507908 - News Server Folder not collapsed on start up

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 536248

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[rpassarge]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.1) Gecko/20090715 Firefox/3.5.1 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3pre) Gecko/20090802 

TB2 behavior of news folder starting collapsed not functioning/available.  When expanding folder, headers download correctly.  If the program is then closed and subsequently re-opened, news server folder remains open or same as it's state when previously closed.  Mimic behavior or provide functionality of TB2 that news server folder is always collapsed when opening the program.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Expand News Server folder to generic header download
2.Exit TB
3.Start TB

Actual Results:  
News server folder remains expanded, does not begin collapsed as in TB2.

Expected Results:  
Start with news server folder collapsed

Comment 1

[rpassarge]

Additionally, when starting TB, the expanded news folder automatically generates header download without user request.

Comment 2

[Joe Sabash [:JoeS1]]

I'm pretty sure this started after the non-rdf folder pane checkin.
Not sure if this is intended behavior or not.
As for download without request, you might try setting the following pref to false
news.update_unread_on_expand
Didn't try it though.

Comment 3

[Jim Porter (:squib)]

Is the issue just that TB is automatically downloading headers because the News account is expanded? From a purely visual standpoint, it doesn't seem to me like there'd be a problem with the UI remembering its state between sessions (in fact, I think that's preferable in most cases).

Comment 4

[rpassarge]

No.  The issue is the news server folder should always start collapsed.  IMHO at least and they way it performs today as a default in TB2.  The auto d/l of headers can be turned off as noted in comment 2.  In the very least, maybe TB3 can provide a switch to change the behavior from whatever is decided as default. Thanks

Comment 5

[Joshua Cranmer [:jcranmer]]

I personally think it would be more appropriate to preserve the expansion of news server folders across startup, although I think that the expansion should avoid downloading headers merely because it is open.

Looking at the folderPane.js, it definitely calls performExpand on restoreOpenStates--it should be excluding that portion of toggleRow on startup.

Comment 6

[rpassarge]

At least provide the end user the ability to have it one way or another through personal choice.  Many like TB2 "cleanliness" by starting it collapsed, especially with many groups.

Thanks

Comment 7

[Jim Porter (:squib)]

The same argument could be made about collapsing/not collapsing the folders for mail accounts too, since people may have lots of mail folders. It's pretty strange for them to behave differently.

Comment 8

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

That expansion is remembered is definitely per design. I recall the bug that fixed it just barely missed tb2.

Comment 10

[David E. Ross]

There are several problems with leaving news server account folders expanded
when launching Thunderbird.  

1.  If a newsgroup in the expanded folder was selected when Thunderbird was
previously terminated, launching Thunderbird without an Internet connection
produces an error popup: "Could not connect to server news.mozilla.org; the
connection was refused."  (It was to avoid this situation that automatic
collapsing of account folders was implemented in Thunderbird 2.  This avoidance
is still a valid justification.)  

2.  In situation #1 above, if I then connect to the Internet, Thunderbird fails
to recognize that online processing is possible until I either click on the
online/offline icon or collapse and expand the account.  

3.  If a newsgroup in the expanded folder was selected when Thunderbird was
previously terminated, launching Thunderbird with an Internet connection
results in new headers being downloaded for that one newsgroup.  New headers
for other subscribed newsgroups in that same account are not downloaded until
the account is collapsed and then re-expanded.

Comment 11

[Joe Sabash [:JoeS1]]

This might be outside the realm of this bug, but there seems to be another reason for having an option to start with folders collapsed, and that is "startup time"

If you have a lot of folders, try collapsing them all and compare the startup time to when you have them all expanded. I see a significant gain.

I feel the time is involved with detecting and expanding the folders, and not any message download time.

Comment 12

[Joshua Cranmer [:jcranmer]]

WONTFIX'ing this:
The main argument for not expanding folders was that it expanding them caused them to update counts etc. As of Thunderbird 3.1, this does not happen when expanding folders. Otherwise, this was an intentional change of behavior.

Comment 13

[David E. Ross]

The problem is that I have accounts with three NNTP servers and two E-mail servers.  With this bug -- and it is a bug, not a feature -- the wrong account is often expanded when I launch Thunderbird.  

Furthermore, item 1 in my comment #10 remains a problem.  The other two items in that comment might also still be problems.

Comment 14

[David E. Ross]

If I fail to collapse an account manually before terminating Thunderbird and the account is for an NNTP server (newsgroups), when I then again launch Thunderbird new message headers are fetched only for the last newsgroup I selected.  No headers are fetched for the other subscribed newsgroups in that account.  

In my case, the last newsgroup that I select in the last account I open before terminating Thunderbird is generally the LEAST interesting.  Often, I will skip it.  If I don't skip it, I really want to see some other newsgroup first when I relaunch Thunderbird.

Comment 15

[Joe Sabash [:JoeS1]]

FWIW 
Mostly due to a very noticeable lag time when switching folders for newsgroups (not this bug) I'm now using a different paradigm in my TB setup.

Some background.
I have 2 mail accounts, and 4 newsgroup accounts with many subscriptions.
But there are only a few of the subscribed groups that I am "always" interested in. I use tabs to update the mail accounts and important newsgroup by the following setup:
Open Tb and right click on each mail inbox>>Open in a new tab
Right click on your most interesting newsgroups>>Open in a new tab

I now have all my "important" stuff in tabs, the next time I start TB, all my newsgroups that I have set up in tabs are checked for new headers.

Just have to change some old habits to make this work well. Like selecting the tab rather than selecting a folder from the folder pane.

I think that the extension "folderpane tools" might offer similar features, but I'd rather stick with native methods when possible.

Comment 16

[Ant]

I also find this annoying. Maybe make an option to always close/expand all or remember layouts when exiting as options?

Comment 17

[David E. Ross]

Is this a duplicate of bug #536248?  Or is this rendered obsolete by the fix to that bug?

Comment 18

[Jim Porter (:squib)]

I would say it's a dupe, yeah. While there may be other issues here with NNTP accounts, the current UX (preserving the expanded/collapsed state when you close and restart TB) is the right way. If there are indeed other issues here, please file new bugs to track them.