285518 - From: field in compose window should be editable

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 87987

(Thunderbird :: Message Compose Window, defect)

Description

[Tim K]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Build Identifier: version 1.0 (20041206)

Situation: My email server allows me to create tons of email addresses on the 
fly, in the form "userid-<keyword>@domain.com" where "<keyword>" is anything I 
feel like and the real email address is "[e-mail]". All email to such 
an address would be delivered to the real email address (standard Postfix 
feature).

Problem: There is no way in Thunderbird to type anything in the From: field. 
The only solution is to create multiple identities, but that is not convenient 
at all when you deal with hundreds of such email addresses created on the fly.

I suggest that the From: filed be changed to an editable drop-down where the 
user can choose to override some of the default identities.

This would make Thunderbird really usable.

Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[Tim K]

In case it's not clear, I want to hide my real email address and set the From: 
field to one of these addresses that I can make up on the fly. Using the Reply-
to: field is not an option because it would leave the real email address 
exposed.

Comment 2

[OstGote!]

Please search before filing new bugs for existing ones and include always in
your search the product Core. Thanks.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 87987 ***

Comment 3

[Tim K]

I don't agree this is a a duplicate bug. I think it is a valid Thunderbird UI 
enhancement. All I want is for the the From: drop-down to be editable, like 
the address bar in Firefox for example, where you can use it as a drop-down to 
pick some old URL or type a new one.

This way TB would be able to use existing identities or just make up one on 
the fly (without saving it and deleting it).

I want a free form From: field where I can make up
identities on the fly, for my own domain for example. I don't want to create
identities for some addresses that I maybe use only once (e.g. to sign up
for
an announce mailing list I would use something like this someid-product-
[e-mail] and then never need to use this identity as I could
never post to this list).

Comment 4

[Tim K]

My point is that this is a Thunderbird *UI* thing, I don't see what it has to 
do with Core, unless there is something horribly broken in Core that prevents 
doing this in TB.

Comment 5

[Wolf [:wolf]]

That sounds like exactly what the other bug is discussing, being able to freely
edit the from address when composing a message. :-)

As for a the Core vs. Thunderbird component, a large portion of Thunderbird code
is in the Mozilla core.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 87987 ***