Manage multiple IMAP accounts from 1 interface

[rcubetrac]

Reported by sanchez on 13 Oct 2006 12:08 UTC as Trac ticket #1484075

I'm using mozilla thunderbird for IMAP access to about 5 email account and I like it to keep it separate because of transparency, different nature of emails etc. anyway have lot reasons not to resend it to one general mailbox. Therefore it would be perfect to have lightweight online IMAP client to check for mails on all my mailboxes simultaneously..

I think that implementing this feature would require a little redesign of core concept, but would bring excelent functionality for people like me..

Keywords: multi-account mailboxes simultaneously Migrated-From: http://trac.roundcube.net/ticket/1484075

[rcubetrac]

Milestone changed by seansan on 16 Feb 2008 21:02 UTC

=> later

[rcubetrac]

Summary changed by seansan on 16 Feb 2008 21:02 UTC

it would be great if RC could manage more email boxes at the time

Manage multiple IMAP accounts from 1 interface

[rcubetrac]

Comment by axel on 12 Mar 2009 10:36 UTC

I totally agree with sanchez. That would be really awesome. However, the best would be according to me the Apple Mail model, not the Thunderbird model. Any chance to see that feature request be planned?

[rcubetrac]

Comment by genkiz on 30 Sep 2009 21:23 UTC

Would be really great to have an option to switch between imap accounts.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by Nidoh on 15 Mar 2010 13:13 UTC

This would be an amazing feature!!

Please please please do this, I would if i could!

Or could someone update on the progress, this has been kicking around for at least 4years I have been using RC

Thanks

[rcubetrac]

Comment by genkiz on 15 Mar 2010 14:55 UTC

this function is working fine in the latest version I am using this:

• accounts plugin
• @version 1.0 - 31.08.2009
• @author Roland 'rosali' Liebl
• @website http://myroundcube.googlecode.com

[rcubetrac]

Comment by trisk on 24 Apr 2010 07:52 UTC

Triaging this bug. Priority should be low.

[rcubetrac]

Owner changed by trisk on 24 Apr 2010 07:52 UTC

=> none

[rcubetrac]

Comment by neutrino15 on 15 Mar 2011 21:07 UTC

I would like to see this implemented as well.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by Dodge on 3 Aug 2012 09:17 UTC

Are there any News?

I also would love to see this.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by tarant on 20 Aug 2012 12:08 UTC

Same question here. Without that functionality roundcube is for me useless.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by ericf on 12 Sep 2012 21:53 UTC

Modifications required to make a single instance of Roundcube work with multiple accounts might be a major undertaking and I'm wondering if similar functionality might be achieved by using a separate instance of the program for each account. I'm thinking of a shell program with a tabbed interface that records account information and launches Roundcube instances, each in it's out tab, but all in the same window. Might be a bit piggy, but easier to pull off.

Just a thought.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by ericf on 12 Sep 2012 23:14 UTC

Afterthought re the idea of multiple instances in tabs:

The uzbl-tabbed wrapper for the minimal uzbl web browser might provide some ideas about how to do this.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by @alecpl on 21 Sep 2012 19:03 UTC

1488716 marked as duplicate of this request.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by Jehan on 8 Nov 2012 03:23 UTC

Hi,

I would really appreciate such a feature too, though I completely disagree with the solution of having each email account in a separate browser tab (unless you are saying tabs inside the Roundcube UI, but considering you write about program instance, I guess you mean several Roundcube instances, each inside a different browser tab).

This is also the solution that for instance Gmail chose for multiple accounts. But if you tend to leave your email tabs all the time open (with the app tab feature of Firefox, and I think other browser have similar features), you end up with several tabs opened constantly and that's really annoying. So I'd really prefer to have a single browser tab opened and the separation clearly done inside Roundcube UI.

In any case, I'd like to "vote" for this killer feature. :-)

[rcubetrac]

Comment by ericf on 8 Nov 2012 14:55 UTC

i proposed the tabbed multiple instances with tabs approach. further thoughts:

-- yes, i meant tabs within the roundcube ui, not separate browser windows.

-- cant comment on gmail web client as i haven't tried it with multiple accounts nor studied it. the example i had in mind was uzbl-tabbed, which is inherently different as it's a local browser rather than a web application, but it does illustrate a shell around several instances of one program.

