916070 - global indexing should include Trash folders by default but global search results should not show Trash folder hits by default

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Search, enhancement)

Description

[M Lopez-Ibanez]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:23.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/23.0 (Beta/Release)
Build ID: 20130803193343

Steps to reproduce:

Searching for a message that is in the trash folders is much more difficult than it should be.

A better default would be:

1. Index by default all folders
2. Add a filter option in the results at the top that says "[] In Trash (N)". This option is disabled by default, if enabled, it shows the messages found in the trash folders

Comment 1

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

bug 545469 allows for this in folder properties.  Does it work for you?

If not, we have bug 819340 - "Include..in Global Search" won't stay checked for Trash folder

Comment 2

[M Lopez-Ibanez]

Thanks Wayne for looking at this.

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #1)
> bug 545469 allows for this in folder properties.  Does it work for you?

I am arguing for 1) a different default in indexing and 2) a single-click UI to show/hide results in Trash that defaults to "hide".

About 1), I think it is more newbie-friendly to index everything by default, like gmail does. Otherwise it is very hard to realize that what you look for is in a non-indexed folder. I personally don't need this because I already found it by searching the web, but it is frustrating until you realize what is going on (bug 819340 would make it much worse certainly, but I cannot reproduce it).

About 2), it is more natural to look for something first outside the Trash and if I don't find it, then look inside the Trash folders (if there is any match at all there). So there should be 1-click button to enable/disable showing Trash results and the default should be disabled. This is similar to how gmail search works.

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

I agree this could be nice

Comment 6

[Zurd]

Thunderbird need, by default, to have the Trash folder searchable. Just like every other mail manager out there. It's probably quite simple to modify the source code for this.

Took me 20 minutes to find I needed to activate it by right-clicking the Trash folder, choosing Properties and activating 'Include messages in global search'.

Comment 7

[David Hedlund]

'Include messages in global search' for the Trash folder should be enabled by default.

Comment 8

[klaus]

During adding a new bug for broken search in trash, I found this bug.

It is too hidden or unexpected for users that messages in trash cannot be searched.

Relevance: if I by chance deleted a mail, this search in trash would be a way to get it back. Depending on the date of the email, it might be anywhere in the middle of the trash messagelist and not easy to find without search.

Are there other folder not indexed by default, is there a list of those?

Comment 9

[klaus]

as an afterthough: if search in trash is not possible, trash should not be offered as search location under local folders. (search messages in ... dropdown).

It is truely misleading to offer folders for search while they cannot be searched.

Comment 10

[794632548]

Thunderbird search should include all mail by default.
Why: I see no reason to confuse users and waste their time (being unable to find their mail) by excluding certain folders like Trash, which is folder like any other, in which people are leaving their data, that are considered as solved in Inbox.
User have to search internet and find out how to enable it like a clicking monkey in Trash section, clicking Properties of each mailbox and ticking to include in Global search.

Comment 11

[Dr B W Darvell]

I have just noticed, given that last remark, that the Outbox is not capable of being searched - there is no option. I have (too) often put messages in there by accident and then wondered where they have gone. I assume I deleted by accident, but no. DId I drop it somewhere accidentally - try searching ... no joy, of course. (I do not understand the point of it, to be honest.)