Selecting another "from" address in the composition window not only changes the from address, but also the used "Send" folder and propably serveral other identity-related prefs. E.g. I was confused, when both the automatic save on send and the manual save as draft failed, after I selected another from address. I also personally think, the account name is more user-friendly (even, if only the from address were changed). I propose to add the account name to the descriptions of the values or completely replace the email address with the account name in the description. I prefer the former.

Wait, we can't use the account name, becuase there's a n:n-relationship between accounts and identities. I'll leave this bug open for now, maybe find a better solution, but it will propably be WONTIFX or so.

For lurkers: There's a good doc about accounts at <http://www.mozilla.org/mailnews/arch/accountmanager.html>.

Right, changing the from not only change the author but switch the whole identity. Today we change some of the identity parameters but not all of them. We need to clean up that. What do you means by "show friendly name"?

> What do you means by "show friendly name"? Anything, that makes clear - that not only the from address is changed, but the identity - which identity is used (after migration from 4.x, I have 4+ times the same from address)

Explanation for friendly name: I for example set up an IMAP, a POP and a News account in Moz. In all three accounts I use the same Name and e-mailaddress as I preferably use only one. When composing a message I now can choose my from-identity between: Sebastian Spaeth <Sebastian@SSpaeth.de> Sebastian Spaeth <Sebastian@SSpaeth.de> Sebastian Spaeth <Sebastian@SSpaeth.de> which doesn't make to much sense. There is no distinction at all. So adding a short comment about the identity in the select field would be nice.

Alec, do you want to take care of this?

cc: jglick.

There are a few other problems involved. First, I don't think it is clear that users need to add the copies folders to each account they use for it to work like 4.x. Second, it is not obvious that changing the From field has such wide-ranging effects, even if the account were somehow associated. Third, I wouldn't expect to see anything in this field other than what will appear in the From field in the message header.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 22093 ***

ducarroz, are you sure, you used the right bug for dup? I see no relation.

Reopening. This has only a cursory similarity to 22093, were you thinking of some other bug?

sorry, my mistake.

Mass moving to M16 to get these off the M15 radar. Please let me know if this is really an M15 stopper.

Not beta2 stopper. Marking M18.

Oops. Really marking M18 now...

In the drop down could we just display the account name and server name for accounts that differ [in italics]? This solves most problems. It is possible for someone to create the following: timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> pop.mozilla.qa/smtp.mozilla.qa AccountName: Mail timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> pop.mozilla.qa/smtp.mozilla.qa AccountName: mozbots timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> news.mozilla.org AccountName: QA Bug Swatter timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> news.mozilla.org AccountName: Bug Reporter timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> news.mozilla.org AccountName: mozbots timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> news.mozilla.org AccountName: XUL writing timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> news.mozilla.org AccountName: BeZilla I can see myself doing the above. And between AccountName, Servername, and nick/email I don't see much in the way of problems. I should note: the from field will not reflect this. the from drop down MUST reflect which is currently selected, it is acceptable for the from field to paint this additional information while the field is dropped down. Drawings: [ timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> ] -- [ timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> /Mail/V ] timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> /pop/ /mozbots/ timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> /QA Bug Swatter/ timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> /Bug Reporter/ .. timeless <timeless@mozilla.qa> /news/ /mozbots/ .. we could write out pop.mozilla.qa and news.mozilla.org

That sounds like a lot of very long dropdowns. It really depends on what we want to reach with it: a) just changing the from field without using other account info b) changing the whole account information smtp/sig/... In the latter case (which I assume to be the intended) a better solution could be not to change the from field, but to have a drop down menu with all the account names in it. So it would be clear that it is not only the 'from' value which changes and different accounts with same 'from' could be told from another. The actual 'from' value could be displayed non-changeable next to the menu: -------------- | Account1 |X| From: Sender@dotcom -------------- But maybe that should be discussed over in the newsgroups first.

*** Bug 43332 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

The problem of distinguishing between items in the Mail Compose "From" menu was recently discussed at a mail UE Review meeting. Some potential solutions follow. Nominate as nsbeta3. Priority 1. Modify the items in the identity (From) dropdown (Compose window) so it is possible to distinguish which account each identity comes from. The ideal solution is to put the account name in a different style, such as italics and/or light grey, so that it doesn't look like it will be sent as part of the header. Some potential solutions are (the name of the account would be as described in the parenthesis following each item): 1. Scott Putterman <scottip@netscape.com> - Work Account (italics) 2. Scott Putterman <scottip@netscape.com> - Work Account (light gray) 3. Scott Putterman <scottip@netscape.com> - Work Account (light gray and italics) 4. Scott Putterman <scottip@netscape.com> - Work Account (Normal, if none of the options above are possible) 5. Scott Putterman <scottip@netscape.com> - (Work Account) (account name in parenthesis) This is long, but the "From" menu is already a long widget because it is the length of the addressing area and this would provide very useful information for the user.

I prefer option 4, but without the dash. Changing formatting doesn't make it obvious that this part is not sent out, while parenthesis do to some extend.

*** Bug 18747 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

mail2 type of bug per mail triage

MailTriage: We are accepting jglick's solution #3 - add "- <acct name>" using light grey and italics. Please make this change ASAP so we can test it internally and make adjustments as necessary.

+ per mail triage

Reassigning bugs to varada

Marking Fixed. Currently the menu items have the server pretty name appended to them. The menulist displays only the "value" attribute of the Element. Bug #48128 has been filed against Ben inorder to make it possible to extend the capabilities of the menulist.

What happens, if I have 2 identities for the same server (by editing prefs.js or using an alternate UI)?

it will list id1 - server1 id2 - server1

Account name shown in light grey italics (using modern and classic skin) when pulling down the list. The account name is not displayed once selection is made and the pulldown released. I assume that's OK? Marking verified using aug25 commercial build, mac OS 9.0, linux rh6.0 and NT 4.0.

removing mail2 keyword.

*** Bug 109455 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Reopening bug. This is no longer working. Windows build 2001111203. http://www.mozilla.org/mailnews/specs/compose/images/From1.gif

This is broken since a few realeses already, IIRC incl. Mozilla 0.9.2.1.

I like option b) from comment #17 much more (add separate account dropdown). Having single identity I don't like to bother with selecting desired account from From field. Having multiple identities, I don't like to scroll huge list up-n-down. Doesn't two independent dropdowns (from: and account:) more intuitive, user-friendly, simpler, whatever (and logical, after all)? :-) IMHO, it wil easier to implement as well... P.S. subject of the bug is confusing, really

Attaching fix for regression.

Comment on attachment 69155 [details] [diff] [review] Patch for regression. sr=hewitt

Marking Fixed.

OK using feb18 commercial trunk build: win98, mac OS 10.1, linux rh6.2 Account name shows to the right of the Display Name/email address.

Is it possible to make account names to be right aligned? I have several email addresses with quite different length and it's not displayed very good...

*** Bug 83543 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Windows 2002030103 build. Account name not showing in grey italics anymore.

Reopening bug. See example above.

scottip requested I re-close this bug and open a new bug for the remaining issue. Filed bug 128943.

marking verified again as the remaining issue in logged separarately.