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Popular ideas Here are this month's most popular ideas about Evolution Mail and Calendar. New to Brainstorm? Learn how it works!

Gmail Integration in Evolution  
Written by Shady3D the 10 Oct 09 at 19:45. New
setting-up Gmail in Evolution every time is a hell for non geeks. calendar, address-book, and notes are a completely different thing.
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Solution #1: Gmail Template
Written by Shady3D the 10 Oct 09 at 19:45.
the setup wizard will just take the username and password and thats it.

what will the wizard do is:
1. connect to Gmail using POP or IMAP
2. better address-book sync
3. auto connect with Google Calendar
4. auto connect with Google Tasks(i don't know if there is API available for that)
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Solution #2: Import config settings like in Thunderbird.
Written by ActionParsnip the 13 Oct 09 at 11:33.
Not too hard, could be a simple option on the initial startup screen.
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Solution #3: Solution #1 + Live Mail, AOL, etc
Written by tmoc the 14 Oct 09 at 03:34.
Yes, I know this idea is about GMail, but we might as well add the same type of support for Live Mail and AOL, which both offer POP access as well.
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Solution #4: Replace Evolution With Thunderbird
Written by snostorm the 17 Oct 09 at 15:35.
Thunderbird has much better webmail integration, and is much easier to set up than Evolution, particularly in the upcoming version 3.0. It's also got better add ons, and is part of the Mozilla suite. Calendar support can be provided through Lightning, a add-on developed by Mozilla that could be included in Thunderbird by default. (If it doesn't end up included in the official 3.0 anyway) Why not just have Thunderbird as the default? If someone wants Evolution, it's in the repository.
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Solution #5: Improve IMAP speed
Written by Rodrigo the 19 Oct 09 at 21:04.
One of the things that anyones me the most is the slowness of Evolution when it comes to handling IMAP emails (like gmail) improving that speed will improve the user experience.
Here is a bug that relates to this problem:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=336076
lets fix those little things!
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Solution #6: Just a couple of other things
Written by homerhomer the 22 Oct 09 at 23:39.
1) If Evolution is going to use the notification area ( which I like ) I should be able to hide it from the task-bar. Personally, I think they should add this EASY to add feature, but until that time Ubuntu should use alltray like they say - http://www.go-evolution.org/FAQ#Can_I_minimize_the_Evolution_window_to_the_syst em_tray.3F

2) Also when I'm using IMAP with Gmail in Evolution is should hide the local account that's not being used. There is no need for extra clutter.

I like evolution but sometimes I feel they are not working with the community.




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Solution #7: Integrate the whole "conversation" idea of Gmail
Written by Zaklikestorawk the 29 Oct 09 at 21:43.
I love how in the browser Gmail the conversations are put into those handy little "Conversation threads"

I'm not sure about you guys, but I would even use evolution till the conversation threads are in.
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Solution #8: Create new online account management application
Written by optevo the 1 Nov 09 at 22:48.
Introduction:
An online account management application (OAMA) should be created. This application would have a simple interface and will store authentication information for various online accounts (google, hotmail, etc). In addition to basic account information, it could also store common preference associated with such accounts eg.
- IMAP vs POP
- which email account is the default
- whether to use a given account for any/all of email, chat, calendar
- whether to set the account up in the browser (eg. create bookmarks and save user/password information for the relevant site)

Whenever a Communications Application (ComApp) such as a email (eg Evolution, Thunderbird), chat (eg Empathy, Pidgin), calendar (eg Evolution, Sunbird), etc is launched for the first time it should either
1. Take existing settings that were set within the OAMA and auto-configure itself accordingly
2. If the OAMA has never been launched, the ComApp should invoke it first

ADVANTAGES:
- Once the OAMA has been run, any ComApp should be able to be launched with zero initial configuration and be usable
- Single point of configuration for all ComApps
- Easier configuration of all ComApps
- Easier to change between different ComApps

Additional suggestions:
If a preference that is managed by OAMA is changed within the ComApp, the preferences in the OAMA should be updated. In other words, there should be a 2 way sync between the OAMA and all ComApps

It might be worth considering having the OAMA run as part of the Ubuntu install process.
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Solution #9: Use a certain Canonical-sponsored cloud service.
Written by natetechboy128 the 3 Nov 09 at 04:34.
If you sync .gconf/apps/evolution, it keeps Evolution in sync across computers. On the U1 website, simply add a parser for the gconf file, and boom. Instant setup, and if U1 ever feels like giving us webmail... Like solution 8.

