > [Your IMAP account] > Advanced
2. Select Drafts Mailbox > On the Server > Drafts. Return to the Advanced view.
3. Select Sent Mailbox > On the Server > Sent. Return to the Advanced view.
4. Select Deleted Mailbox > On the Server > Trash. Return to the Advanced view.

Pine

Edit .pinerc
default-fcc=Sent
default-saved-msg-folder=Drafts
pruning-rule=no-no