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Anyone know if/when Thunderbird will start providing native support for Gmail labels (rather than using the less than satisfactory IMAP folder system that is cu

Anyone know if/when Thunderbird will start providing native support for Gmail labels (rather than using the less than satisfactory IMAP folder system that is currently used)?

jedberg 7y ago
My guess is never, because Gmail only exposes the labels as folders via the IMAP API. As far as I know Gmail doesn't have any other API.
- atesti 7y ago
  They are currently blocking all these APIs for everyone who does not do a 30k-100k security audit
  - selfishgene 7y ago
    Are you referring to this API? https://developers.google.com/gmail/api https://developers.google.com/gmail/api
    - comex 7y ago
      Yes: https://support.google.com/cloud/answer/9110914?hl=en#why-fee https://support.google.com/cloud/answer/9110914?hl=en#why-fe...
- selfishgene 7y ago
  They do have another API that is REST. At least one gmail backup tool is already using it ... https://github.com/jay0lee/got-your-back/wiki https://github.com/jay0lee/got-your-back/wiki
throwanem 7y ago
Ideally, never. Tying an open platform into features that exist only in one SaaS offering from an advertising company isn't a good way to keep it open.
- azinman2 7y ago
  Supporting the email provider of hundreds of millions of people with a feature that should be common for all is somehow bad for the future of Thunderbird? Not giving people what they want will drive them away, which is the worst way to keep something open. It’s not like you need proprietary binary blobs to support Gmail...
  - dmos62 7y ago
    If you put gmail features into TB, it will become a gmail client, not an email client. The reason why all email servers and clients can talk to each other at the moment is because it's been well standardized, as opposed to, say, instant messaging. I'm all for improving email, but if done irresponsibly it will introduce division due to incompatibility and damage the ecosystem.
    - jacobsenscott 7y ago
      This is also the reason we can't have nice things using open standards, like labels. Once everything is tied to an ossified but open standard that's the end of the road as far as innovation is concerned.
      - dmos62 7y ago
        It's not about openness, but about federation.
      - JetSpiegel 7y ago
        Google could have tried to standardize IMAP2, but they didn't. Now only JMAP exists as a more modern mail standard.
- selfishgene 7y ago
  I understand your point, but gmail labels are such a good idea that Thunderbird should implement them as a native feature (even perhaps proposing it as extension of IMAP standard). Also think Thunderbird should implement JMAP (Fastmail standard) and/or Google RESTful gmail API because these are open standards worth supporting. Another feature that I would like to see more fully supported in Thunderbird (through better synchronization with mail provider server back-end) is editing emails, to include most importantly the ability to remove bulky attachments without losing email text or touching important meta-data. Unfortunately gmail treats each email as an immutable object, and the hacks that have been suggested to date to work around this limitation have all been clunky at best.

Anyone know if/when Thunderbird will start providing native support for Gmail labels (rather than using the less than satisfactory IMAP folder system that is currently used)?

jedberg 7y ago

My guess is never, because Gmail only exposes the labels as folders via the IMAP API. As far as I know Gmail doesn't have any other API.

atesti 7y ago
They are currently blocking all these APIs for everyone who does not do a 30k-100k security audit
- selfishgene 7y ago
  Are you referring to this API? https://developers.google.com/gmail/api https://developers.google.com/gmail/api
  - comex 7y ago
    Yes: https://support.google.com/cloud/answer/9110914?hl=en#why-fee https://support.google.com/cloud/answer/9110914?hl=en#why-fe...
selfishgene 7y ago
They do have another API that is REST. At least one gmail backup tool is already using it ... https://github.com/jay0lee/got-your-back/wiki https://github.com/jay0lee/got-your-back/wiki

throwanem 7y ago

Ideally, never. Tying an open platform into features that exist only in one SaaS offering from an advertising company isn't a good way to keep it open.

azinman2 7y ago
Supporting the email provider of hundreds of millions of people with a feature that should be common for all is somehow bad for the future of Thunderbird? Not giving people what they want will drive them away, which is the worst way to keep something open. It’s not like you need proprietary binary blobs to support Gmail...
- dmos62 7y ago
  If you put gmail features into TB, it will become a gmail client, not an email client. The reason why all email servers and clients can talk to each other at the moment is because it's been well standardized, as opposed to, say, instant messaging. I'm all for improving email, but if done irresponsibly it will introduce division due to incompatibility and damage the ecosystem.
  - jacobsenscott 7y ago
    This is also the reason we can't have nice things using open standards, like labels. Once everything is tied to an ossified but open standard that's the end of the road as far as innovation is concerned.
    - dmos62 7y ago
      It's not about openness, but about federation.
    - JetSpiegel 7y ago
      Google could have tried to standardize IMAP2, but they didn't. Now only JMAP exists as a more modern mail standard.
selfishgene 7y ago
I understand your point, but gmail labels are such a good idea that Thunderbird should implement them as a native feature (even perhaps proposing it as extension of IMAP standard). Also think Thunderbird should implement JMAP (Fastmail standard) and/or Google RESTful gmail API because these are open standards worth supporting. Another feature that I would like to see more fully supported in Thunderbird (through better synchronization with mail provider server back-end) is editing emails, to include most importantly the ability to remove bulky attachments without losing email text or touching important meta-data. Unfortunately gmail treats each email as an immutable object, and the hacks that have been suggested to date to work around this limitation have all been clunky at best.