See the 17 comments or propose a solution >>

Evolution could work better if it would be able to sync in the cloud.  
Written by Maupertus the 25 Oct 09 at 12:51. New
Tomboy is a great little app that is still in heavy development while sticking true to it's goal (simple note taking) One of the great ideas they've jumped upon is note syncing via Ubuntu One.

This gave me the idea that one of the reasons why I do not take full advantage of all the possibilities that Evolution offers is because I can't be bothered to set create multiple 'entries'for things like the to-do list.

Although the creation of better task management etc. is something for the Evolution team to do. What would really benefit Evolution and Ubuntu is a tight integration with Ubuntu One.
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Solution #1: Let Evolution and Ubuntu One become fully integrated.
Written by Maupertus the 25 Oct 09 at 12:51.
Although the creation of better task management etc. is something for the Evolution team to do. What would really benefit Evolution and Ubuntu is a tight integration with Ubuntu One.

Where a lot of people now use Google and it's calendar and address book functionality, it is not a foolproof system as Ubuntu and Google are two very different companies with different goals and ideas about certain things.

As such, it would be great if all the functionality that Evo offers could be synced with Ubuntu One. A lot of users use a laptop and home computer and would benefit from it. A webbased front end would complete the picture.

To illustrate this idea, I would like to point out the Ovi system which is used by Nokia. Although the concept has been badly implemented, the idea is great. Create an account and all data (evolution, but maybe f-spot etc. as well) is backed up and synced.

See the 4 comments or propose a solution >>

Your ideas to improve Evolution Mail  
Written by smon the 19 Oct 09 at 16:33. New
Evolution mail is a good but outdated solution for mail, calendars, ...

With this brain, I invite you to propose (and vote for) improvement ideas for the groupware Evolution.

Let's start the brainstorm !
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Solution #1: Improve compatibility with online services
Written by smon the 19 Oct 09 at 16:33.
Evolution has a bad control of on line (WebDAV, Google, etc.) resources like calendars, tasks, ... Developpers should work on it.
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Solution #2: Review the user interface
Written by smon the 19 Oct 09 at 16:36.
The UI (user interface) is complicated and outdated. Gnome aims to be simple, ergonomic and user friendly, but Evolution is the perfect contrary of that.

Perhaps a Gnome Shell like UI could be a good idea ...
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Solution #3: Faster and easier searches
Written by xfuser4 the 19 Oct 09 at 17:19.
The current search interface is somehow slow and not easy to use. It could be based on tracker and reduced to a single search panel, that normaly searches also inside the content of a mail.
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Solution #4: Improve IMAP speed
Written by Rodrigo the 19 Oct 09 at 21:11.
Work on the way Evolution handles IMAP accounts so that it can work in a better (faster) way
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Solution #5: make if for human beings
Written by Shady3D the 20 Oct 09 at 05:25.
simplify all the UI clutter and the unnecessary options, and make it easier for non-geeks to use it without a problem
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Solution #7: Split Evolution in different Applications
Written by pubsbin the 21 Oct 09 at 23:39.
By pressing a button at the top left corner, Ubuntu is both a e-Mail app, a Calendar app, an Address Book app, and a Task-list app and a "small-memo" app. Each functionality should be separated in a different application.

