Closed Bug 1833257 Opened 2 years ago Closed 6 months ago

[meta] Remember Quick Filter settings on application restart

Categories

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect, P2)

Product:
Thunderbird
Component:
Folder and Message Lists
Version:
Thunderbird 115
Type:
defect

Tracking

(thunderbird_esr102 unaffected, thunderbird115 affected)

Status:
RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Tracking Flags:
Tracking Status
thunderbird_esr102 --- unaffected
thunderbird115 --- affected

People

(Reporter: thomas8, Assigned: elijmitchell)

References

(Depends on 2 open bugs, Blocks 1 open bug)

Details

(Keywords: regression, Whiteboard: [Supernova3p])

Seen on 115.0a1 (2023-05-15) (64-bit), Win10.
From post on TB-Beta, Can the "keep filters applied" toggle be made sticky?

TB 102 used to persist the status of quick filter buttons across TB restart, but Daily doesn't do that any more.

STR

  • Switch on Keep filters applied when changing folders and Unread quick filter.
  • Restart TB
  • Observe status of the filter buttons

Actual

  • filter button status not persisted

Expected

  • Should probably just persist filter button status as in 102.
  • Otherwise persisting filter states should probably be available as an option.
  • It's worth noting that the filter text is not persisted, probably by design.
  • The rationale here is that the buttons act like view filters, which users may want to have applied always depending on their workflows. Which is different from filter text, which targets specific messages.
Duplicate of this bug: 1835106

Quick filters are used for quickly filtering the folders. We don't want to maintain those filters upon restart.
We have a "Search Message" > "Save as Search Folder" if the user wants to persist those search criteria.

Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 1 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX

(In reply to Alessandro Castellani [:aleca] from comment #2)

Quick filters are used for quickly filtering the folders. We don't want to maintain those filters upon restart.

The keyword used for filtering could be cleared upon restart but the rest of the settings shall remain upon restart as set prior exit.
It is really annoying that quick-filter end-user settings reset upon every restart of TB. Those should be kept/saved in user profile as per user preference (as default/last used quick filter settings).

We have a "Search Message" > "Save as Search Folder" if the user wants to persist those search criteria.

This is not a proper alternative to Quick Filter search settings nor the saved folder works well in TB beta from my experience.

As already explained in comment #3, the point is not to remember the keyword used for filtering, but to remember the status of the buttons.
Right now after starting Thunderbird and entering a keyword for filtering the 'Sender', 'Recipients', and 'Subject' buttons are all active. For a useful filtering I'll always have to deactivate at least two of them.
For some reason the 'Body' button isn't active after Thunderbird starts. Why? That's totally inconsistent. What's so hard with remembering the button status for the next start of TB? Or at least deactivate all of them so that they can be activated as needed?
The same goes for the 'Keep filters applied when switching folders' button. I'd like to have that always active, and I have to turn it on every single time Thunderbird starts.
The way it works now is really annoying.

Upon further discussion we decided to restore the persist state of the text filter buttons (subject, sender, etc) as it was happening in 102.
We're not persisting the other filters upon restart because that would affect the message list, but the text filter buttons are a secondary step that only appears when writing a search query.

Severity: S3 → N/A
Status: RESOLVED → REOPENED
status-thunderbird115: --- → affected
Priority: -- → P3
Resolution: WONTFIX → ---
Summary: Status of buttons on quick filter bar no longer persisted when restarting TB (esp. `Keep filters applied when changing folders`; Unread, Starred, etc). → Persist the default state of text filters buttons
Assignee: nobody → elizabeth

(In reply to Alessandro Castellani [:aleca] from comment #5)

We're not persisting the other filters upon restart because that would affect the message list,

In addition of the text filter buttons, can you also persist upon reboot the Keep filters applied when changing folders status button please :-) Some users like/want this option always enabled by default, as it is quite efficient to browse a text filter search over one or more folder/sub-folder.
At least if state is persistent, it become user choice to decide what he prefers and reduce the number of click required to run a quick filter search the way user wants. In any case, like other buttons you agree to persist already, it would not affect the message list while improving efficiency.

In my view the Keep filters applied when changing folders shall be enabled by default in TB.
It is indeed more rare (is it even really used?) to filter message via keyword and not wanting to search for the same keyword in another folder than the other way around!
Indeed if you cannot find the result you are expecting in the current folder it is natural intuitive to think you may just click on another folder to run the existing quick filter search in it to find what you are looking for.

(In reply to Alessandro Castellani [:aleca] from comment #5)

Upon further discussion we decided to restore the persist state of the text filter buttons (subject, sender, etc) as it was happening in 102.
We're not persisting the other filters upon restart because that would affect the message list, but the text filter buttons are a secondary step that only appears when writing a search query.

