Threaded view across folders

patricktokeeffe commented 9 years ago

Right now I store sent messages in my inbox so they will appear in message threads.

I noticed that other folders can be added to the Unified Inbox, so I enabled 'Unify' on my Sent folder and began storing sent messages there. The problem was that messages were placed in two threads (sent/received) in my Unified Inbox instead of threading together.

Follow-up: if inter-folder threading can be achieved for the Unified Inbox, can it occur at the account level too?

cketti commented 9 years ago

Changing the code to enable threading for all messages in an account is possible. I'm not yet convinced that it's a good idea, though.

doodhout commented 8 years ago

@cketti What do you propose as an alternative for people wanting all relevant messages (sent, received & drafts) being visible in the same thread?

adamsmd commented 8 years ago

@cketti A use-case in favor of enabling threading for all messages in an account is people who (like me) move messages into an "Archive" folder. If I receive a new message in my "Inbox" folder, then I need to be able to look back on the old messages in a thread (e.g., if the new message doesn't fully quote the previous messages).

Also, since I'd like to try implementing this, could you point out where in the code to start?

ildar commented 8 years ago

This is a demanded feature, no doubt.

philipwhiuk commented 8 years ago

@adamsmd We store a local copy of each message. These local copies are collected into threads by MessagingController.collectMessagesInThreads based on a threadId field.

This threadId is the primary key of the threads table. New threadIds are created by LocalFolder.doMessageThreading

What you'd need to do is (and there may be more complications I've not thought of - this is just from a brief look at the code)

Add an option in the database to enable viewing threads by account.
Modify the thread code to calculate threading on a per account basis. This will mean moving it from LocalFolder into a new class specifically created to handle this and modifying the code appropriately.
Update all the current threads in the database on upgrade, merging where necessary
Modify the display code to display the threads either by folder or by account based n the user option.

In general email clients that I have seen only thread per folder. They often allow you to search for messages in other folders but they do not, by default, drag them in to the current view.

@ildar Demand is nice, but unless a feature is straightforward it'll probably only get done if a developer actively cares about it.

fajabird commented 7 years ago

Hi, just noticed that current version of GMAIL for android has this feature implemented. I configured gmail for my imap-server and it will display inbox and send mails in an single conversation - very nice. Whish k9 would get this too. I'm still an k9-user as gmail lacks many other features I need.

worldexplorer commented 6 years ago

Please include into the threaded view the replies I sent from SENT folder. It doesn't have to be a "single page" like in GMAIL (when received and sent are collapsed with clickable headers). But please at least select & add into the current "threaded view" for a message - my emails from SENT (with the same subject ignoring "RE:" or "FWD:" prefixes?...)

ex5 commented 6 years ago

I'm not yet convinced that it's a good idea, though.

This is a feature anyone switching from gmail or any other popular email client would expect, so from the point of view of ~plans for world domination~ adoption it is a valid feature request.

Valodim commented 6 years ago

I agree this would be a useful feature, and one I've come to miss myself. Anyone want to take a stab at it? :)

alexanderdd commented 6 years ago

+1

I miss this feature too. IMHO it is very confusing that my own messages are not shown in a threaded view. Especially new users might think that their message did not get sent?!

Also, this feature request is 3 years old. Is there anything we can do to make it happen (apart from coding it, which I can't)?

JaviTechnologies commented 6 years ago

Hello all.

First of all, thank you for creating K-9 Mail. I just installed it because I'm moving away from google services in general.

After using it for a couple of hours, I feel like I really need this feature. At the beginning I thought it was a bug. That all my replays weren't being fetched.

People need to see the entire thread to make decisions, right? Especially when you email clients that take weeks to replay. Then you need to see the history to remember the whole conversation.

Please make it possible.

pseudomonas commented 6 years ago

As a weird corollary to this:

If I view "All Mail" folder (which at least for my mail provider contains both sent and incoming mail) the threading does the right thing.

But if I view Unified Inbox, then I see two half-threads, one of all my outgoing mail in a conversation, and one of all the incoming mail in the same conversation. This is slightly absurd, and IMO clearly qualifies as a bug (by virtue of violating user expectations)

agherzan commented 5 years ago

Just a small notice: thunderbird has it implemented as a feature which places a copy in the folder you are replying from. Have we considered this approach?

ildar commented 5 years ago

Thunderbird has threaded view through addon (Thunderbird Conversations) without needing of extra copies.

sketet commented 5 years ago

Hello, is this a feature that is expected to be implemented soon?

ildar commented 4 years ago

Seems FairMail already has it even in their free version: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/eu.faircode.email/

alexanderdd commented 4 years ago

@pseudomonas wrote: If I view "All Mail" folder (which at least for my mail provider contains both sent and incoming mail) the threading does the right thing.

