642467 - Message Pinning

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, enhancement)

Description

[alan]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.2.15) Gecko/20110303 Firefox/3.6.15 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: 

It would be nice to have a window similar to the F8 Preview Pane that is above the new messages instead of below like the F8 Pane. For now, lets just refer to that as the Pin Window (or Pane).

From a usage perspective, you could click a button on a message from the list or from the message window itself that is a pushpin. This tags the message as "pinned" and causes it to be displayed in the new Pin Window/Pane. Removing the pin causes it to drop out of that window. Being pinned does not affect the standard list in any way. Pinned messages still appear there as well.

The purpose for this is that many of us at work receive messages of importance that need action and cannot be forgotten. These emails contain technical information that needs to be accessible. I receive so many emails the Tags simply aren't functional for this. I need to see new messages, so I can't always remain sorted by tags. The Pin Window will allow me to see emailed tasks that are a priority while not interfering with seeing new or changing priorities that may be arriving via email. If you don't use the feature, you can always turn it off like you can the Preview Pane.

Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[alan]

As an alternative to being like the Preview Pane but above, it could also be on the right where you see Events and Tasks. With the Pin Window on the right, you could simply cycle between Events, Tasks and Pinned, instead of just Events and Tasks. The combination option of "Events and Tasks" in this window would have to remain unchanged, because having all three in one window might not make sense.

Comment 2

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

Hum so how about something like that :

1) create a special tag
2) Create a saved search/virtual folder based on the tag
    i) this will make the email appear in the special folder
    ii) to remove the email, just untag it
3) pen the saved search folder in a tab ?


Doesn't that cover your pinning needs ?

Comment 3

[alan]

That was a good suggestion and, in fact, many of the features you mentioned I wasn't even aware of- but... I expect many other users aren't either. You are more knowledgeable about Thunderbird than the average person, I expect. ;) I went through the procedure you described. The method felt like a technical solution with many steps that require knowing where all the little options are, rather than a user-friendly feature. But it is still a clever approach.

Ignoring that issue, I tried to use it once I had it set up. The first issue I had was that the new tab appeared at the right of all of my other tabs, which I have many. (I already have a love/hate relationship with email tabs.) I can fix the sorting issue by closing out my email tabs, then reopening them to cause them to sort after my search tab.  The second problem I had is that when I set the "Pinned" Tag on a message in my Inbox, the new search folder tab doesn't update until I do something to that tab to force it to update. 

Looking at Task management as a comparison, the advantage of having Tasks on the right of the screen is that they are a constant reminder, always accurate and easily accessible. My suggestion is targeted at providing a solution for those people who receive email requests (tasks) and need to manage those as well, without the use of an task entry. This is a very common problem since the fundamental aim of most communication is to share something or to request something.

Your method was a great suggestion and you definitely are on the right track to meet my need, but I think there are too many small issues that keep this from being a viable solution. This method still isn't quite intuitive, set up is a challenge for a novice and it requires "updating" maintenance to keep the tab accurate. I still think keeping with the standard pinning approach that is common to most forums is probably the best solution. Or similar to the window pane on the right for Tasks.

Maybe it's a combination of both approaches. Perhaps Tags can't still be the underlying data structure to achieve the goal. Maybe the method you describe is how it can be done, but the pinned message list display is done in a Preview Pane style, as new code, similar to how I originally described. This would avoid the creation of the search folder/tab and it's refresh delays. Any time a message is Tagged the Pinned Window/Pane would get an automatic refresh. 

These are just ideas- what are your thoughts?
(and thanks for the quick reply)

Comment 4

[Jim Porter (:squib)]

Since it sounds like you have Lightning installed, couldn't you just convert the emails to tasks?

Comment 5

[alan]

I look at an empty task pane every day. I get too many emails to be converting them all. In theory it would work great, but in application it becomes more overhead to convert them than is practical. 

The email is the task, comprised of the contents, references and attachments. The converting of emails to Tasks objects would be - another task. Maybe I'm not aware of some method that makes emails into Tasks with one click. Please let me know if you do.

Otherwise, I need to tag them so they don't get pushed down and lost. And they need to stay visible/accessible as new tasks roll in so I can keep an eye out for new priorities. Something like a tag-pane that stays up-to-date and visible as new items get tagged. This would be like Tasks, but for emails.

I don't think this is a one-off scenario. Most people emailing at work want something- and what they want, the recipient needs to address. If you look broadly at why people would email, you would expect that 50% of people are sharing information, the other 50% want something. We file the shared information we get in folders for future reference. So I think this is well covered. This request aims to help people manage the 50% of people that want something. imho, the features available today don't quite fully address the needed work flow.

In the end, it would seem that it just comes down to whether or not a tag-pane or pinning could be a useful feature. I would think that since Forum pinning exists and was found useful, it creates an arguable precedent for it. So thought I would suggest it here. I appreciate the time and interest you've taken to consider it.

Comment 6

[alan]

I do see the Convert to task option. I don't want it to stall the topic, but meanwhile I'll see how that works for me.

Comment 7

[alan]

Ok, I thought that would take longer. The converted Tasks have no relationship to the original email for replies and attachments are lost. It's a task, but it loses the work flow. I was getting hopeful there for a minute, but it looks like I'm back to the original request.

Comment 8

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

I'm not sure if we don't already have that on file.

Comment 9

[David :Bienvenu]

Alan, have you tried this? Sort by the date column, then sort by the star column. If you're in a flat sort (non-threaded), this will result in all starred messages at the top, sorted by date, and then non-starred messages, sorted by date. This has the effect of pinning starred messages at the top. The only thing missing is that (un)starring a message doesn't cause us to resort, but you can always leave the folder and return.

Comment 10

[[:Aureliano Buendía]]

(In reply to comment #0)
> It would be nice to have

Do you mean to jump list as in Windows 7 task bar?

see bug #494138

Comment 11

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

So many possibilities to "highlight" important messages quickly, that do not involve changing the UI.  

1. Starred (comment 9) is the first one that comes to mind. You don't even need to sort the starred column - quick filter allows you to select all starred messages.
2. Opening in tab.

I don't see us ever implementing another "pane" or visual for "special messages". And it sounds like we don't have a concrete proposal.  Given that it's been over 3 years since you created the bug report, what have youu been using to accomplish your goal?