1968381 - Identity-level archive settings in Thunderbird UI fail to update archive_granularity preference

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Preferences, defect)

Description

[stonnewaall]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:138.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/138.0

Steps to reproduce:

1. Add an email account with multiple identities (aliases).
2. Go to Account Settings > Account > Manage Identities, and configure a secondary identity (five total under one account in my case; main + 4 aliases).
3. In the inbox for the default account/identity, select Archive on a message. The message goes to a new "Archives" folder in a yearly sub-folder.
4. Go to Account Settings > Copies & Folders > Under Message Archives, select "Other" and point to the IMAP Archive folder.
5. Open Archive Options and select "A single folder" to disable year/month structure.
6. Restart Thunderbird.
7. Attempt the archive again. The message goes to the the correct folder with no sub-folder.
8. Attempt an archive on a message sent to an alias identity. The message goes to the "Archives folder in a yearly sub-folder.
9. Go to Account Settings > Account > Manage Identities. Click Edit... for the alias identity. Select the Copies & Folders tab.
10. Under Message Archives, select "Other" and point to the IMAP Archive folder.
11. Open Archive Options - "A single folder" option is already selected.
12. Attempt an archive again on a message sent to that alias identity. The message goes to the correct "Archive" folder but creates a yearly sub-folder.
13. Go back to the Archive Options, toggle setting back and forth.
14. Restart Thunderbird... Clear Disk Space cache... Clear Startup cache...
15. Attempt an archive again on a message sent to that alias identity. The message goes to the correct "Archive" folder but still creates a yearly sub-folder.
16. Delete the identity and recreate it. The Archive settings do not need to be changed.
17. Attempt an archive again on a message sent to that alias identity. The message goes to the correct "Archive" folder.

Actual results:

When modifying the "Archive Options" settings for an identity in Thunderbird (e.g., disabling year/month subfolders), the archive_granularity preference is not reliably updated. This results in the client continuing to create subfolders even though the UI indicates otherwise.

Looking at the archive_granularity configuration, it showed only the main identity with a value of 0. The rest of the aliases showed a value of 1, consistent with them continuing to create sub-folders. Recreating one of the identities gave it a value of 0.

Only recreating the identity or manually editing the preference boolean value resolves the issue. This affects consistency and expected behavior when archiving emails across identities.

Expected results:

The Copies & Folders settings can be set per identity. Changing these settings on the main identity/account does not update the same settings for the other identities. There is no "use default" option here. As each identity alias was manually updated to point to the intended Archive folder, it was unexpected that the Archives Options did not need to be changed also. Toggling the value in the main identity also updates the settings for the other identities in the UI only, but not in actual behavior or in the archive_granularity preferences. This might suggest that the "Archive Options..." button is launching for the main identity, even when in an alternate identity page.

Comment 1

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Can't reproduce.

Comment 2

[stonnewaall]

What testing or information can I provide to help? At this point, the Archive Options screen only reflects the status of the main account (id1), even when accessing through a managed identity. Toggling the value in the UI only changes for the main account. For instance, changing the value in any of the alias identities associated with the main account is immediately reflected as boolean change for mail.identity.id1.archive_granularity only.

1. Account > Manage Identities... > [Alternate identity] > Edit... > Copies & Folders > Archive Options... > Toggle Value
2. Thunderbird Settings > Config Editor... > Search archive_granularity

Comment 3

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Did you try Help | Troubleshoot mode?
And do you get any relevant errors in the Error Console (Ctrl+Shift+J)

Comment 4

[stonnewaall]

No difference in the behavior in troubleshoot mode. This is a clean install on Win11, no extensions installed, and a single IMAP account with 4 added alias identities.

Error console shows two errors at startup. No errors when adjusting the Archive Options.

UnknownCollectionError: Unknown Collection "thunderbird/moz-essential-domain-fallbacks"
UnknownCollectionError resource://services-settings/RemoteSettingsClient.sys.mjs:189
sync resource://services-settings/RemoteSettingsClient.sys.mjs:635
_beforeUIStartup resource:///modules/MailGlue.sys.mjs:633
observe resource:///modules/MailGlue.sys.mjs:496
EssentialDomainsRemoteSettings.sys.mjs:110:15
UnknownCollectionError: Unknown Collection "thunderbird/url-parser-default-unknown-schemes-interventions"
UnknownCollectionError resource://services-settings/RemoteSettingsClient.sys.mjs:189
sync resource://services-settings/RemoteSettingsClient.sys.mjs:635
_beforeUIStartup resource:///modules/MailGlue.sys.mjs:633
observe resource:///modules/MailGlue.sys.mjs:496
SimpleURIUnknownSchemesRemoteObserver.sys.mjs:114:15

Comment 5

[stonnewaall]

Attachment: Archive options

Comment 6

[stonnewaall]

Attachment: Archive Config Values Post UI Setting Change

Changing the Archive Options within the other identities (same account) updates the archive_granularity option for the main/default identity.

Comment 7

[stonnewaall]

Comment on attachment 9490761 [details]
Archive options

Available from Account > Copies & Folders screen and also Account > Manage Identities > Edit Identity > Copies & Folders tab.
Message Archive settings are unique per identity, except for Archive Options...

Comment 8

[Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw]]

Confirmed. "Archive options" from "Account > Manage Identities > Edit Identity > Copies & Folders" always changes the archive settings for the default identity. I am not sure this ever worked correctly, it goes back at least to Thunderbird 102, while there some earlier duplicates, I think.

Comment 11

[Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw]]

Attachment: Bug 1968381 - Fix saving archive options for accounts' identities. r=#thunderbird-reviewers

Comment 12

[Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw]]

Try

Comment 13

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/6cee61df0ef4
Fix saving archive options for accounts' identities. r=aleca

Comment 14

[Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw]]

Comment on attachment 9491009 [details]
Bug 1968381 - Fix saving archive options for accounts' identities. r=#thunderbird-reviewers

Uplift Approval Request

• Please state case for uplift consideration and ensure bug severity is set: High benefit for some users, low risk.
• User impact if declined: Setting different archiving options for identities does not work.
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: Yes
• Has the fix been verified in Daily?: Yes
• Has the fix been verified in Beta?: No
• Needs manual test from QA?: No
• If yes, steps to reproduce:
• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): Don' expect any side-effects.
• String changes made/needed: None.

Comment 15

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Comment on attachment 9491009 [details]
Bug 1968381 - Fix saving archive options for accounts' identities. r=#thunderbird-reviewers

[Triage Comment]
Approved for beta

Comment 16

[Daniel Darnell [:dandarnell]]

Thunderbird 140.0b3:
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-beta/rev/b0136b9bd34a