Does not work for me. Sent mails are not shown in conversatuon view, neither in regular inbox, not in unified inbox, nor in all mail.

Still urgently need this feature :-(

doodhout commented 4 years ago

"All Mail" is provider specific (most likely just Google) and not all providers have it, therefore it cannot be accepted as a general solution.

noauthoritybuturself commented 4 years ago

just moved from gmail to k-9 and really miss this feature too! it's confusing.

dead10ck commented 4 years ago

@cketti do you have any specific objection?

cketti commented 4 years ago

Not really objections as such. Per-folder threads are easy to understand and were easy to implement. Having a thread contain messages from multiple folders raises a couple of UX questions:

Should messages from some special folders be excluded?
- Trash?
- Spam?
- Drafts?
- Archive?
If not, do these folders we exclude get their own thread view or do they never show threads?
Or should there be a kind of filter in the thread view where the user could choose to e.g. also show deleted messages belonging to the current thread. Then we'd have to figure out how to visually distinguish them from "regular" messages.
I'm sure there are some issues I'm forgetting

It's not an unsolvable problem. But it is quite a bit of work. So far this hasn't been important enough for me to dedicate time to it. Volunteers are welcome. But please come up with an UI/UX concept before trying to change any code.

dead10ck commented 4 years ago

These are good points. I think there are some options.

* Should messages from some special folders be excluded?

  * Trash?
  * Spam?
  * Drafts?
  * Archive?

I think excluding trash and spam makes sense. If the user has thrown it away, they probably don't want to see it again. Although I do think it would make sense to show Archived and Drafts. It could also be configurable by the user with some config page with checkboxes. That way the app could have some reasonable default, but let the user customize it if they wish.

* If not, do these folders we exclude get their own thread view or do they never show threads?

I think it would make sense to still show threads in the archive, the same as in the inbox. It could use the same exclusion config.

* Or should there be a kind of filter in the thread view where the user could choose to e.g. also show deleted messages belonging to the current thread. Then we'd have to figure out how to visually distinguish them from "regular" messages.

I think it would be reasonable to overlook the case of showing trashed emails unless there is further demand.

It's not an unsolvable problem. But it is quite a bit of work. So far this hasn't been important enough for me to dedicate time to it. Volunteers are welcome. But please come up with an UI/UX concept before trying to change any code.

I certainly respect the complexity and effort involved. I unfortunately do not have the free time to contribute myself, so I hate to come in and push for features. But I don't think I'm too off base in thinking that coming from many other popular email apps these days, this particular feature will make or break many users' experience.

LupercusBD commented 4 years ago

I really vote for this feature of having this more global threading within an account !

Personally, to keep the interface simple to use, I would recommend to include just the Inbox, Archive, Sent and Draft folders.

doodhout commented 4 years ago

Personally, to keep the interface simple to use, I would recommend to include just the Inbox, Archive, Sent and Draft folders.

Why not just include any folder? People that keep their mailbox tidy by putting read/processed messages into folders are now excluded from having thread view, if it were to be implemented like you suggest. I don't think that's a good idea.

imsonica commented 4 years ago

From my experience, have the ability to follow up an e-mail discussion grouping all the messages in the same thread is an advantage. I would suggest to remove just "Trash" folder from the collection. About the spam, I think that if a message goes to spam folder it is probably an error in filtering, starting a discussion between persons it is very rare to have spam in the discussion, what do you think?!

wheybags commented 3 years ago

Kind of boggles my mind that this isn't in. It's how pretty much every email inbox app I've seen works, I honestly cannot imagine a use case where you would not want this on. What use is threading if it only shows part of the thread?

jpbaril commented 2 years ago

+1 here. We desesperately need that.

spmp commented 2 years ago

I can't for the life of me figure out how I did it with K9 Material - but would love it to 'just work' in K-9. Was their a code change to the material version? Could someone here help me identify what I did in my config? If it was a code change in k-9_material can we apply this to k-9 via a PR? Unfortunately the upstream repo is gone 8(

Steven-- commented 2 years ago

@spmp If it was a code change, perhaps it is in one of the forks? For example here: https://github.com/danialbehzadi/K9-MailClient

pavelvasev commented 1 year ago

It was 2023 and K9 still was unable to show emails as conversations including users' replies ;-))))

thunderbird / thunderbird-android

Threaded view across folders #735