385808 - Reply-To address wrong when replying from 2nd user account

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 327713

(Thunderbird :: Account Manager, defect)

Description

[Paul Ackroyd]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-GB; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070515 Firefox/2.0.0.4
Build Identifier: version 2.0.0.4 (20070604)

I have 2 accounts set up:-
[e-mail] & [e-mail]
[e-mail] is the main account as the 2nd account is not allowed to use the same login name on my mailserver (fair enough).
Each account has its own email address and its own reply-to address.
A mail filter setup from [e-mail] filters all mail containing "[e-mail]" in either To or CC into the inbox for [e-mail].
Problem - when 2nd user replies to an email in their inbox, the message compose window incorrectly shows [e-mail] (instead of [e-mail]) as the Reply-to address in the reply email being composed.  The email gets sent to the correct address buts gets sent with the incorrect Reply-To address.  The problem only happens when the compose window is opened with Reply or with Reply-All, when the compose window is opened with Write, the Reply-To address is correct.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.I send an email to [e-mail]
2.Email appears in the inbox for [e-mail]
3.2nd user replies to the email.
4.The Reply-To field of the new email is populated with [e-mail] instead of with [e-mail]
Actual Results:  
The Reply-To field of the new email is populated with [e-mail] instead of with [e-mail]

Expected Results:  
The Reply-to field should have been populated with [e-mail]

1 - It does not matter if the 2nd user was reading the incoming email in its own window or just using the preview pane, the result is the same.
2 - When the 2nd user writes a new email, as long as they were in their own inbox when the compose email window opened, the Reply-To address is correctly populated with [e-mail].
3 - This problem was present a while (1, 2 or 3 years?) back in one of the 1.? versions and was fixed soon after I reported it (no, I can't remember the bug number)
4 - It does not matter if the incoming email that is replied to is sent from [e-mail] or from an external email address.
5 - Only when [e-mail] has its Reply-To address set (instead of relying it to default to the same as the email address) does the Reply-To box automatically appear in composed emails. 
6 - I class this as a "major feature broken" because 2nd user would never receive any replies back to their emails unless the Reply-To address is manually set after the compose window opens.
7 - This bug could be similar to 377998 except that this one is not limited to "replies between account identities".

Comment 1

[Paul Ackroyd]

User [e-mail] has just sent an email to a totally separate mail address.
The email was started using Write, not Reply so the Reply-To address was correct but the From address (as displayed by Outlook)was wrong & was [e-mail]

Comment 2

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

(Q1) POP3? IMAP?
(Q2) You define two account(of Tb, not account at server side=user-id/password) for two identities(equivalent to mail-address), instead of that you define two identities for an account(of Tb). Is it right?

> Steps to Reproduce:
> 1.I send an email to [e-mail]
> 2.Email appears in the inbox for [e-mail]

(Q3) What is set in "X-Account-Key:" header for the mail to [e-mail]?
     What N is used for mail.server.serverN.name of each account in prefs.js?

> 6 - I class this as a "major feature broken" because 2nd user would never
receive any replies back to their emails
> unless the Reply-To address is manually set after the compose window opens.

(Q4) "Reply-To" address is defined for each identity of each account(of Tb).
     Do you set it properly?
     Go Account Settings and check thru "Manage Identities" button.

(Q5) When reply to mail to [e-mail], what mail address is set in From: field by Thunderbird?
(Q6) DUP of Bug 327713?

Comment 3

[Paul Ackroyd]

(A1) Server is POP.
(A2) Yes. two accounts exist in TB.  Only one account exists at server. (so I have to set only main account to download mail from server)
(A3) X-Account-Key of the email sent to [e-mail] shows "account2"
The only prefs.js file that is in .....\Program files\Mozilla Thunderbird\defaults\profile and does not have an mail.server.serverN.name entry.  I examined prefs.js with a hex editor to make sure of this.  Am I looking at the wrong file here? Search found several "something-prefs.js" files but only one "prefs.js" file)
(A4) Both the main account and the 2nd account do both have the "Reply-to" address set manually.
(A5) The reply mail contains the wrong "from" mail address so when the reply mail is received the email looks like it was sent by [e-mail]
(A6) "When I reply to a mail in one of my secondary accounts the from address is
automaticaly picking up the main account."  YES, the "from address" of the reply email when it is received, and the "reply-to" address of the reply email while it is being composed are both the same and wrong.

If I am told more about this "prefs.js" file I will go & look agasin for the information you asked.

Comment 4

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Tb's profile usually doesn't exist under program directory of Tb. If you don't know where or you can't find it, go Tools/Options/Advanced and click "Config Editor" and type "mail.server.server" in filter field.

Comment 5

[Paul Ackroyd]

When I type mail.server.server as per comment #4, the displayed info is:-

mail.server.server1.name = "Local Folders", I don't use any of these local folders,
mail.server.server2.name = "[e-mail]", i.e. what I've called [e-mail] in this bug report i.e. my main account,
mail.server.server3.name = "[e-mail]", i.e. what I've called [e-mail] in this bug report, i.e. the 2nd account that is having the problems.

