diff --git a/config/main.inc.php.dist b/config/main.inc.php.dist
index 6498e019e..86f07781c 100644
--- a/config/main.inc.php.dist
+++ b/config/main.inc.php.dist
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ $rcmail_config = array();
 // system error reporting: 1 = log; 2 = report (not implemented yet), 4 = show, 8 = trace
 $rcmail_config['debug_level'] = 5;
 
+// enable caching of messages and mailbox data in the local database.
+// this is recommended if the IMAP server does not run on the same machine
+$rcmail_config['enable_caching'] = TRUE;
+
 // automatically create a new user when log-in the first time
 // set to false if only registered users can use this service
 $rcmail_config['auto_create_user'] = TRUE;
diff --git a/program/include/main.inc b/program/include/main.inc
index 7b34bf632..7173917d4 100644
--- a/program/include/main.inc
+++ b/program/include/main.inc
@@ -132,9 +132,13 @@ function rcmail_auth_hash($sess_id, $ts)
 function rcmail_imap_init($connect=FALSE)
   {
   global $CONFIG, $IMAP;
-  
+
   $IMAP = new rcube_imap();
 
+  // enable caching of imap data
+  if ($CONFIG['enable_caching']===TRUE)
+    $IMAP->set_caching(TRUE);
+
   // set root dir from config
   if (strlen($CONFIG['imap_root']))
     $IMAP->set_rootdir($CONFIG['imap_root']);
diff --git a/program/include/rcube_imap.inc b/program/include/rcube_imap.inc
index b5eba0094..e74321418 100644
--- a/program/include/rcube_imap.inc
+++ b/program/include/rcube_imap.inc
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class rcube_imap
   var $mailbox = 'INBOX';
   var $list_page = 1;
   var $page_size = 10;
-  var $cacheing_enabled = FALSE;
+  var $caching_enabled = FALSE;
   var $default_folders = array('inbox', 'drafts', 'sent', 'junk', 'trash');
   var $cache = array();
   var $cache_changes = array();  
@@ -46,8 +46,7 @@ class rcube_imap
   // PHP 5 constructor
   function __construct()
     {
-    if (function_exists('rcube_read_cache'))
-      $this->cacheing_enabled = TRUE;
+    
     }
 
   // PHP 4 compatibility
@@ -681,14 +680,22 @@ class rcube_imap
 
 
   /* --------------------------------
-   *   internal cacheing functions
+   *   internal caching functions
    * --------------------------------*/
-   
+
+
+  function set_caching($set)
+    {
+    if ($set && function_exists('rcube_read_cache'))
+      $this->caching_enabled = TRUE;
+    else
+      $this->caching_enabled = FALSE;
+    }
 
   function get_cache($key)
     {
     // read cache
-    if (!isset($this->cache[$key]) && $this->cacheing_enabled)
+    if (!isset($this->cache[$key]) && $this->caching_enabled)
       {
       $cache_data = rcube_read_cache('IMAP.'.$key);
       $this->cache[$key] = strlen($cache_data) ? unserialize($cache_data) : FALSE;
@@ -708,7 +715,7 @@ class rcube_imap
 
   function write_cache()
     {
-    if ($this->cacheing_enabled && $this->cache_changed)
+    if ($this->caching_enabled && $this->cache_changed)
       {
       foreach ($this->cache as $key => $data)
         {