Thank you for your help, I appreciate it very much.
What I meant by "not working" is that the deleted messages were just
disappearing, without being placed in the ~/Maildir.deleted/ folder
(which is the expected behaviour), and with no errors being logged.
I tried replacing my 16-lazy-expunge.conf file with what you
provided, and now, upon deletion, the IMAP4 client (Evolution on
Linux in this case) reports an "expunge" operation error. The
following errors now show up in the logs (this is on a test server
that worked correctly before upgrading from 2.3 to 2.4.1):
2026-06-17T10:13:27.137678-07:00 mail02 dovecot:
imap([email protected])<1232591><CUPOK3ZUdOIKAQHB>: Debug: Mailbox Deleted
Items: UID 864: Mail metadata accessed
2026-06-17T10:13:27.137908-07:00 mail02 dovecot:
imap([email protected])<1232591><CUPOK3ZUdOIKAQHB>: Debug: Mailbox EXPUNGED/:
Mailbox opened
2026-06-17T10:13:27.138080-07:00 mail02 dovecot:
imap([email protected])<1232591><CUPOK3ZUdOIKAQHB>: Error: Mailbox Deleted
Items: UID 864: lazy_expunge: Couldn't open expunge mailbox: Failed to open
mailbox EXPUNGED/: Invalid mailbox name 'EXPUNGED/': Ends with hierarchy
separator
2026-06-17T10:13:27.138259-07:00 mail02 dovecot:
imap([email protected])<1232591><CUPOK3ZUdOIKAQHB>: Debug: Mailbox Deleted
Items: UID 864: Expunge requested
2026-06-17T10:13:27.138422-07:00 mail02 dovecot:
imap([email protected])<1232591><CUPOK3ZUdOIKAQHB>: Debug: Mailbox Deleted
Items: UID 865: Expunge requested
2026-06-17T10:13:27.138547-07:00 mail02 dovecot:
imap([email protected])<1232591><CUPOK3ZUdOIKAQHB>: Debug: Mailbox Deleted
Items: UID 866: Expunge requested
2026-06-17T10:13:27.138682-07:00 mail02 dovecot:
imap([email protected])<1232591><CUPOK3ZUdOIKAQHB>: Debug: Mailbox Deleted
Items: UID 867: Expunge requested
2026-06-17T10:13:27.138807-07:00 mail02 dovecot:
imap([email protected])<1232591><CUPOK3ZUdOIKAQHB>: Debug: Mailbox Deleted
Items: UID 868: Expunge requested
2026-06-17T10:13:27.138919-07:00 mail02 dovecot:
imap([email protected])<1232591><CUPOK3ZUdOIKAQHB>: Error: Mailbox Deleted
Items: Lazy-expunge transaction failed: Mailbox Deleted Items: UID 864:
lazy_expunge: Couldn't open expunge mailbox: Failed to open mailbox EXPUNGED/:
Invalid mailbox name 'EXPUNGED/': Ends with hierarchy separator
I did attempt removing the trailing slash, but the errors logged
remained the same.
I also tried to add the following lines to "mailbox EXPUNGED" stanza
(which is what I will be needing, although I'm unsure if this is the
correct placement), which resulted in more errors that I think I
should ignore at this point until the errors (above) are sorted:
mail_driver = maildir
mail_path = ~/Maildir.deleted
mail_index_private_path =
mail_cache_path =
Note: Some eMail clients delete directly instead of moving messages
to the "Deleted Items" (Trash) folders, and Dovecot 2.3 preserved
this structure with its lazy-expunge configuration (which is a
wonderfully helpful feature), which is all stored in the specified
"mail_path" file system hierarchy separate from the user's mailbox.
Thanks!
> For 2.4 you would use
>
> acl_driver = vfile
> acl_global_path = /etc/dovecot/dovecot.acl
> lazy_expunge_mailbox = EXPUNGED/
> lazy_expunge_only_last_instance = yes
>
> namespace inbox {
> mailbox EXPUNGED {
> autoexpunge = 32days
> autoexpunge_max_mails = 100000
> }
> mailbox \Drafts {
> lazy_expunge_mailbox =
> }
> }
>
> namespace ns {
> hidden = yes
> list = no
> prefix = EXPUNGED/
> subscriptions = no
>
> mailbox EXPUNGED {
> quota_ignore = yes
> }
> }
>
> mail_plugins {
> acl = yes
> lazy_expunge = yes
> }
>
> but you never did explain "how it does not work".
>
> Aki
>
> > On 15/06/2026 19:17 EEST Randolf Richardson via dovecot
> > <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >
> > One of the Dovecot repository maintainers on GitHub recommended
> > sending an eMail to you regarding the issue I encountered:
> >
> > Documentation for lazy-expunge doesn't work
> > https://github.com/dovecot/documentation/issues/1555
> >
> > --------
> > I converted from Dovecot 2.3 to Dovecot 2.4.1, which was not a minor
> > upgrade. Anyway, I can't get the lazy-expunge plugin to work in 2.4.1
> > now. Here's my configuration file from 2.3 -- how can I get this
> > working in 2.4.1? Thanks.
> >
> > namespace inbox {
> > mailbox EXPUNGED {
> > autoexpunge = 32days
> > autoexpunge_max_mails = 100000
> > #auto = create
> > }
> > }
> >
> > # Namespace for lazy_expunge plugin
> > namespace {
> > prefix = EXPUNGED/
> > hidden = yes
> > list = no
> > subscriptions = no
> > separator = /
> > location = maildir:~/Maildir.deleted:INDEX=
> > }
> >
> > mail_plugins = $mail_plugins lazy_expunge acl
> > plugin {
> >
> > # Move expunged messages into the .EXPUNGED namespace
> > lazy_expunge = EXPUNGED/
> >
> > # Only move to expunged storage if this is the last copy of the
> > message in the user´s account
> > lazy_expunge_only_last_instance = yes
> >
> > # Exclude Drafts from lazy expunging
> > lazy_expunge_exclude = \Drafts
> >
> > # Copy of each message is done with hard links whenever possible
> > maildir_copy_with_hardlinks = yes
> >
> > # Define ACL so that user cannot list the .EXPUNGED mailbox
> > # Example entry: .EXPUNGED owner rwstipekxa
> > acl = vfile:/etc/dovecot/dovecot.acl
> > # dovecot.acl contains one line: EXPUNGED owner ip
> >
> > # Expunged messages most likely don't want to be included in quota:
> > quota_rule = EXPUNGED:ignore
> > }
> > #lazy_expunge_mailbox = EXPUNGED
> >
> > Here's an example of someone else who encountered the same problem:
> > https://www.dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/[email protected]/thr
> > ead/25BXSHQWGQQ3ACVZSYF3O3LC4WROTUCI/
> >
> > Randolf Richardson, CNA - [email protected]
> > Inter-Corporate Computer & Network Services, Inc.
> > Beautiful British Columbia, Canada
> > https://www.inter-corporate.com/
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > dovecot mailing list -- [email protected]
> > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
>
Randolf Richardson, CNA - [email protected]
Inter-Corporate Computer & Network Services, Inc.
Beautiful British Columbia, Canada
https://www.inter-corporate.com/
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