(Gmail app) Searching an IMAP account only searches inbox?

[stevenf]

Hello! This question is about the stock Gmail app on a Pixel 3a.

I have a (non-Google) IMAP account added to the Gmail app. It's working fine. Sends and receives messages, lets me browse through the available IMAP folders, etc...

However, if I use the search box for that account, it seems to be only able to find matches in the account's inbox. It does not appear to look in any of the account's other folders.

Even if I'm careful to enter specific words that I know appear in messages throughout the folder structure of my IMAP account, only the matches in the inbox are returned.

This seems like a bug. All other IMAP clients I've used will search folders as well as the inbox. Unfortunately it's an absolutely critical feature for me.

Assuming I'm not doing something wrong, is there an official channel through which I can report / request this issue be looked at?

Does anyone have a different IMAP client that they like? I've used K-9 briefly in the past, but I remember it being kind of rough compared to the Gmail app. I'm primarily an iPhone user, but every once in a while I like to check in with Android and see if switching would be feasible.

Thanks!

 

[VidJunky]

My guess on why you are only returned results for your inbox is that those are the items that the app has... preloaded, for lack of a better word, on your device. When you move items to other folders, sometimes even when items are marked as read, the folder they move to is one in the ISP's cloud and not one on the device. You may be able to find, view and forward items from those folders but it sounds like the search client is only searching preloaded items that exist on the device.

You can of course email Google, good luck, they sometimes reply to request, complaints and issues. Not sure what the key to getting a reply is but if you search the app on the Play Store there is a link to email the developer on the app page. There is also a Google forum where this question may have already been asked and answered. Here is a link to that; https://support.google.com/mail/community?hl=en

I really liked MailDroid. It offered a lot of features, my favorite being able to view all of my accounts in one pane/list. It also allowed you to add nicknames to accounts and color coded them for separation. It also offered account set-up which made changing devices easy and I believe the multi platform option was part of the free account. They of course offered a paid version however the paid version is a yearly subscription but it does away with ads and offers a few more premium options, like spam filtering.