Does this help?

With hindsight I wish I'd been less paranoid & used true account names from the start  :-(

If receiving an email directly from either account helps sort the problem, send an email to either account & I will reply to it.

Comment 6

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Last question (about your "reply-to address is wrong" part).
(Q7) What "Reply-To:" is written in mail header after next operations?
     Different one from your setting for main identity of account3?
     1. Reply to a mail sent to SAM@...
        (mail of X-Account-Key:account2 which is held in folder of account3)
        Pre-selected From: becomes paul@... (main identity of account2)
     2. Change From: to SAM@... (mail address of main identity of account3)
     3. Save as Draft
     4. View/Message Source

Comment 7

[Paul Ackroyd]

(A7) After Step 1, Pre-selected "From:" becomes "paul@..." exactly as you predicted.
After step 4 the "Reply-to" address is "<[e-mail]>" i.e. same as I just typed at step 2.

Extra Info - When the message was saved at step 3, it was saved to the Drafts folder in  account "[e-mail]" and (after step 4) the "From" address was "<[e-mail]>".  This is not as wanted but is consistent with Comment #3(A5).

Comment 8

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

(In reply to comment #7)
> After step 4 the "Reply-to" address is "<[e-mail]>" i.e. same as I
> just typed at step 2.

"typed at step 2"? 
Reply-To: can be set by two ways;
 (A) Setting "Reply-To:" in compose window (like CC:)
 (B) Choice of From: => Reply To address setting of the Identity
Do you mean (A)?
What is set in "Reply To Address" in identity definition for SAM@...?  

>When the message was saved at step 3, it was saved to the Drafts folder in  account "[e-mail]" and (after step 4) the "From" address was "<[e-mail]>".

Did you change(choose again) From: to "SAM@..." before "Save as Draft"?
What/whose folder do you specify as folder for Draft in Identity Setting / Copy&Folders for identity of SAM@...?
Enable "confirmation dialog on save" in order to see what is going.

Comment 9

[Paul Ackroyd]

I can see 4 available address entry lines in the compose window opened with the "Reply" button,
the top one is "Reply-to: [e-mail]"
& the 2nd one is "To: [e-mail]"
The two mail addresses above are shown are as pre-populated & have not been edited before email was saved.

In the account definition for SAM@..
Reply-to Address: [e-mail]
Keep message drafts in: [e-mail]

The message box that now pops up when the unedited draft email is saved is
"Your message has been saved to the folder Drafts under [e-mail]."

Comment 10

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

(In reply to comment #9)
> The message box that now pops up when the unedited draft email is saved is
> "Your message has been saved to the folder Drafts under [e-mail]."

Does "unedited draft" mean that you didn't change pre-selected From: (paul@...) to "SAM@..."?
If so, do all 4 steps of (Q7) in comment #6 again. What happens. 

Comment 11

[Paul Ackroyd]

I don't know why I added the word "unedited" near the end of Comment #9 :-(   To be correct, the "your message has been saved to the folder Draft under paul@..." message was after the "Reply-to" address (not the "From:" address) was edited to "SAM@..."

I can't see a "From:" line in the compose window.  The only place I've seen a "From:" setting is in email full headers, so I don't know of a "From:" value that I can edit.

Reply (A7) in Comment #7 was after the reply email's "Reply-to" was changed from Paul@... to SAM@...

Comment 12

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

(In reply to comment #11)
> so I don't know of a "From:" value that I can edit.

"From:" can not be edited in compose window. "From:" line above *pre-filled* "Reply-To:"/"To:" is From: address in compose window, and "paul@..." is probably *pre-selected*. Select "SAM@..." from identity list(mail address list) in pull down menu for the top most "From:" line.

Comment 13

[Paul Ackroyd]

I think I missed answering one of your questions in comment #8.

I did not change the "From:" value as I still don't know where it could be edited and non of the pull-down menus in the compose window include "From:" as an option.

In the identity setting for "SAM@..." the drafts folder that I set is the Drafts Folder on SAM@....  and here is not a single setting in the account identity for SAM@.. that is set to paul@.... 

Comment 14

[Paul Ackroyd]

A related problem is that when an email sent to SAM@.... is replied to, even when the "Reply-To:" address is edited to "SAM@....", a copy of the sent reply email ends up in the Sent folder for account "Paul@...".  This is wrong as in the account identity for "SAM@...." the setting for "Place a copy in Sent folder on:" is set to "Paul@....

Comment 15

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

DUP of Bug 327713.
Read Bug 327713, and observe behavior of Tb in each step of (Q7) in Comment #6, please.

Comment 16

[Paul Ackroyd]

Here is the behaviour of TB in response to working through (Q7) in Comment #6. (I have now seen where the From: address is edited and I really don't know why I was stupid enough not to see it earlier.)

