Open Bug 697031 Opened 11 years ago Updated 4 months ago

Display full email address in the From column of the thread pane

Categories

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, enhancement, P5)

Product:
Thunderbird
Component:
Folder and Message Lists
Platform:
x86_64
Windows 7
Type:
enhancement

Tracking

(Not tracked)

People

(Reporter: ws.bugzilla, Unassigned)

References

Details

I would like to have the ability to view the From *email address* in the From column of my Sent messages. Perhaps a separate column for "From address"?

(I already have showCondensedAddresses set to false; this doesn't affect the From column. That might be a bug, or it might not - not sure.)
what are the values of :

mail.addr_book.displayName.autoGeneration
and
mail.addr_book.displayName.lastnamefirst

and in tools -> options -> advanced -> reading ... is "show only .... " selected ?
mail.addr_book.displayName.autoGeneration: true (default)
mail.addr_book.displayName.lastnamefirst: false (default)
"Show only ...": unchecked

Still, every email address of the form "Someone <someone@exaple.com>" is displayed as "Someone" in the "From" column.
Summary: Display full email address in the From column → Display full email address in the From column of the thread pane
Per bug 890683, it would also be useful to be able to display the bare email address (and *not* the display name) in the thread pane. This would make it easier for some use cases to disambiguate message authors/recipients.
This is also something important for security. If you get a phishing mail, which has a display name that may look legal, you may miss that it is actually sent from some fake address.

Sebastian
There is an add-on that will display the full e-mail address in the thread pane:
Show Address Only - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/show-address-only/
Last time I tried it, it still worked.

Also, we're now showing the full details in the header pane since bug 1209565:
  Phishing Issue - raise a flag if Sender Name uses @, and does not match sender email address
Ah, great! Thank you for the fast response! The extension is indeed working.

Having said that, I still believe that this should be an integrated feature for the reasons outlined in comment 7.
Also, two columns for that information are taking a lot of horizontal space, so I'd suggest to have both in one column.

Sebastian
I have tried the "Show Address Only" add-on with Thunderbird 52.1.1 (32-bit), and I get the error "This add-on is not compatible with your version of Thunderbird."   I see that the add-on was created in 2011, and not modified since then.

Is there another solution for Thunderbird 52.1.1 (32-bit)?

Thanks.
Hmm, the reviews on this page https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/show-address-only/ claim that it works for TB 52.4 (current is 52.6). You might need to download it and install it manually.
Priority: -- → P5

The add-on "Show address Only" currently has 4,300 users, probably not enough to get into the top 100 addons. That is hardly an indication this is a widely sought feature. However the point of my posting here is to point out that the add-on has been updated for Thunderbird 68, so it will probably be around for quite a while yet.
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/show-address-only/?src=ss

I also support due to #7. I don't want to show address only (and I also prefer to minimize plug-in use); I want to be able to see both the name and email address.

I'd also like to see this feature, since the add-on no longer works. I just got an e-mail from "Mail Delivery Subsystem" which I have no way of recognizing as phishing/spam/malware without opening the e-mail first or trying to understand the e-mails source code.

(In reply to fios from comment #17)

I'd also like to see this feature, since the add-on no longer works. I just got an e-mail from "Mail Delivery Subsystem" which I have no way of recognizing as phishing/spam/malware without opening the e-mail first or trying to understand the e-mails source code.

Why not just click on the email and read the header? I have been hearing about how dangerous it is to open an email that "might" be spam or phishing for decades, but I am yet to get a convincing reason why that is in Thunderbird. I fully understand the reasons in Outlook and other mail clients that execute scripts, but Thunderbird does not. Even the HTML is sanitised so only some HTML tags function as they would in a browser. Much to the dissatisfaction of online marketers. Sure, there is some risk, but that exists with all emails as well as suspect spam and scams. Mostly from attachments that the user opens or links you click. Thunderbird does not click them for you.

Then I went to the addons page I linked to last time I came here, did what the person in the last review said and searched for full-address-column and was taken to this addon which works with the current version. https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/full-address-column/?src=search

But as the comment immediately before yours indicates, that option is available in Betterbird now. So you have a choice. Use the tools currently available or use Betterbird until such time as Thunderbird has the feature or install the new addon.

Thanks, Matt, that Add-on is working for me :)

The point isn't just feeling more secure (feelings aren't always objective), but also speed. I get a lot of e-mails, so it's a great time saver not to have to open every e-mail separately.

I also want this feature, for myself, sure, but also to improve safety for all Thunderbird users (comments 7, 19).
Re; comment 18, true, but by the time I, and expect most people, open the msg, my eyes have moved on to the body. I want to see a warning sooner.
I also suggest a slightly modified request, that will be more acceptable to most users that I presume are happy with the status quo.

Currently, it appears TB populates the From column of the Thread List with DisplayName if provided, otherwise email-address.
I suggest it should behave more like the From field of the Message Header:
In the Message Header, presentation of From depends on whether there is a match on the email address to a Contact:
If email address matches a Contact, then Display Name is shown along with a bright blue star indicating an existing Contact.
If no match then we see Display Name (if provided), followed by email address and a plain star.
( additional feature request: I would argue, at least make the star yellow for non-contact, to serve as an alert saying either you do not know this person, or you should really add them to your Contacts)

For the Thread List From Column, I would like to see:
If email-addr matches a Contact: show only Display Name.
If no match: show Email-Address, followed by Display Name (if provided).
Yes, reversed order from msg header, so that, regardless of column width, email addr is visible.
I argue this should be the default behavior, so that even less technical users are more likely to identify forged Display Names for what they are. This will reduce the number of support calls like: "my friend sent me a phishing msg", or more common, "my friends are getting phishing msgs from my account, how to I fix it" , when in fact the msgs are from 3rd party forging display name.

Severity: normal → S3
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