1434569 - Default FROM identity ignored when using unified inbox

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Thunderbird :: Preferences, enhancement)

Description

[john]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:58.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/58.0
Build ID: 20180122225619

Steps to reproduce:

I have changed my default identity to my work email in Preferences -> Account settings -> Outgoing Server (SMTP).


Actual results:

I am using a unified inbox. Whenever I compose a new email (not a reply), the FROM field still uses one of my privat identities by default.


Expected results:

If I understand correctly, the identity used depends on the current folder/account I'm in. However, there is no such thing as a current account with a unified inbox, and I would expect the default identity to be used for new messages.

Comment 1

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Hmm, looks like you've changed your default outgoing server. To change your default account, do
Preferences > Account settings, select an account and under "Account Actions" use "Set as Default". Let us know whether that improves the situation (and if so, close the bug).

Comment 2

[john]

What the... so this is a feature, not a bug? This is some strange UI, as a user one could reasonably expect that the default outgoing server is what I'm sending messages through by default. I understand that server and identity are not the same thing, but most of the time there's a one-to-one mapping. And what does "Default account" even mean in a unified mailbox setting...? Is it possible to change this bug report into a feature request to make things more intuitive for the everyday user and typical use case?

Comment 3

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Can you please suggest a wording for the enhancement? Personally I find "default account" pretty intuitive. There's also an unrelated "default outgoing server".

Comment 4

[john]

I guess from a naive user perspective, I don't see what the default server setting does, actually. Usually, and account/identity has a pair of servers associated with it, afaik. So if one sets an account as default, I'd expect the default FROM field and SMTP server to be the one from my default account. Also, simply having the default account underlined is not a very obvious visual cue (I just noticed it now). 

I find the whole window to be confusing. It lists a bunch of accounts, together with an "Outgoing server" entry. The connection between the two is not obvious, and might suggest that the accounts on the top are for incoming servers, the last entry for outgoing, which is not the case. 

The easiest solution might be to say that the "Outgoing server" entry has no business in an "Account setting" window. Why not make the SMTP server settings part of the "Server Settings" for each account?