1 - I sent an email to SAM@... from my work place (i.e. totally different PC using different email account).

2 - The mail filter at home filters this so it appears in the inbox for account SAM@... (=good)

3 - The full header of this email contains "X-Account-Key: account2" (mentioned in case it is relevant)

4 - With this email selected, when "Reply-To is" clicked, the compose message window contains:-
"Reply-To:" = paul@...
"To:" = [e-mail]  (i.e. my work email)

5 - "From:" address is changed from paul@... to SAM@... (using the drop down menu I missed earlier - Doh!)

6 - When this draft message is saved it goes in to the Drafts folder on SAM@....  When the source of this draft is viewed it contains:-
***START QUOTE***
From - Thu Jul 05 21:52:17 2007
X-Mozilla-Status: 0011
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
FCC: mailbox://[e-mail]/Sent
X-Identity-Key: id3
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2007 21:52:17 +0100
From: Susan Ackroyd <[e-mail]>
Reply-To:  [e-mail]
X-Mozilla-Draft-Info: internal/draft; vcard=0; receipt=0; uuencode=0
User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.4 (Windows/20070604)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Paul Ackroyd <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Test email 21/06/07
***END QUOTE***

5 - When this email is sent, it arrives at [e-mail] with "From: SAM@..." which shows the workaround is the same as for Bug 327713.

This is the same end result as Bug 327713 because the "Reply-To:" address is the main account paul@... but is not for the same reason:-
A - because SAM@... was in the "To:" address in the email received and filtered to the inbox of SAM@... (Bug 327713 occurs when "the To address in the received email does not contain the account e-mail address.")
B - because I only have one secondary account (Bug 327713 describes a TB setup with 2 secondary accounts).


I hope I've done a better job of answering your question this time.

Comment 17

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

(In reply to comment #16)
> 1 - I sent an email to SAM@... from my work place (i.e. totally different PC
> using different email account).

What "From:" is set in the sent mail?
If the mail have "From: paul@..." to "To: SAM@...", phenomenon when "reply self" is involved.
And for problem in "reply self" when next condition, Bug 377988 is opened. 
 - From: an identity in an account
 - To:   other identity in the same account
Workaround of Bug 377988 is "define all identities in independent account(dummy account)."

But your case is;
 - Workaround of Bug 377988 is done well
 - From: = Main identity of accountA 
 - To:   = Mail identity of accountB    
What is to be done automatically when try to reply to myself?
 1. From: & To: = Any combination of your main identity of accounts
 1-a. X-Account-Key: accountA(downloaded by accountA), Held by accountA
 1-b. X-Account-Key: accountA(downloaded by accountA), Held by accountB
What about "reply to self" for sent mail in Sent folder?
 2. From: & To: = Any combination of your main identities of accounts
 2-a. No X-Account-Key: header, Held by accountA
 2-b. No X-Account-Key: header, Held by accountB
 Note-1: X-Account-Key: is currently not written for sent mail.
         This is written in downloaded mails only when POP3 account.
 Note-2: Special care is taken on Sent folder.
         "Sender" column is automatically changed to "Recipient".

In any case, one of our purposes of separation of account (this is what you does do, and what I do in my setups) instead of multiple identities definition for an account is; 
   Pre-selected From: of main identity of the account who holds the mail,
   when reply or forward for a mail currently selected.
Bug 327713 is for this request.

Comment 18

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

For pre-filled Reply-To: / wrong Reply-To: in your case.

You can probably observe next phenomenon.
 - If you modify pre-filled Reply-To: (paul@) before change of From: to SAM@,
   two Reply-To: appear when From: is changed to SAM@.
This is design because "Reply-To: abc@..., def@..." is possible.
But at least next two issues exist when pre-filled Reply-To: is touched before change of From: ;
 1) If you changed pre-filled Reply-To: from paul@ to SAM@,
    two "Reply-To: SAM@" appears when change of From: to SAM@,
    and, if you don't delete excess "Reply-To: SAM@",
    "Reply-To: SAM@, SAM@" is written in Draft.
 2) If you touched pre-filled Reply-To: (paul@=>Xpaul@=>paul@),
    this Reply-To: is not removed when change of From: to SAM@,
    then, if you don't delete "Reply-To: paul@",
    "Reply-To: paul@, SAM@" is written in Draft.

1) is probably already reported bug, but I don't know bug for 2).
Paul Ackroyd, if you think 2) is big issue, open a bug with clear problem description and problem re-creation procedure, after search bugzilla well, please.

Comment 19

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

To Paul Ackroyd(bug opener):
Do you agree on "Duping to Bug 327713"?

Comment 20

[Paul Ackroyd]

Wada,

I agree that this should be duped to bug 327713 as this request would reduce the times that point 2) in Comment #18 occurs.

Thank you for you help.