Support draft messages in All folders
As a previous Outlook Express (OE) user, I am very satisfied with Thunderbird; it has allowed me to upgrade my Windows system without major hassle.
However, there's one missing feature that drives me nuts: you can only have draft messages in the Drafts folder. This is different to OE and makes it hard for me to handle my day-to-day tasks.
I have always kept editable "drafts" in my many other folders as a way of maintaining audit trails of communications or transactions I have had with other people or companies. I use them as notepads to record phone conversations, financial transactions, and general notes. In effect, those "drafts" never get sent, but their content is nicely filed along with any email exchanges with those respective parties.
At the moment, I have to select 'Edit as New Message' in order to make a change, which then creates a duplicate in the Drafts folder. After my edit/update, I have to move that to my intended folder and carefully delete the older copy of it.
I have seen add-ons that allow full "wild west" editing of all messages, but that is not what I need, or want -- this type of activity is a definite 'no' in many organisations. Once a message has been sent or received then it should be immutable. All I need is the ability to maintain editable draft messages in arbitrary folders.
All Replies (8)
I think you are trying to adapt the Drafts folder to a role for which it is not designed, i.e. note and record keeping. You could keep a single Drafts folder and simply tag different messages according to their category (create as many tags as you need). But if the aim is to have a note facility, you may be better served with add-ons such as Clippings or XNote++.
I'm not trying to use the existing Drafts folder for anything. When I do have drafts message then I also keep those in the appropriate folders rather than some central single folder (i.e. it's not just my Notes that are a problem). The thing is that I have a very large folder structure, and attempting to keep all my drafts (or Notes) in some single folder is just an accident waiting to happen. I would feel far safer separating them.
I think perhaps the message was not clear. The current arrangements will not be changing. Drafts go in the drafts folder. The outlook express way will not be adopted.
By extension you are using drafts for something they are not intended for is what sfhowes is saying. So you need to find a new way to do things. Perhaps an add-on like https://addons.thunderbird.net/En-Us/thunderbird/addon/xnotepp/
That is all from me.
Thanks for the blunt reply. Had you read more carefully then you would realise that it's NOT just "notes", and that it's also about draft messages. The default Drafts folder is an anachronism from the days when people probably had only a few messages, and no historical accumulation. I bet your own mail has no more than a dozen folders since I agree that's probably the norm. It is not my case, though, and your suggestion does not help.
Leaving aside the issue of using the Drafts folder for notes, I can see the benefit of storing draft messages in different folders, but I don't see a way to do this, outside of creating separate accounts for specific types of communication, each with its own Drafts folder. Or, tagging messages in the common Drafts folder.
Most users see no need for a complex Drafts setup, although it's common to have sent messages filed in various folders via filters, or to have replies stored in the same folder as the received message.
Thanks for this reply. I had assumed that the messages were handled internally like a normal file system (which is probably how OE worked) and hence that an unsent draft was not that different to a sent or received message. If that were the case then, of course, you could create drafts anywhere.
If there were an add-on to do this then I can imagine that it would have to create an editable draft in the Drafts folder and then move it to where you wanted it after saving the content. Also, making further changes to it would require the draft to be first moved to the editable Drafts area and then moved back after saving. Are there restrictions moving messages into and out of the Drafts folder?
I guess I'll have to struggle on with the 'Edit As New Message'.
ACProctor said
Thanks for the blunt reply. Had you read more carefully then you would realise that it's NOT just "notes", and that it's also about draft messages. The default Drafts folder is an anachronism from the days when people probably had only a few messages, and no historical accumulation. I bet your own mail has no more than a dozen folders since I agree that's probably the norm. It is not my case, though, and your suggestion does not help.
I read and comprehended. Do not mistake a refusal to entertain your view of how mail should work, or your previous work flows as a failure to comprehend. At least in the case of SFHowes you have someone that thinks they can understand your desire to have drafts everywhere. Personally I see that as utter chaos and it would be enough to turn me off a mail client. Permanently. This add-on allows you to edit the source code of a message. https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/header-tools-lite/
Modified by Matt
I read and comprehended. Do not mistake a refusal to entertain your view of how mail should work, or your previous work flows as a failure to comprehend. At least in the case of SFHowes you have someone that thinks they can understand your desire to have drafts everywhere. Personally I see that as utter chaos and it would be enough to turn me off a mail client. Permanently. This add-on allows you to edit the source code of a message. https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/header-tools-lite/
The thing is, SFHowes also explained WHY it's not possible, as opposed to your personal rant that was entirely unhelpful (try drinking less coffee, dude). As for "workflow", if you had has many active contacts as me then you understand why a single Drafts folder is not ideal. The add-on you mention will edit any message, and as I explained I only want to edit unsent messages.