can't use distribution lists ('groups') in kaddressbook/kmail

[sanette]

Did anyone manage to use distributions lists (called "groups") in kaddressbook ? (in Kubuntu 10.04)

I can't imagine an email client without this feature, but here it is:

* in kaddressbook I can create a new group and add email adresses in it. Say I call it "Family"

* now I expect to right-click on it and have a menu giving me the possibility of "send an email to the group"...
nope.

* OK, I go to kmail, new message, and on the right of the address slot, I click on "select". Then ah! it seems I can select my "Family" (now it's called a "distribution list"). I click "Add", and now my recipient is "Family"...
I'm a bit suspicious, but OK, let's send the message...

of course it doesn't work: I immediately get
<Family@my-laptop>: Recipient address rejected: Access denied

No kidding ...

* OK, I want to do it again, but now after "select", I am curious and open the "Family" list (by clicking on the "+" on the left). Surprise: most of my contacts in it appear empty (yes, empty lines) !
But not all of them...So I can't even manually select them all.

* Conclusion: groups of contacts (or distribution lists) are completely screwed up in kubuntu 10.04.
But this is such a basic and essential tool !

How do you guys cope with this ???

(crossposted from kubuntuforums.net : I had no luck there)

[mardukvmbc]

*Bump!* I have the same problem and it's driving me nuts!!
Also the "Save as list" button in kmail doesn't actually save the list -- it doesn't show up in Kontacts at all.
Groups are seriously broken in Kontact/Kmail.
I'm on 10.10 (KDE 4.5.1)

[chaanakya_chiraag]

I decided to go completely CLI (command-line interface) and am now happily using Mutt + Emacs + a custom script I wrote (inspired by the Windows program febootimail) which can be found here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1378583

[mardukvmbc]

Thanks for that but my wife loves kmail and so do I... I'm surprised groups don't work.

[chaanakya_chiraag]

I wouldn't know - I use "vanilla" Ubuntu, which uses GNOME and Evolution - I'm not exactly sure how groups work in Evolution either, but I basically gave up on any/all GUI email clients

[andreselsuave]

Im using kmail too and I'm having the same issue. I've found on other kde forums that the same issue was there around 2007. It was eventually fixed, but looks like it's broken again.

I will subscribe in case there are news =)

good luck guys

[mardukvmbc]

Just upgraded to KDE 4.5.4 via PPA and no difference. I'm wondering if I should go to 4.6 beta or if it's config and not a KDE bug?

[mardukvmbc]

Just upped to 4.5.85 (4.6 Beta2) and no joy. It must be a config issue, can't imagine groups still don't function in kmail 2.0.89.

[mardukvmbc]

Got groups working by removing soprano-virtuoso.trx but it's a hollow victory. All my groups disappear from the address book as soon as I log out.
Groan!! This was also happening under KDE 4.4 and 4.5.
Aknonadai/Nepomuk drives me crazy!!!

[mardukvmbc]

So I did the full monty and blew away the .kde folder in home to start from scratch. After 2 hours fiddling with akonadi settings to get it to stop migrating over and over I've gotten nowhere.
Hard to believe groups don't work over so many versions of the kde pim stuff, but it's also hard to believe that it's a config issue after I've started from scratch with a fresh .kde folder.
Also hard to believe akonadi is so finicky.
"Groups" is greyed out in the default address book, so I created a new one. It lets me create groups but they're gone in the next login.
"Save to list" in kmail does nothing.
Oh, but if I do send to a group in the same session that I created the group in, it does work!