1808436 - 'A' key archives last email message in list even if disabled

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 511741

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[Garret Wilson]

Steps to reproduce:

For years we have been asking you to Turn off this damn Archive feature in Thunderbird! of "archiving" a message by hitting 'A'. (That is the actual title of that article. I didn't write it.) The problem is that it's very easy to hit the 'A' key when we are switching between windows and we think that we're focused on the search/filter box. Even in general it's easy to accidentally hit the 'A' key have a message disappear without our realizing it. Some people like the archive feature. Many power users hate it. If it's there, fine, but disable the use of the 'A' key.

Yes, I know there is Bug 476590, "Remove or change 'A' as shortcut accelerator key for Archive feature", (opened 14 years ago and closed), but I'm filing a different bug. This is not a duplicate.

This is related to Bug 511741, "Indicate first use of archive command and Prevent accidental use of Archive command/key. Expose disable", which was also opened 14 years ago and is still open. But this is not a duplicate of that bug.

The bug I'm reporting is that, as reported in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=511741#c42 and elsewhere, a workaround is to disable "Keep message archives in" under "Copies & Folders" for an account. With this option disabled, we expect that hitting 'A' with a message selected will do nothing.

Actual results:

Unfortunately there is a bug that will still archive the message if the message is the last one selected in the list, even if "Keep message archives in" is disabled. (Oddly hitting 'A' on other message do not archive them.)

Expected results:

Because I had "Keep message archives in" disabled under "Copies & Folders", hitting 'A' should have done nothing, even if the selected message is the last one in the list.

This infernal "feature" has been irritating for almost 15 years, and now the only workaround has started breaking.

Comment 1

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

I cannot reproduce this on TB 102.6.1 (64-bit), Win10, gmail IMAP.

STR

1. From ≡ > Account Settings > YourAccount > Copies & Folders, uncheck Keep message archives in.
2. Select last message from that account.
3. Press A

Actual result = expected result:

• Archive button is disabled on message header bar (well, hiding that would be better)
• Pressing A does not archive the message (as expected).

Comment 2

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Garret:

• What OS/version and TB/exact version? ≡ > Help > About Thunderbird
• Bug still happens with ≡ > Help > Troubleshoot Mode…?
• POP3 or IMAP account?
• anything in Tools > Developer Tools > Error Console (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+J)?

Comment 3

[Garret Wilson]

(In reply to Thomas D. (:thomas8) [PTO 23-Dec to 3-Jan] from comment #2)

Garret:

• What OS/version and TB/exact version? ≡ > Help > About Thunderbird

According to PowerShell [System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version, I have version 10.0.19044.0. According to winver, I have Windows 10 Version 21H2 (OS Build 19044.2364).

• Bug still happens with ≡ > Help > Troubleshoot Mode…?

Yes. It even does it in the last message in a thread (if the thread is the last listed).

• POP3 or IMAP account?

IMAP.

Note that I have various identities set up for this account. I wouldn't expect that this would have anything whatsoever to do with this bug. I only mention it because the Turn off this damn Archive feature in Thunderbird! article mentions going into the config editor and disabling mail.identity.default.archive_enabled. However if I search for "archive" in my config editor, I get oodles and oodles and oodles of settings, such as: mail.identity.id14.archive_enabled, each of these numbered settings with corresponding ….archive_folder settings set to the archive folder.

If I didn't know any better, I would make a wild guess that someone had made a half-baked attempt to create per-identity archiving settings, and then duplicated the archive settings for each identity created, but then _completely hid the settings from the … oh, my, tell me it's not true. 😭 I just found this in the identity editor (which I don't remember being there before). Seriously, each identity now suddenly has its own "Message Archive"" settings????!!!! You have got to be kidding me.

I set up all these identities the same way on a new computer: I literally just typed them in, one at a time, looking at the list from the old computer. How did they get different settings?

It turns out the fact that the 'A' key only archived the last message in the list was a coincidence. It just happened that the last message in the list was sent to a recipient for which the identity happened (through some weird glitch of the universe—or a Thunderbird bug) to have that identity's Archive setting turned on, overriding the default.

So let's take a step back: Thunderbird allows each identity to have its own "Archive" setting, so that if you have a message selected that was sent to one identity, then 'A' will archive the message, but then if you select another message sent to an identity with it turned off, then 'A' will not archive the message.

Does that make even the least bit of sense? Can someone explain to me the use case of why the identity should have any bearing on whether this darned Archive feature is turned off?

We've been wanting this removed from 15 years, and now someone has found a way to force it back on us, but in a more confusing way, with separate settings for identities that make the entire UI work differently based upon which message is selected. For 15 years we've been wanting a way just to turn off this feature, and now suddenly Thunderbird makes us go and make sure it's turned off in over a dozen places (depending on how many identities you have). Why oh why oh why.

Comment 4

[Garret Wilson]

(In reply to Thomas D. (:thomas8) [PTO 23-Dec to 3-Jan] from comment #2)

Garret:

• … and TB/exact version? ≡ > Help > About Thunderbird

Thunderbird 102.6.1

Comment 5

[Garret Wilson]

(In reply to Garret Wilson from comment #3)

(In reply to Thomas D. (:thomas8) [PTO 23-Dec to 3-Jan] from comment #2)

Garret:

Does that make even the least bit of sense? Can someone explain to me the use case of why the identity should have any bearing on whether this darned Archive feature is turned off?

To answer my own question: yes, after some thought, I can imagine some valid use cases where someone would want to process a message differently—specifically file it in a different folder—based upon who the recipient was.

The true problem here is that there is a hotkey 'A' that will simply make a message disappear (accidentally and without warning or even notification) , and there is no way to disable that hotkey.

So I was wrong: this bug is in fact a duplicate of Bug 511741. I've simply found yet another reason that Bug 511741 should be addressed, as well as discovered compounding circumstances that make it difficult even to see whether the feature itself has been disabled globally.

You can close this bug and mark it as a duplicate of Bug 511741. And you might as well close Bug 511741 as well with a WONTFIX status, as that would be more honest than keeping it open.

Comment 6

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Hi Garret, thanks for sharing your UX concerns and thought processes and finding the correct resolution for this bug. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's obviously not the only Thunderbird issue, so even now as our manpower situation has improved, it's still a question of resources and priority. That said, I do agree with you that it's annoying enough to deserve a fix in Bug 511741.

Wrt mail.identity.default.archive_enabled: As the pref name suggests, this is just a default value. Changes to the default value will only apply to identities created after you changed it, i.e. any pre-existing identities may differ. There's no global way of changing the actual setting back and forth for all identities (and I'm not sure if that's needed).