Such a refactoring would have the following advantages:
- The user doesn't need to set up an email account and a POP service just in order to, say, write an entry in a calendar.
- Each application would have a nicer and more simple interface. The menus would contain less elements and with a smaller nesting.
- Simmilarly, you would get rid of the baroque preferences menu in evolution (side bar 6 options, each option average 5 tabs, each tab average 5 elements).

From the viewpoint of the developer, this would mean a more orthogonal design: each application could be modified and upgraded independently. And since the personal-internet applications evolves rapidly (twitter, Facebook, rememberthemilk, WebCal, etc...) it would be easier to adapt each application to its new working environment.
Also, you would have lightweight services for other applications: you don't load the mail for looking at your schedule, and you don't load the calendar for sending a document through email.

The only drawback would be that you could need to develop some "bridge" services (like Mail accessing AddresBook) but, on the whole, it would be an easier to use and maintain design.
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Solution #8: Ensure clean shutdown after log-off
Written by elias1884 the 22 Oct 09 at 19:49.
Evolution tends to leave processes running after log-off in multiuser environments! Either get rid of these background daemons - I do not quite understand why they are needed anyhow, all the other mail apps work without them - or make them shutdown properly after log-off!!!
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Solution #10: Full support of MS Exchange (all versions)
Written by Bobik-s the 27 Oct 09 at 15:12.
Without full support of MS Exchange (corporate standart for many companies) Ubuntu is nothing but OS for Linux geeks. Settings must be as easy as in MS Outlook. And full *.pst support as long as it's an open standart nowadays. Lack of this functionality really prevents business people from using Ubuntu.
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Solution #11: Add a find mail duplicates plugin
Written by sroland the 27 Oct 09 at 18:16.
Many times i screw up with my mail, and have downloaded twice, and there should be an option like right click in a folder and select "delete duplicated mail"... this whould make the removing duplicated mail a lot easier and is a simple task... right?

awesome piece of soft evolution...

regards,
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Solution #12: support multiple mail accounts
Written by xubaj the 31 Oct 09 at 18:39.
i have different mail accounts which all have different meanings (home, university, work) and i don't want them to be merged into one single inbox. i know there are message filters but this is just ridiculous.

this blog article describes this problem in detail: http://lnxwalt.wordpress.com/2007/10/21/why-not-use-evolution-mail-client
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Solution #13: easy migration from Thunderbird
Written by xubaj the 31 Oct 09 at 18:51.
Thunderbird is a commonly used mail client. Evolution should have a easy migration function for account data, messages, contacts and Lightning calendar.
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Solution #14: Easy e-mail account configuration
Written by knkillname the 1 Nov 09 at 05:18.
For the average Joe it is almost impossible to configure an e-mail account due to technical terms in Evolution like "POP3" and "SSL". Configuring an account should be a little bit like the Empathy messenger: Select a network from a list (Gmail, MSN, Yahoo!, ...), type your user-name and password, and answer a few questions like automatic access or deleting messages from the server. Only advanced users should be prompted to the current GUI.
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Solution #15: Easy load of images
Written by knkillname the 1 Nov 09 at 05:41.
Many e-mail images are annoying, but it is more annoying having to select View/Message Display/Load Images from the menu every time you want to load them. It is more intuitive and eye-appealing to have the option just there next to the header: a button that says "Let me see the images" or something like that. Maybe the first time (and only the first) a message appears explaining the dangers of loading images.
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Solution #16: Make Evolution runnable in background
Written by knkillname the 1 Nov 09 at 06:13.
Problem: I need Evolution to alert me of new e-mails and appointments, but I don't need it to be occupying my precious desk space. If I close Evolution then I still get appointment alerts but lose the "new e-mail" notifications. Also the indicator-applet stops informing me of my e-mail status.
Solution: It should be possible to sit Evolution in the notification area or better yet, hide the window when minimizing (i.e. not showing in the window list).
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Solution #17: Better sync with google contact
Written by wombalton the 5 Nov 09 at 18:38.
i love the feature of directly synchronizing your google-contacts in evolution, but it would be really helpful if i could use the birthdays as well. i'm not sure about the google api's but i think it shouldn't be that hard to make it work.
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Solution #18: open .eml files
Written by wombalton the 5 Nov 09 at 22:42.
what really sucks on evolution is that you can not open eml files attached/forwarded to/with a message. I think especially outlook likes to forward messages in eml-format. why can't evolution show me this mails? works perfectly in Thunderbird...