I for one don't agree with this at all. You are changing behaviour which is consistent for more then a decade because you don't use it.

My default behaviour is to only show unread messages in ALL folders, so I always keep two buttons ON (Keep filters applied button and unread button). Only when I want to search for specific message, in most cases I filter based on sender, I turn off "unread" first and then enter text. But I see you changed that behaviour also to always reset to SENDER, RECEPIENT and TITLE ON. That makes search slower and produce bad filtering with many messages.

Already filled bug 1844262, but I thought this behaviour was a bug / regression. Didn't know it was intentional.

Duplicate of this bug: 1844262
Duplicate of this bug: 1846135
Duplicate of this bug: 1846278

Increasing the Priority of this bug since more duplicates are coming in.
Elizabeth, can you move this up in your priority list?

Priority: P3 → P2

(In reply to Alessandro Castellani [:aleca] from comment #11)

Increasing the Priority of this bug since more duplicates are coming in.
Elizabeth, can you move this up in your priority list?

Yes, I will move this up in my priority list.

Depends on: 1846880
Summary: Persist the default state of text filters buttons → [meta] Remember Quick Filter settings on application restart
Depends on: 1846881

I'm splitting this work out to better track what has been requested.

Hello Elizabeth,

Not sure if you noticed, but there is also a third part, "Filter messages by:" buttons which are hidden by default and show when you enter some text in QuickFilter field. Those are: Sender, Recipients, Subject, Body

Not sure if you thought to include those also in bug 1846881 or you missed them, so I'm just writing this comment as reminder.

Thank you.

(In reply to Mihovil Stanic [:Mikeyy - L10n HR] from comment #14)

Hello Elizabeth,

Not sure if you noticed, but there is also a third part, "Filter messages by:" buttons which are hidden by default and show when you enter some text in QuickFilter field. Those are: Sender, Recipients, Subject, Body

Not sure if you thought to include those also in bug 1846881 or you missed them, so I'm just writing this comment as reminder.

Thank you.

Yes, those require more planning. It looks like people have different opinions about how that should work, so I am planning to tackle that separately. I will add more notes and bugs soon. Thank you!

Depends on: 1847265
Depends on: 1849221
Depends on: 1849249
Depends on: 1850266
Depends on: 1851841

I will request uplift to 115 ESR and to beta once a batch of these tickets is feature complete. Bug 1849249 is needed.

Bug 1850266 is important, but could come after, though it may be annoying to users until it is fixed.

Duplicate of this bug: 1851683

Just updated TB to 115.2.3 and the status of the following filter buttons are now retained across restarts:

  • Keep filters applied when switching folders.
  • Show only unread messages.
  • Show only starred messages.
  • Show only messages with attachments.

Not sure if it’s by design, but these filters are still not retained:

  • Show only messages from people in your address book.
  • Show only messages with tags on them.

Personally, it’s rare that I use any others beside the first two above, so thank you very much!

Depends on: 1855423
Depends on: 1855424

(In reply to Craig from comment #18)

Just updated TB to 115.2.3 and the status of the following filter buttons are now retained across restarts:

  • Keep filters applied when switching folders.
  • Show only unread messages.
  • Show only starred messages.
  • Show only messages with attachments.

Not sure if it’s by design, but these filters are still not retained:

  • Show only messages from people in your address book.
  • Show only messages with tags on them.

Personally, it’s rare that I use any others beside the first two above, so thank you very much!

Hi Craig,

Thanks for your feedback. Work still needs to be completed to for the last two settings you mentioned to be retained. I've added those as bug 1855423 and bug 1855424. Thank you.

See Also: → 1866717

May I ask why this regression isn't closed by now?
Most of bugs were fixed and released 5+ months ago. Is something preventing fixing last two bugs, especially bug 1847265?

The majority of the bugs were fixed but we're keeping this meta bug open until we complete bug 1847265, bug 1855424, and especially bug 1851841, which will implement tests to ensure that this regression doesn't occur in the future.
Nothing is preventing fixing these bugs other than the usual never ending amount of work and lack of resources.

Although claimed to be fixed in 115.8.0, the closed bug #1850266 persists for me in 115.8.1:

(In reply to klk745 from comment #22)

Although claimed to be fixed in 115.8.0, the closed bug #1850266 persists for me in 115.8.1:

And it's still present in 115.9. Not sure what went wrong here.

I have just opened Bug #1888806.

Depends on: 1888806
No longer depends on: 1888806

Bug seems to be fixed in 115.10.1.
If others confirm, I assume this can be closed.

Yes, it's fixed.

I confirm it is fixed, 115.10.1, Mac version. Thank you!

Thanks for the confirmations

Status: REOPENED → RESOLVED
Closed: 1 years ago → 6 months ago
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
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