657195 - Attempting to create a virtual folder as subfolder of Unified Inbox proceed, but the folder doesn't appear in the tree view.

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[Simon BOUGET]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:2.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0.1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; fr; rv:1.9.2.17) Gecko/20110414 Lightning/1.0b2 Thunderbird/3.1.10

Creating a virtual folder as a sub folder of one of the main folders in Unified View (Inbox/Sent/...) works. For example, if I attempt to create a virtual folder named "test" in Inbox, a Inbox.sbd folder is created in <Profile main folder>\Mail\smart mailboxes, which contains 2 files : "test" and "test.msf".
Nevertheless, the new folder never appears in the UI, in the folder tree view, neither in "Unified folders" nor in "All Folders" views. 

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Select one of the main folders in "Unified folders" view. As of now, I assume it is "Inbox". Then Edit/Search/Search in mails (default shortcut is CTRL + MAJ + F)
2. Click "save as virtual folder" (bottom left). The field "Create as subfolder of:" shows the unified "Inbox" by default. Note that this folder is not accessible through the drop-down menu, so you have to use precisely this method to have the 'right' choice by default.)
3. Give a name, for example "test" to the virtual folder and hit "OK". Then <Profile main folder>\Mail\smart mailboxes\Inbox.sbd\test and <Profile main folder>\Mail\smart mailboxes\Inbox.sbd\test.msf are created, but nothing appears in the UI.

Actual Results:  
Virtual folder apparently created but nothing appears in the UI.

Expected Results:  
A virtual folder appears as subfolder of the main "Inbox" in the "United folders" tree view.

Since the creation of a (virtual) folder as subfolder of one of the main folders in "Unified view" is not possible through most of the menus ("right click/New (sub)folder" or "File/New/(Virtual) Folder..." are disabled), maybe it isn't supposed to be possible at all.
But if that's the case, I think it's a lacking and useful feature.

Moreover, the creation of a virtual folder B as subfolder of another virtual folder A is possible, provided that A is a user-made virtual folder, not one of the main folders of "Unified View".

Comment 1

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Great bug report Simon. I confirm this behavior. And Simon discovered bug 371152 while we were talking on irc. But I'm not duping this, because the behavior is datalossy when done with unified folders.

Comment 2

[Simon BOUGET]

wsmwk told me on IRC that not even the creation of virtual folder as subfolder of a user-made virtual folder should be possible.
Nevertheless, the newly created vf seems to work properly, so I hope the response to this will be to allow it through 'normal' ways, not to simply remove the 'trick' I described, which is quite similar to the enhancement demand in bug 371152.

But anyway, the inconsistent behavior between unified virtual folders and user-made virtual folders is still a real bug, and so is the fact that a .msf is created without appearing in the UI, I think.

Comment 3

[Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw]]

(In reply to Simon BOUGET from comment #0)

1. Select one of the main folders in "Unified folders" view. As of now, I
   assume it is "Inbox". Then Edit/Search/Search in mails (default shortcut is
   CTRL + MAJ + F)
2. Click "save as virtual folder" (bottom left). The field "Create as
   subfolder of:" shows the unified "Inbox" by default. Note that this folder
   is not accessible through the drop-down menu, so you have to use precisely
   this method to have the 'right' choice by default.)

This isn't possible any more since bug 878805.