See the 2 comments or propose a solution >>

Learning email filters for Evolution  
Written by bernd the 1 Nov 09 at 14:47. New
The way emails can be filtered and assigned to different folders within evolution is not very convenient.

The process of filtering messages by subject, address etc. only is quite inflexible and boring.

In the past, i worked with Opera for a long time, by now chose to stick to the given and integrated features within Ubuntu.

As Opera does have no calendar and task features, Evolution would be a really nice alternative, if the email filtering wasn't that outdated in comparison to Opera.

In Opera, you can create email folders and give them the ability to "learn" from the messages added and removed, similar to the already existing spam filter, but here individually for the context of your choice.

After a while and some training, the filters work like a charm and make it so much easier to sort and resort your emails.
For example, after a while the filters even recognise if the mail from a colleague belong to a project or are of personal nature and accordingly shows it within the according folder.

That's a feature i really badly miss within Evolution and which would make it a really productive tool for me.
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Solution #1: Contacting evolution developers for learning email filters
Written by bernd the 1 Nov 09 at 14:47.
The only solution i have at hand would be to find people coding a plug-in that allows such filtering method.

Naively i say that the technology for filtering junk already lays the basis and "simply" has to be enabled on all email folders (see Opera and how it works there)

See the 2 comments or propose a solution >>

Lack of inline gpg support in evolution  
Written by der_vegi the 31 Oct 09 at 17:07. New
Encrypting/signing your emails (with gpg) is becoming more and more important. But there are different approaches how to do this: Put the encrypted/signed message in an attachment ore encrypt/sign the message inline. Some mail clients support only one of these possibilities, including evolution: You cannot use inline encryption here.
This causes a) compatibility issues and is b) inconvenient for people reading their mails over a web interface because they have to open the attachment instead of reading the mail directly.
Personally, I know quite a few people not using evolution only for this reason.
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Solution #1: Help upstream to integrate inline gpg
Written by der_vegi the 31 Oct 09 at 17:07.
Upstream is aware of the problem (http://www.go-evolution.org/FAQ and mailing-list) but nothing has happened so far. So the Ubuntu community/devs could try to help.

Add a comment or propose a solution >>

Project Manager intgrated in Evolution Groupware  
Written by welrbraga the 23 Oct 09 at 22:59. New
Everyone knows Evolution is a excellent (probably the best) groupware suite for GNU/Linux.

It has lot of good functions for a officer but I believe it can improve more. A Project Manager is as important as a todo list and I dare to say that it would be more useful than this memo or even this simple todo list.

Many activities in my Todo list, for example, are part of a project, so a Project Manager that would be able to get this TO DO list and put all them together and manager them like a project would be great.

I had feel this necessity and I needed to install others softwares that aren't integrated with any kind of tools in my system making me to have big workaround to import and export data between applications.
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Solution #1: Evolution + Planner
Written by welrbraga the 23 Oct 09 at 22:59.
Join Evolution and Mr Project/Planner[1] code would be a great start point for we have a good Project Manager integrated to Evolution.


[1] http://live.gnome.org/Planner
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Solution #2: Add some GTD to the todo feature but don't make it too complex.
Written by Ssdg the 25 Oct 09 at 12:14.
For most people, Todo task is what they need. People with more responsabilities needs something like Getting Things Done (GTD) and managers and projects leaders will need planner or more advanced stuff (like the possibilities aware todo lists, projects (sublists of todos) and basic chaining). But most people aren't project leaders.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done for more explainations.

See the 1 comments or propose a solution >>