531272 - Add a new "Virtual folders" smart folder

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 491440

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, enhancement)

Description

[Frederic Da Vitoria]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; fr; rv:1.9.1.5) Gecko/20091102 Firefox/3.5.5 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; fr; rv:1.9.1.5) Gecko/20091121 Thunderbird/3.0

Currently, the only way to create a virtual folder is to select an account, do a search and record the search as a virtual folder. The saved virtual folder only searches in the selected account, but users can then alter it so that it searches in multiple folders (and this is good, it works!) The problem is that the virtual folder is still stored under the original account, although it now searches multiple accounts.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. select an account, 
2. do a search
3. record the search as a virtual folder 
4. alter it so that it searches in multiple folders
5. try to drag the new virtual from the original account to somewhere else

Actual Results:  
the virtual folder can't be moved from the original account

Expected Results:  
Users should be able to move user-created virtual folders anywhere

For example, I created a virtual folder which searches for specific messages in the inboxes of several of my accounts. The most logical place to put it would be in the Inbox virtual folder.

Comment 1

[Frederic Da Vitoria]

Now that I think of it, I guess I can't move the virtual folder to the Inbox virtual folder because the Inbox virtual folder can't receive folders at all, which makes sense after all. So I think this means we actually miss a place to put user-created virtual folders which agglomerate mails from more than account.

Comment 2

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

But you should be able to save your virtual folder to a local folder, wouldn't that work for you ?

Comment 3

[Frederic Da Vitoria]

I realise that TB doesn't allow to move virtual folders at all. Which is why you changed this issue to "enhancement" :-) Actually, there is a prerequisite: being able to move virtual folders.

Your suggestion does not really work for the specific virtual folder which I set up because this virtual folder does not search in local folders at all, only in account inboxes. So although I still believe the current user interface is wrong, I am not quite sure how to solve the issue. Maybe a new smart folder called "Virtual folders" which would compile all user-created virtual folders.

Another suggestion/enhancement would be to allow to create a virtual folder in the smart folders, meaning that it would implicitly search in all the physical folders that make up this smart folder. For example, if the user does a search in the Inbox smart folder (which BTW is currently impossible :-( ), TB would automatically search in all the inboxes and offer to save this search, which would put the new virtual folder in the Inbox smart folder.

Should I edit the name of this bug for example to "Add a new "Virtual folders" smart folder" and add a new enhancement request as "Allow to search and save searches in smart folders"?

Comment 4

[Frederic Da Vitoria]

... and add a third enhancement request: "Allow to move virtual folders"?

Comment 5

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

(In reply to comment #3)
 
> Should I edit the name of this bug for example to "Add a new "Virtual folders"
> smart folder" and add a new enhancement request as "Allow to search and save
> searches in smart folders"?

yes and we try to keep one request or one bug per issue , so for the other enhancement request please file new bugs ...

Comment 6

[Frederic Da Vitoria]

Edited this bug's title and added enhancements https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=531376 . I did not add an enhancement request to "Allow to search and save searches in smart folders" because I am not sure it would be really useful.

Comment 7

[David :Bienvenu]

If we revived davida's patch to put favorite folders at the top level with smart folders, then you could mark your saved search as a favorite folder, and it would show up at the top level.

Comment 8

[Frederic Da Vitoria]

I think this would be nice. And it would make sense in terms of user interface. It would be slightly more difficult to put user-created virtual folders there than my suggestion of automatically compiling virtual folders, but OTOH it would allow to create a virtual folder without putting it in the top level, which some users might find useful. And it would allow to put at the top level other folders too. Yes, the more I think of it, the more I like it.

Comment 9

[David :Bienvenu]

dup of bug 491440, then.