diff --git a/api/src/Mail/Avatar.php b/api/src/Mail/Avatar.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..890115b8c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/src/Mail/Avatar.php
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * EGroupware Api: Mail avatars
+ *
+ * @link https://www.egroupware.org
+ * @package api
+ * @subpackage mail
+ * @author Ralf Becker <rb@egroupware.org>
+ * @license https://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php GPL - GNU General Public License
+ */
+
+namespace EGroupware\Api\Mail;
+
+use EGroupware\Api;
+
+/**
+ * Class for managing avatars for email addresses including proper caching
+ */
+class Avatar
+{
+	const CACHE_TIME = 86400;
+
+	/**
+	 * Get (cached) avatar URL for given email
+	 *
+	 * @param string $email
+	 * @param array|null &$lavatar on return values for keys "lname" and "fname"
+	 * @return string|null
+	 * @ToDo add a domain based image as fallback eg. as fallback from their website
+	 */
+	static function getAvatar(string $address, array &$lavatar=null)
+	{
+		if (empty($address))
+		{
+			return $lavatar = null;
+		}
+		$email = strtolower(current(Api\Mail::stripRFC822Addresses([$address])));
+
+		// we cache on instance level, but also add current user to the key, as not all users might see the same contacts
+		$cached = Api\Cache::getInstance(__CLASS__, $GLOBALS['egw_info']['user']['account_id'].'-'.$email,
+			static function($email, $address)
+			{
+				if (($contacts = $GLOBALS['egw']->contacts->search(['contact_email' => $email, 'contact_email_home' => $email],
+					['contact_id', 'email', 'email_home', 'n_fn', 'n_given', 'n_family'], '', '', '', false, 'OR', false)))
+				{
+					return [$contacts[0]['photo'], ['lname' => $contacts[0]['n_family'], 'fname' => $contacts[0]['n_given']]];
+				}
+				return [1 => self::getLavatar($address)];
+			}, [$email, $address], self::CACHE_TIME);
+
+		$lavatar = $cached[1] ?? null;
+
+		return $cached[0] ?? null;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Get (L)etter avatar from given email address
+	 *
+	 * @param string $address
+	 * @return string[] with values for keys "fname" and (optional) "lname"
+	 * - "Ralf Becker <rb@egroupware.org>" --> ["fname" => "Ralf", "lname" => "Becker"]
+	 * - "'Becker, Ralf' <rb@egroupware.org> --> dito
+	 * - "ralf.becker@egroupware.org" --> dito
+	 * - "rb@egroupware.org" --> ["fname" --> "r", "lname" => "b"]
+	 */
+	static function getLavatar(string $address) : array
+	{
+		if (preg_match("/^\"?'?(.*)'?\"?\s+<([^<>'\"]+)>$/", $address, $matches))
+		{
+			if (($parts = preg_split('/[, ]+/', $matches[1])))
+			{
+				return ['fname' => array_shift($parts), 'lname' => array_pop($parts)];
+			}
+			$address = $matches[2];
+		}
+		if (($parts = preg_split('/[._]/', $address)) && count($parts) >= 2)
+		{
+			return ['fname' => array_shift($parts), 'lname' => array_pop($parts)];
+		}
+		return ['fname' => $address[0], 'lname' => $address[1]];
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/mail/inc/class.mail_ui.inc.php b/mail/inc/class.mail_ui.inc.php
index 9ed3b175f7..e5a5fc9e44 100644
--- a/mail/inc/class.mail_ui.inc.php
+++ b/mail/inc/class.mail_ui.inc.php
@@ -1955,8 +1955,6 @@ $filter['before']= date("d-M-Y", $cutoffdate2);
 			if(!empty($header['label3'])) $flags .= "3";
 			if(!empty($header['label4'])) $flags .= "4";
 			if(!empty($header['label5'])) $flags .= "5";
-
-			$data["status"] = "<span class=\"status_img\"></span>";
 			//error_log(__METHOD__.array2string($header).' Flags:'.$flags);
 
 			// the css for this row
@@ -2131,30 +2129,17 @@ $filter['before']= date("d-M-Y", $cutoffdate2);
 			$data['attachmentsBlock'] = $imageHTMLBlock;
 			if ($_folderType)
 			{
-				$fromcontact = self::getContactFromAddress($data['fromaddress']);
-				if(!empty($fromcontact) && $fromcontact[0]['photo'])
-				{
-					$data['fromavatar'] = $fromcontact[0]['photo'];
-				}
+				$data['fromavatar'] = Api\Mail\Avatar::getAvatar($data['fromaddress']);
 			}
-			$data['address'] = ($_folderType ? $data["toaddress"] : $data["fromaddress"]);
-			$data['lavatar'] = ['fname' => $data['address']];
+			$data['address'] = $_folderType ? $data["toaddress"] : $data["fromaddress"];
+			$data['lavatar'] = Api\Mail\Avatar::getLavatar($data['address']);
 
-			$contact = self::getContactFromAddress($data['address']);
-			if(!empty($contact))
+			if (($data['avatar'] = Api\Mail\Avatar::getAvatar($data['address'], $data['lavatar'])) && !$_folderType)
 			{
-				$data['lavatar'] = ['fname' => $contact[0]['n_given'], 'lname' => $contact[0]['n_family']];
-				if($contact[0]['photo'])
-				{
-					$data['avatar'] = $contact[0]['photo'];
-				}
-				if(!$_folderType)
-				{
-					$data['fromavatar'] = $data['avatar'];
-				}
+				$data['fromavatar'] = $data['avatar'];
 			}
 
-			if (in_array("bodypreview", $cols)&&$header['bodypreview'])
+			if (in_array("bodypreview", $cols) && $header['bodypreview'])
 			{
 				$data["bodypreview"] = $header['bodypreview'];
 			}