-- i was thinking of this as intermediate solution that might be less work to implement than something more integrated. longer term i might prefer something more integrated and conventional with account and folder trees on the left as in thunderbird and others.

-- hadn't really thought about separate instances in separate browser tabs, but it might be a useful idea. my main point is that the functionality is the key thing and it would be nice to get something going. if it is provided i'm willing to try it no matter how it's implemented. i would be willing to temporarily trade off UI elegance and resource efficiency to get it.

(however, some of the resource utilization is on my provider's server and they may not share that opinion.)

[rcubetrac]

Comment by ericf on 8 Nov 2012 15:09 UTC

BTW: noticed terms awesome and amazing used above. if those were meant express enthusiasm i agree.

however, it's actually a pretty mundane feature that most popular desktop clients provide. it may be less common among web based clients, but if the goal is to have a web client that is as useable as a desktop client this an important feature. users with multiple mail accounts are common these days.

key difference between a web based client and a desktop one is that the web client is ofter installed and operated but the email provider rather than the user and it might seem a bit odd to ask a mail provider service provider to in effect provide a UI for a competitor's service, but that seems to be just what some of the big providers are doing.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by Jehan on 9 Nov 2012 04:25 UTC

ericf > 1) not sure which is the best UI. I kind of like the tab idea (inside the same browser tab, that is) because it makes a real clear separation. But the common Thunderbird-like UI (all visible in the same page through the folder tree) is OK too, I guess. We may even experiment new kind of multi-account integration UI if anyone has ideas. I am open as well. :-)

2) As for Gmail, basically their approach is simply that you can now have several browser tabs (in the same browser, hence the same session), each for its own Gmail account. The problem is that if you have several accounts, and want to keep them all opened (keeping them opened allowing to know when a new mail comes in, because the tab goes blue), well that's as many additional tab per account. I really dislike this choice.

3) I have no time right now (a lot of other development on the track), but if none develops it, I may step-in. Furthermore that does not look that much work. But that probably won't be before months (unless I get bored once and wants to go for a change of air).

4) I have been thinking of a new feature linked to this multi-account. Right now, I guess most people's installation are just targeted to one (or a list of) domain. But with multi-account, a very cool feature would be to be domain-free for secondary accounts only. For instance let's say I have a roundcube allowing only users of example.net to log in. But then if jehan@example.net was to log-in, he could also log any secondary accounts he wish (gmail.com, etc.). In other words, you don't allow any people on the web to use your UI, but for all your own users, you allow them to manage any accounts they have, as in a common desktop program. Of course this would be optional, and customizable in config files. But I would find it extremely handy (limiting all the multi-accounts to your own domain is... well, limited).

What do you think of this idea?

[rcubetrac]

Comment by ericf on 14 Nov 2012 17:55 UTC

it sounds like something worth implementing, but i'd make it a configuration option. whether it's helpful or not is likely to depend on who is deploying the software and what their goals are.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by ericf on 14 Nov 2012 18:09 UTC

that may have been a bit understated. i suspect many administrators would consider it a necessity.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by Jehan on 15 Nov 2012 03:08 UTC

You are right, in my opinion. That should be a configuration option, and I don't even think that should be the default. Some people may not like having their server used as a mail client for other domain than theirs. All the big webmails (Gmail, Yahoo, and whatever) for instance use it only for their own domain.

On the other hand, there are indeed a lot of people who would think this would be a must-have.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by reeceatlas92 on 9 Feb 2013 06:05 UTC

Life is going browser based, and I would like to move ALL of my emails browser based in RoundCube. RoundCube is the only online client I have found to do what I want to it to, SIMPLY. The only thing it can't do is manage all my emails in one hub like Apple Mail, Thunderbird, or Outlook.

Jehan said:

"Some people may not like having their server used as a mail client for other
domain than theirs."

Having everything hosted on one server ENCOURAGES the continued use of that server, and raises customer life-expectancy.

