On Oct 19, 2021 we will be upgrading our mail server, migrating from Courier IMAP to Dovecot. This upgrade is required to provide support for the Windows 10 update released last week. The Windows update caused some Outlook users to be unable to connect to our mail server, so we’re taking expedient action to ensure connectivity is restored. The Courier to Dovecot upgrade is something we’ve been wanting to do for awhile because it provides other benefits, such as better security, performance, and real-time mail disk usage status.
We’ve tested this upgrade to ensure the service is reliable and can be executed with minimal downtime, but there a couple minor effects that some users may experience:
- Messages on the server will not be modified, but because the IMAP server software itself is different, some mail clients may “forget” which old messages it has already seen. This may cause the mail client to require a “resynchronization” or in some cases it might re-download some or all messages.
- The new server software does not place folders hierarchically below the INBOX folder, and so doesn't require an “IMAP Path Prefix” setting (if you set this value you can erase it).
- Some email clients can be configured to use custom folders for special mailboxes such as “Drafts,” “Sent,” etc. You may need to reselect these folders (e.g., select the “Spam” folder and select “Use as Junk mail folder”). E.g., instructions for Apple Mail on macOS, and instructions for Outlook.
If you experience these or any other issues feel free to contact us.