1911946 - holding delete key only deletes single item

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[Michi]

Steps to reproduce:

Pressed and held the delete key

Actual results:

The currently selected item was deleted.
Nothing else was deleted

Expected results:

When holding the delete key the next message should be deleted after the currently selected one was deleted.

Comment 1

[Alice0775 White]

Regression window:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/pushloghtml?fromchange=45467166d80a3a6a898c55c26c44c18a0ab16ee6&tochange=6236b1adc3d9bcef2631eaca61ae74e34b371bca

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/pushloghtml?fromchange=2044dc55cd3a0b3ebbd6c3fc67858c30cfe9addb&tochange=2baa05b3de23279a816786063ed054d0fb5ed66c

Regressed by: Bug 1675212

Comment 2

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Thanks Alice!

Comment 3

[Toby Pilling [:tobyp]]

Thanks Alice and Michi. This is actually behaviour that we would expect after implementing a fix for bug 1675212.

We've based the UX on how things work with file explorers where it is important not to accidentally delete multiple items. The preferred method to delete many items would be to select them all first and then delete.

We could consider this as a behaviour hidden behind a preference, but the default will be to prevent multiple deletes when holding the key down, based on data loss risks.

I can work with Vineet to figure out a best path forward.

Comment 4

[Michi]

(In reply to Toby Pilling from comment #3)

Thanks Alice and Michi. This is actually behaviour that we would expect after implementing a fix for bug 1675212.

We've based the UX on how things work with file explorers where it is important not to accidentally delete multiple items. The preferred method to delete many items would be to select them all first and then delete.

We could consider this as a behaviour hidden behind a preference, but the default will be to prevent multiple deletes when holding the key down, based on data loss risks.

I can work with Vineet to figure out a best path forward.

To explain where I'm coming from on this issue. I use TB as an RSS reader, I have about 500 new items in various feed each day. Those I just prescreen from the subject lines, deleting the non relevant ones. Over the years I've become quite used to being able to just site on the delete key and scan over the items. So it's a convenience feature for me. Accidental deletions are quite rare for me, but I can see how that may happen. I'd be glad to have an option to turn the delete behaviour back to how it was. I can work around the new behaviour, it is just not as effective as the old one.

Comment 5

[Toby Pilling [:tobyp]]

Thanks for the explanation. In this situation, it is probably best to treat the RSS items in the same way as a long list of files that need to be deleted. It's typical to select all and scroll down, deselecting those that need to be kept. Or hitting delete over and over. Possibly not as effective as you suggested but is considered a 'safer' option.

I'll decouple this from the dependency tree for 128 and if we receive enough votes on this, we can consider the alternatives.

Comment 6

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Let's close, this is intended behavior from bug 1675212. You can always shift/ctrl select a bunch of messages and delete, when you need mass deletion.