I mainly use RB6 webmail (prefer the more compact vertical spacing on folder listing in Left Hand Pane) - but check RB7 when I have issues.
I use multiple profiles (identities) which have been set up using Folder Preferences (in RB6 - but this affects RB7 as well). In some cases (e.g. work) I have further subfolders to organize things for that profile.
In RB6, in order to get the correct profile address when composing new messages I have to duplicate the profile information in each subfolder’s settings - it is not possible to configure it to inherit the parent folder’s settings (only Inbox).
This leads to all the duplicates being listed in the drop down selector of the From field when composing.
This is even more annoying in RB7 as the Compose option populates From with the Default Identity - which is frequently not what is wanted. RB6 has the useful feature that From is set to match the currently selected folder (which for my workflow is more likely to be the correct address).
**1 Is it practical for Folder Settings to have a “Use same preferences as parent Folder” option? (I can see that there might be challenges handling chains of child-parent links in deeper folder hierarchies or subsequent moving of a folder so it has a new parent). Alternatively, could duplicate profile identities be filtered out of the From selector.
**2 Could RB7 reinstate the RB6 Compose behaviour of setting From to match the currently selected folder - or make it an option in the Default Identity (or see **4)?
Another behaviour I noted on RB7 is that it has introduced a new “Default Identity” setting. As I came from RB6 this was not set and RB7 defaulted to the first Identity it had in its list - which happened to be for a very particular use case and so was totally inappropriate. Whilst I could set a default there was no real value that was a sensible one to use so I had to set up a random “postmaster” identity.
**3 It would seem better, in the absence of a defined Default Identity, for RB7 to select the Inbox identify rather than what happens to be first in its list.
**4 Could RB7 (and RB6) allow a ‘null’ identity that (with suitable checks on From at Send time) would prompt the user to select a valid profile identity. This would help prevent messages being sent out with an improper identity.
Thanks for providing all the details you have as that is very useful.
The thing to remember is that at some point Runbox 7 will replace Runbox 6 entirely. We made the decision to move away from folder based preferences because it didn’t make sense to have to create a folder just to have a different identity. Many people were having to do this just to get a new identity working but didn’t need the folder itself.
There is no intention to offer folder based preferences in Runbox 7 because you can access any of your identities from the drop down menu. I realise that if you have a lot of these it might mean you have a long list to select from.
If you have duplicate identities you should be able to delete them so that you don’t see them in the from drop down menu, is that not the case?
I quite like the idea you mention in your 4th point and I’ve seen that implemented elsewhere so the user is forced to select an identity.
I’ll bring your post to the attention of the team, and I’ll look in to the option to have no default identity as I think that could have some value.
The challenge of a long list is something I think you should consider more fully. For me personally it is an annoyance that RB7 does not follow the RB6 approach of allowing an identity to be associated with a Folder (especially when filters are used to direct inbound emails into dedicated folders - though replies seem to work). It is more problematic for other family members who are less IT savvy. They can work well within their own folder when the RB6 system sorts out their identity - I think it is going to be more problematic in RB7 when they have to remember to set their identity (having a null setting that forces a choice would be a minimalist way of addressing this).
I can remove duplicate entries for identities if I remove the identity setting on sub-folders (in RB6) - but then I lose the automated selection of the right identity if I am working in that folder.
I agree with your aim of not making the existence of an identity require a Folder to define it; but I think you are overlooking the value of having a Folder able to specify an identity to use when that folder is selected as (to me) there is a use case that people will select a folder (or folder hierarchy) to work on emails that have been Filtered according to the inbound identity. Having the identity automatically selected (or prompted) for outbound emails based on the currently selected Folder (or Folder hierarchy - see **1) would seem to work well with such a use case.
It does lead me to a 5th point …
**5 When using multiple identities it would be helpful if the Filtering could also support rules for Outbound emails - for example allowing emails sent from an Identity (or to a particular address/domain) to be moved to a specified Folder (rather than all of them piling up in Sent then needing to be moved manually).
Regarding placing outgoing mail in a specific folder, what you are describing I can see the value of, but it’s a very specific use and not one we have customers talk to us about very much. We have moved away from folder based preferences in Runbox 7 as mentioned and there aren’t any plans to implement them at this time (though it doesn’t rule out doing so if it becomes a more common request or at some point in the future regardless).
The thing about outgoing mail is that it doesn’t pass through the same servers that incoming mail does and it is on the incoming servers that mail is filtered. In theory if we implemented folder based preferences we could then look at placing outgoing mail in the folder in use when the message was composed if the customer is using the web interface.
However, for customers using an email program the problem is greater. IMAP is the only way an email program can place an email in a folder in your account. Email programs have to know which folder that is and usually contain one setting for an outgoing mail folder and this is usually called Sent. We would have to intercept this copying of mail to the server and then place it in the correct folder.
The actual mail being sent goes through our completely separate SMTP outgoing mail system. Generally customers don’t realise that IMAP is the mechanism used to place Sent mail in the Sent folder even though the actual message is sent to the recipient using the SMTP servers.
You might think I’m going off topic, but my point is that once you introduce a feature that might work in the web interface you need to make it work for all the ways a customer may use their account. While everything is possible with software, there just isn’t the demand for this as far as we know and it would be a major project.
Having said all that… I now wonder if in the web interface we could do automatic selection of the correct outgoing address not using folder preferences as such but by adding folders as a preference to an identity.