Time problem

[Kostya Vasilyev]

With the default settings, AquaMail uses date/time values as reported by the mail server -- which keeps track of when it "filed" (stored) each message.

Looking at the log --

I believe the time on your mail server is off by 2 hours.

The best thing would be to fix this there.

An example:

UID: 766255564
IDL: 18-Jun-2016 19:30:09 +0200
IDV: 1466271009000
IDP: 18-06-2016 19:30:09.000 +0200
IDA: 19:30

HDL: Sat, 18 Jun 2016 21:30:17 +0200
HDV: 1466278217000
HDP: 18-06-2016 21:30:17.000 +0200
HDA: 21:30

The message's Date header (HDL) was: "Sat, 18 Jun 2016 21:30:17 +0200"

The server reported "when this message was filed" as: "18-Jun-2016 19:30:09 +0200".

I deliberately picked a message which was sent from same time zone as you are in, so it's easier to follow.

[gruppenhaus]

Thanks. It worked!

[gruppenhaus]

Misconfig on the server leads to show wrong times. Very interesting: on other clients this does not affect ...Thanks for the good support!

[gruppenhaus]

Hi.

Wenn checked the Server and everthings looked good. And then yesterday there was an update of aquamail and then the timespamps are ok after the update. Thanks

[StR]

Kostya,

So, do I understand correctly, that "Diag: message dates" obtains more information from the server than a regular sync does. In particular, - the regular sync does not obtain HDL when the sorting is chosen to be by IDL. Right?

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Re:  So, do I understand correctly, that "Diag: message dates" obtains more information from the server than a regular sync does. In particular, - the regular sync does not obtain HDL when the sorting is chosen to be by IDL. Right?

Yes, it asks the server for each message's "INTERNALDATE" which was wrong here and also for the Date header.

During sync, it fetches one or the other, the DB schema can only store one.

Re: other mail apps

There is a per-account option in AquaMail for this (which one to fetch and store and show as "the" message date/time).

But the default is to use the INTERNALDATE, the date/time set by the *server*, which is when a message was "stored" (filed, received).

Why?

Because replying on the Date header is even less predictable:

People often have wrong date/time/time zone on the devices from which they send mail.

And then you end up with "Jan 1, 1970" or even some date in the future -- because that's in the message's Date header -- and no way to fix it, it's there and it's wrong.

Using server-provided "received at..." time is more predictable, because mail servers are more often than not properly configured wrt. their date / time / time zone.

[gruppenhaus]

Today the problem appeared again! I do not have any reason for it. The same account in Gmail on the same phone shows the correct time. Aquamail has 2 hours less :-(

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Did you see what I wrote above?

Have you contacted anyone technical responsible for the server -- asking to fix the time?

There is no reason why your mail server's time should be off by two hours, why not fix this?


And if you wish AquaMail to use the Date header -- like many other apps do, yes it's true, although I don't think it's a good idea -- then please:

Long press the account -> options -> IMAP Options -> change "Which date/time to use" from "server time" to "message header"