341266 - Unread Folders should refresh

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, enhancement)

Description

[Mark Richards]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060508 Firefox/1.5.0.4
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9a1) Gecko/20060611 Thunderbird/3.0a1 - Build ID: 2006061105

In this version of Thunderbird, which I am seriously in love with, the "unread folders" feature does not refresh automatically (nor is there any facility to command it).  The result is that, once a message is read, the folder remains in the sidebar window.

Either a refresh feature on a timer, or a refresh event on each message read, would be useful here.

--

Enhancement: message list in sidebar hyperlinks to an action only to the extent of the title.  i.e.: if the title is a short word, "Notice", clicking to the right of "notice" on the same line does not produce the action to display the email.  Extending the clickable action area to the right margin of the sidebar would be preferable, along with alternating background color shading for the mail list.


Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #0)
> Either a refresh feature on a timer, or a refresh event on each message read,
> would be useful here.

This, actually, is an enhancement request.  Note the list does update when new mail arrives in an unlisted folder.

Generally speaking, the sorts of updates you're looking for aren't implemented 
-- for instance, if you have a MailView of Unread messages, reading one of 
those messages doesn't take it out of the list.  Otherwise, as soon as you read the message, the message is removed from the list, and so the selection changes and you end up reading some other message.


> Enhancement: message list in sidebar hyperlinks to an action only to the
> extent of the title.  i.e.: if the title is a short word, "Notice", clicking
> to the right of "notice" on the same line does not produce the action to
> display the email.  Extending the clickable action area to the right margin
> of the sidebar would be preferable, along with alternating background color
> shading for the mail list.

This is bug 340867, and is a small regression.

Notes on terminology:  What you're calling "Sidebar" is the "Folder Pane"; the 3pane window doesn't have a sidebar.  The items listed in the folder pane are not "messages," they're folders (or newsgroups); and they're not "hyperlinks."

Comment 2

[Mark Richards]

>>if you have a MailView of Unread messages, reading one of 
>>those messages doesn't take it out of the list.  Otherwise, as soon as you read
>>the message, the message is removed from the list, and so the selection changes
>>and you end up reading some other message.

Good point.  However I think the behaviour in the case of the Folder List (thanks for correcting my use of terms) is special, and different.  The context is not a list of messages but a folder which, in the case of listing these filtered as "unread", is a placeholder for a function.

Once the function is achieved, i.e., messages have been read, it seems logical that the folder should then go away.  

Side note, I am trying to find the best place to pose questions about this trunk, specifically having to do with themes and extensions.  I don't know where the conversations on this trunk are being held, except here, of course.

Comment 4

[David :Bienvenu]

The folder can only go away once the user selects a different folder (i.e., we can't have the selected folder go away).

I think this is probably a reasonable thing to do, and only slightly tricky.

Comment 5

[bugzilla]

As originator of bug 379516 (marked as dup of this one in comment #3) I'd like to add my support for this solution. :-)

Comment 6

[Philippp]

Perhaps it can change to gray, instead of vanishing instantly?
I would suggest its a good idea to indicate *some* change, because otherwise the user thinks it is broken.

Comment 8

[u88384]

IMO, bug 689141 (which I reported) is not exactly a duplicate - but it's similar (and seemingly equally unimportant).

Comment 9

[l0f4r0]

I support this feature request.
And yes, indeed, in my opinion the read folder should disappear from the folder pane once the user selects another folder.

Comment 11

[prempa]

In my opinion, in the view "Unread folders", once the emails inside a single folder are all read, that folder should disappear from the pane.
I think it's called "unread folders" for a reason.

Comment 12

[Rick]

(In reply to prempa from comment #11)

In my opinion, in the view "Unread folders", once the emails inside a single folder are all read, that folder should disappear from the pane.
I think it's called "unread folders" for a reason.

Agreed

Comment 13

[adamb]

This feature not working as it should.
I do have multiple mail accounts, thus the list is growing when mail will arrive.
I am now required to manually switch the "compact view" mode to hide all what's been read.
An improvement in it to automatically refresh and hide is necessary.