Open Bug 674510 Opened 13 years ago Updated 8 months ago

Want scrollable view of all folders expanded to facilitate drag and drop

Categories

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, enhancement)

Product:
Thunderbird
Component:
Folder and Message Lists
Type:
enhancement

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
UNCONFIRMED

People

(Reporter: jik, Unassigned)

References

Details

You know how, if you're dragging and dropping a message into a folder, and the folder you want is underneath another that isn't expanded, and you over over the parent folder, it'll eventually pop open and show you the one you want?

Well, the same thing should happen for the arrow on the folder view pane. For example, suppose you are viewing your favorite folders, and start dragging a message to file it, and then you realize that the folder you want isn't one of your favorites. You should be able to hover over the arrows that control the folder view and have them scroll forward or backward through the views until you get to a view that shows your desired folder.
Status: NEW → UNCONFIRMED
Ever confirmed: false
We're getting rid of the arrows. so this would probably be extension fodder.
How will people switch between views when the arrows are gone?
With the view folder menu - there's a bug on this, I believe. Blake can say more; I'm just the messenger :-)
Tell me the bug ID and I'll be glad to switch this discussion to there :-), but in the meantime...

Ugh. I switch folder views a lot. It would suck to have to use a menu item to do it rather than being able to click through the arrows.
I'm hoping bwinton knows the bug # - I couldn't find it.
That's bug 667245.
So, this bug kinda proposed a solution instead of stating the problem.

The proposed solution isn't going to work once we get rid of the folder pane header, but I think the problem is still worth fixing.

Jonathan, is what I've written in the Summary a reasonable description of the problem you're having?

Thanks,
Blake.
Summary: Hovering over arrows while dragging message should change folder view → It's hard to move messages to folders not shown in the current view.
Summary: It's hard to move messages to folders not shown in the current view. → It's hard to drag+ drop messages to folders not shown in the current view.
(In reply to comment #7)
> Jonathan, is what I've written in the Summary a reasonable description of
> the problem you're having?

To quote from //Despicable Me//, Yes, "that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!" Thanks.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/folder-pane-view-switcher/ solves this problem in an add-on I just wrote.
It automatically switches to All Folders mode if you hover over the folder list for a while while dragging.
I think this is a core deficiency of Thunderbird which should be fixed somehow in Thunderbird rather than depending on an add-on, but if that's never going to happen then I suppose the ticket can be closed because I wrote and continue to maintain the add-on.

The add-on has almost 11,000 active users. I don't know whether that's a big enough number to consider this a problem in need of a core solution.
See Also: → 1323427
See Also: → 833443
See Also: → 224193
Summary: It's hard to drag+ drop messages to folders not shown in the current view. → hard to drag+ drop messages to subfolders / folders which are not expanded/ not shown in the current view.
Severity: normal → S3

WFM with version 115. Do you agree?

Flags: needinfo?(jik)

No, I don't believe this is fixed in TB115.

To recap the issue I'm reporting here: if I pick up a message to drag and drop it into another folder, and the folder I'm trying to drag/drop into isn't currently visible in my current configuration, there should be something I can over over to cause the all folders view to appear so I can drag and drop into the folder I want, and then when I finish dropping my view should revert to what it was before.

That would mirror how folders open if you hover over them while dragging.

There is as far as I know nothing like this in TB115. Am I just missing it?

Flags: needinfo?(jik)

What I mean by working is dragging over folders expands them for beta and 115, and collapses after the drop. But apparently that isn't what you mean, and I'm not sure how current behavior doesn't satisfy your use case.

You should be able to hover over the arrows that control the folder view and have them scroll forward or backward through the views until you get to a view that shows your desired folder.

I don't see us doing anything specifically hovering over arrows. If by this you mean what is described at https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/folder-pane-view-switcher/ I also don't foresee us doing that.

Summary: hard to drag+ drop messages to subfolders / folders which are not expanded/ not shown in the current view. → Want scrollable view of all folders expanded to facilitate drag and drop

Sorry, I misspoke. I know the arrows aren't coming back, but it would be nice if there were someplace the user could hover to get the view to switch to all folders during the drop.

If you're not going to do that, then :shrug: you can close the bug. I think it's a poor design decision, though.

Frankly, I think every folder pane design decision since the arrows were removed has been a poor design decision, but I guess that just makes me an old fogey. I'm not alone, though. You could not believe how passionate some people are about Thunderbird being unusable without Folder Pane View Switcher.

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