305485 - don't show attachment icon if all attachments are deleted: add/show "deleted attachement" icon

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, enhancement)

Description

[Jo Hermans]

Thunderbird version 1.0+ (20050817)

When you remove an attachment from a message, the name gets replaced with
'Deleted:', and the content-type is set to text/x-moz-deleted. But it still has
an attachment icon in the thread pane (a new one, b/c the content-type changed),
and the attachment is also visible in the attachment pane.

I understand that we want to show that an attachment has been deleted, and I
also understand that it's technically still a multipart MIME message, that's why
the thread-pane still shows the icon for it. When you scan the list of messages,
it still seems to be marked as having an attachement.

But wouldn't it be better to remove the icon from the thread pane, when there
are only text/x-moz-deleted attachments present ? I don't mind the presence of
the icon in the attachment pane, it's only the one in the thread pane.

Comment 1

[gaele]

See bug 320040 point 7. From the user perspective there is no attachment. The icon in the message list is counter-intuitive. Please remove it.

Comment 2

[Raanan Barzel]

(In reply to comment #1)
> See bug 320040 point 7. From the user perspective there is no attachment. The
> icon in the message list is counter-intuitive. Please remove it.
> 

This ignores what users may expect from TB. I for one like tracability in time, and a paperclip helps locate messages which have - or had - attachments. The fact that attachments were deleted/detached is an information of a different level.

There will not be an issue about intuitivity if the indications in TB were clear and coherent: an icon for a deleted attachment, another for a detached attachment (even if TB strives to maintain a linkage, which I consider a design error - the attachment is detached or it isn't, but it should not be detached and still pretend to be part of the message).

Comment 3

[Jo Hermans]

(In reply to comment #2)
> This ignores what users may expect from TB. I for one like tracability in time,
> and a paperclip helps locate messages which have - or had - attachments. The
> fact that attachments were deleted/detached is an information of a different
> level.

This bug is about the icon in the thread-pane (the message-list), not the one in the message-pane itself.

Comment 4

[Gabriel]

I agree to an extent. I would suggest that instead of the icon being removed completely, that there be a different icon that represents there were attachments that have since been deleted. Maybe the paperclip with an "x" or strike-through.

Comment 6

[Alexandre]

I agree too to Gabriel, the paper-clip icon should / could show 3 states :

- Mail has attachements (untouched)
- Mail has SOME of the original attachements
- Mail had attachments (it has none ATM)

Comment 7

[brendel oliver]

I agree with the last comments : I would also prefer to have a different icon in the thread pane for deleted attachments. This would still give an indication that there had been one, but when sorting it would group emails with/deleted/ without. 
For my purposes, as logn as not all attachments have been removed, I would prefer if the icon would still show the normal attachment icon. Because otherwise, when sorting, emails which still ahve attachments in them would be sorted elsewhere. 

Cheers

Oliver

Comment 8

[brendel oliver]

As a workaround I have tried to create a filter that searches for "X-Mozilla-Altered: AttachmentDetached" in the body and then adds a flag, but this does not seem to work. (searching in body does perhaps exclude further content ??)
Oliver

Comment 9

[brendel oliver]

I have submitted this as Bug 1397247 which has now the status "enhancement"

Oliver