I want this feature very much. Please, consider it in the next iteration.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by daggett on 24 Jun 2013 12:56 UTC

Maybe instead of "Manage multiple IMAP accounts from 1 interface" we could enable "Open multiple accounts VIA multiple browser tabs" :

• users don't have to enter any parameter nor setup anything regarding IMAP or SMTP (simplicity) : they just have to open a new tab in their browser to open other accounts simultaneously,
• don't allow users to fiddle with IMAP/SMTP settings.

I openend a new feature request for this, as it is not the same functionality : http://trac.roundcube.net/ticket/1489201

regards,

Daggett

[rcubetrac]

Comment by smmtra on 3 Sep 2014 12:14 UTC

Hello, Is there any news about multiple imap servers in roundcube?

Cheers Marcin

[rcubetrac]

Comment by junkpad92 on 11 Jan 2015 13:38 UTC

Hello,

any updates for this feature request?

[rcubetrac]

Comment by web4d on 17 Mar 2015 02:02 UTC

Hi, I would also love to see this feature, imho basically the last missing piece to make this the #1 choice webmail. Still any plans to add native support for multi-account setups in a future release? Thanks for the great work!

[rcubetrac]

Severity changed by web4d on 23 Mar 2015 01:11 UTC

minor => normal

[rcubetrac]

Comment by markusd112 on 5 Jan 2016 06:31 UTC

I would like to support this feature request. I have used Zimbra (http://www.zimbra.com) webmail frontend for several years and like the way they have implemented this multi IMAP mailbox feature in the GUI: in the preferences you can configure all of your IMAP accounts as "external mail accounts". They are displayed in the email tab of zimbra on the left navigation pane as you know it e.g. in thunderbird or any other native mail client. The advantage: you only have to login one time to zimbra and you have instantly access to all your mail accounts. It would be great, if roundcube will be enabled to handle multiple external IMAP accounts in the same way.

[rcubetrac]

Comment by markusd112 on 5 Jan 2016 06:37 UTC

Another product with such a functionality: https://phlymail.com

[bugz8unny69]

Hi,

I to would also like to see this feature implemented. I have setup a few mailbox on my mail server to serve different purposes. Technically, I could have implemented this with sieve, mail aliases, and multilple identities, which I might implement at a later date. In mean time, it would be useful to view multiple mailboxes, within one browser tab (and session), having mailboxes separted with their distinct folders in the left pane in the Inbox view. See image below.

Sample pane with multiple mailboxes

Regards, Horace

[magenbrot]

Hi,

I also would love to see this function implemented :+1:

[YaegerDesign]

+1

[AndrzejL-eu]

I would also love to see this added to rcmail.

Regards.

Andrzej

[memiks]

+1

[werose]

+1

[jonrabone]

I would also love to see this - as sysadmin it's blocking my installation of RC for my users. I see no reason why RC can't use one of the standard set of authentication libraries (or even defer to Courier authlib and friends) to manage the concept of an RC user account, while storing the (encrypted) IMAP credentials for multiple mail accounts in the DB, linked to that RC user account.

Happy to help test and/or write code but unfamiliar with RoundCube internals. I use Debian/Courier/Exim with Exim authenticating against Courier authlib via a socket in the manner described above, all over TLS.

Jon

[axtux]

+1 The only missing functionality

[HeyDSN]

+1

[asterismo]

+1

[davideoliva]

+1

[mzummo]

+1

[camel-chased]

+1

[entropy-dev]

+1

[infsy]

+1

[dschoschu]

+1

[hurvajs]

+1

[WindowsAndLinux]

+1, I'd like to see this implemented, too. Though I'm not sure how this happened, on some webhosting providers, I've already seen this implemented, as in: the "main" account of the domain can see all the other accounts as folders. Now, on some newer hosts, I can no longer see this. But it is an absolute must ! Please implement this.

[magenbrot]

@WindowsAndLinux this sounds like an IMAP shared folder not multiple accounts on different servers

[YaegerDesign]

@magenbrot, out of curiosity, can you explain what an IMAP share folder is and how to accomplish it in Roundcube?

[magenbrot]

@YaegerDesign, an IMAP server supporting ACL / Permissions is dovecot with the acl plugin. You can have a look in the documentation: https://wiki.dovecot.org/SharedMailboxes/Shared

I've attached a screenshot how a shared folder looks like in roundcube: