"If wishes were horses, all beggars would ride." - proverb In reverse order of receipt (most recently first) ... * NOV-2008 Bill Korendyk (hoboy %-} Took a moment this weekend to organize my thoughts (though that may not be apparent from the ramblings to follow ;-) for this short wish list for soyMAIL. enjoy :-) \bill On [Copy][Move] in the message list and message display. I can use the selection button to select a mailfile and if there is no /MAIL folder, it shows "mailfile/". If there is a MAIL folder, soyMAIL automatically selects it and displays it as "/MAIL". And of course, whatever I enter in the text buttons will override the selection, creating new mailfile and/or folders when a Copy/Move is performed. So far so good. But if I have multiple mail files containing folders of the same name (let's say "/MAIL") then if I select a file other than MAIL, a glance at the panel shows "/MAIL" in the selection button. Later, I might assume it is "MAIL/MAIL" (since that what it usually is) but end up moving a message into the previously selected mail file. In a later soyMAIL session, I go to MAIL/MAIL and wonder why the message is missing... The select button is essential, since I have lots of files and folders and often forget spelling and case (especially folders ;-). But would it be possible, after selecting the file/folder, for subsequent page refreshes to "fill-in" the text buttons with the resulting [mailfile]/[folder], so they remain visible throughout the soyMAIL session. Then I would always see where the copy/move will go. Of course I can still replace either or both strings if I want to force creation of new files and/or folders. Stated simply. The [Copy][Move] select box allows one to select the destination from the current list of file/folders, but the "text" buttons will always display the current (ie. next used) selection. For users that only use the MAIL file, the folder name would be repeated (select button and text button), since they still need the text button to create new folders. -------------------------------- In the message list, if I click on the subject line, the message is opened in a new window. Would it be possible to have the option to allow the message to be opened in the current window (as happens when the message number is clicked). -------------------------------- It is nice that a "" link enters a compose page. But I've noticed that some of the mailto links included parameters that appear in the soyMAIL link, but which are not acted on. For example: sales@company.com?subject=abunchofstufftoidmessage Wouldn't it be nice if the extra bits on the mailto were also filled in as appropriate on the compose page, assuming there's a "standard" list of bits to interpret... --------------------------------- If a sent items folder is specified, soyMAIL copies the message to the folder. However, compose also adds the senders address as a "cc:" based on the copy send, copy reply, and copy forward options for VMS Mail. If I specify a sent items folder, then I don't really need the "cc:". But I don't want to disable the VMS Mail options because I still want an automatic copy of any messages sent while on VMS (eg. an application sending mail). The quick and easy solution is to just add an option to soyMAIL on whether to honour the VMS copy/self when a sent items folder is specified (or even when it isn't). A more comprehensive solution would be to have soyMAIL "Message Management" options to select which of "composed", "replied", and "forwarded" messages would be placed in the sent items folder (effectively replacing the VMS Mail selections). Maybe even extended to specifying three different "item folders". I'd be happy with just the quick and easy solution on whether to honour the VMS Mail copy self options. It would even be sufficient to have soyMAIL ignore the VMS Mail copy self options when a sent items folder is specified, but that would change current behaviour. Adding the option makes the change apparent. ----------------------------------------------------- More a documentation request then a wish. When working with multiple mail files, and when managing messages in folders in a file other than "MAIL", I half expected that drafts, sent messages, and waste messages, would appear in folders within the last opened mail file. Instead, all these messages appear in the specified "items folders" within the main "MAIL" file. It might be nice to place the draft, sent, and waste messages in items folders of the "current" mail file, but I'm not sure I'd like spurious draft, sent, and waste items folders scattered about the various mail files. So, to avoid future "half expectations", I'd suggest the documentation and help reflect that the "items folders" are in the primary "MAIL" file. --------------------------------------------------------- On Sender Identification. When composing, selecting a signature changes the "From:" (using the [smtp-from] in the signature file contents). If I change my mind and want to use a different "signature", the new signature file contents are included, but the "From:" remains that of the previous signature selection, and not that of the default "Sender Identification". The solution is to "always" specify a [smtp-from] keyword in the signature file, which makes the Sender Identification's "From Address" somewhat useless since every signature file needs to override the option's setting. Unfortunately, "none" can not provide overriding values. Would it be possible to "bundle" the personal name, from address and even reply-to, with the signature file. If I select "Default (VMS)" the personal name is what is in VMS Mail config, and address is the usual default. Essentially, each "Sender Identification" is named according to the [Signature|v] select box and includes: a) personal name b) from address c) reply-to d) signature file (contents) In the options page, and in the compose page, when the signature is selected, all corresponding fields update. In Options, the [Apply] and [Save soyMAIL options] updates all the fields of the signature, ie. of that specific Sender Identification. (Except for "Default (VMS)"?) The Option page no longer needs [Save Signature][Reset] since [Apply][Restore] would do that. The signature "none" would just be a signature (Sender Identification) with no signature file content. * JUN-2008 Bill Korendyk (***DONE***) Massaged Messages ----------------- I like that read messages are "massaged". I wish more people would discover the enter-key :-/ But I would like the "massage" even more if I could specify the wrap length. An option applying an artitrary length to all messages would be fine. I often get reports that have a fixed line length (eg. 80) and it would be nice if they appeared correct without hitting the [massage off]. Being able to specify a length means I can leave the massage option enabled for those one-line paragraphs I keep getting. Normally, hitting [massage off] is straightforward, but sometimes I forget and then proceed to reply/forward and discover that the edit box is filled with the massaged text and the prefix string. Can be very ugly at times. Granted, if I [massage off] first, then the edit window has the un-massaged text, but why not wish for a change that compensates for my forgetfulness :-) (***DONE***) Compose Window - actions vs. status ----------------------------------- A little something that has always annoyed me, but I'm not sure how easily it can be addressed... the buttons associated with edit box in the compose window can be confusing. While all buttons are "actions" (ie. perform an act), some could be more aptly described as "status/actions" (ie. show the current state but act to change that state). In particular let's look at [wrap on]. One would think that this "action" button would turn wrap on, but it is saying that wrap "is" on, and the action is to turn it off. Confusing. Of course there is no point raising the issue if I haven't thought about how I think it might better behave ;-) The space below the buttons could be used for a "status box", a small display of the current status. Then [wrap on] could be an "action" button that does what it says. The height by width buttons could be changed to select lists, and a new action button could be used to [set size] of the edit box. Maybe the "wrap" could also be a select list, allowing choices like "wrap off", "wrap 68", "wrap 72", "wrap 80", "wrap 100", "wrap 132", etc., and then the [wrap on] is replaced with a [set wrap] action button. Nice way to distinguish "wrap" from the edit box size. Of course these are just thoughts... won't really know if they play well until they are tried :-} (***DONE***) Personalized Signatures ----------------------- If you decide to look into my earlier "wish" to tag the signature files with a "From:" address, I'd like to add to that a tag for the Personal Name since it is also something that might change between signatures. Not sure where or how often the existing personal name is used, so this just could be an extra tag specific to the signature. Thanks for listening ;-) * DEC-2007 Bill Korendyk (***DONE***) 1. Any url's in the message body are "linked". And the left/right half of the link for current or new window is nice. Any email addresses in the message are also linked. But email addresses appear linked via the "mailto:" protocol, and hence the browser tends to activate its default mail client. Not useful. I'd like to click on the email link and have a soyMAIL compose page come up (preferably in a new window) with the "To:" filled in and ready. This is not an urgent need; I now right-click the link, copy email address, open a compose page, paste, and away I go. This is using Firefox, so I'm not sure the right-click behaves the same with other browsers. I'm also not sure how easy this is to do. Having the email link pop up a soyMAIL compose page just seems like a sensible thing to do, so I have to think you might have thought of it before. (Of course there may already be an "option" to select either the browser default or the soyMAIL compose page, that I didn't notice ;-) 2. You were kind enough to add multiple signatures for me (something [Flattery may not get you everything you want but it does no harm either MGD :-] I'm not sure others have appreciated yet :-) and it made me think that it would be nice if the message envelope had a "From:" (and/or "Reply-to:") that would correspond to the possibly different address specified in the signature. For example, when I specify a signature, I should also be able to specify a "from address" corresponding to the signature. And when I include the signature in the Compose page, the from address for that message is magically changed to the from address associated with the signature. The normal default "from address" would be used if no signature is used, or if no "from address" has been defined for the selected signature. Yea, I know. The vagaries surrounding the (proper?) use of the "From:", "Return-Path:", "Reply-To:", etc. fields, and the way soyMAIL handles these might make changing the envelope for each signature-specified message a bit complicated... but what the heck, not all wishes can be granted ;-) (***DONE***) * NOV-2007 Bill Korendyk I don't suppose there's a way to "highlight" the line as cursor moves over it? (***DONE***) * OCT-2007 Francesco Gennai External authentication agent (implemented using a spawned subprocess). * SEP-2007 Tom Linden As a backup it would be very useful if we could import from .pst files from Outlook. I note that there are several export formats available, comma or tab separated values in to DOS or Windows formats. That mean, I guess, also the ability to create corresponding folders in Soymail and by extension in VMSMail. * SEP-2007 Francesco Gennai (***DONE***) 1. It would be useful if the compose page [send-close] could return from the compose page when a message is successfully sent rather than having to manually move from the page. 2. The folder buttons on the left of the window are very useful (in my opinion). It could be nice if the folder buttons on the left are displayed in any window that is opened in the main window. For example, if I compose a new message in a new window I will not have the folder buttons on the left, but if I compose a new message in the main window the folder buttons continue to be displayed on the left. The same, for example, when I view a message in a new window I will not have folder buttons on the left, and when I view a message in the main window I will have the folder buttons. * AUG-2007 Malcolm Smeaton (***DONE***) 1. unread messages are not highlighted, e.g. in bold (***DONE***) 2. the message doesn't open when clicking on the subject. It would appear some students are genetically programmed to only open messages this way. 3. a number of clients just don't like the appearance. They compare it to hotmail, yahoo etc. and want nicer looking buttons and icons. I guess many are like big kids and want their webmail to look flashy, just like their cell phones... Some of the more computer literate are comparing it with opensource alternatives like squirrelmail, roundcube, nocc mail. 4. there have been requests for calendaring. Not sure how important that really is, depends on who you talk to. Some staff think it would be really useful. 5. Our web team want more options to customise its appearance to reflect the University of Canterbury web standards. (***DONE***) * APR-2007 Malcolm Smeaton Is there any way of tracing authenticated username? - such as a connection log with, say: Timestamp, ip address, username * MAR-2007 Karl Rohwedder It would be nice, if the format of the date/time string on the right hand side would be customizable, e.g. instead of 'Tue Mar 06 2007 12:51' it would read 'Dienstag 06.05.2007 12:51'. * FEB-2007 Bill Korendyk 1) Inconsistent informational when filing message When using multiple mail files, if I "copy/move" a message to a folder in a file, the following informational line is displayed: message(s) moved to "/" Except if the destination is in the main MAIL file, when the line following line is displayed: message(s) moved to "" If using only the MAIL file, the latter message is more appropriate, but with multiple files, being informed that the is MAIL is useful in confirming that the message was properly filed. (***DONE***) 2) Opening messages via subject line When looking at the folder contents (ie. message list) I often think it would be nice to "open" a message by clicking on the subject line rather than needing to click over on the message number. Over time I thought of a number of ways I would envision this "feature": - turn the subject line into a pseudo-link where clicking the first half of the link opens the message in the current window, clicking the second half opens the message in a new window. - since the above strikes me as non-trivial, perhaps turn the subject line into a "button" (like the message number) that you click to open in current window, prefixed (or postfixed) with the smaller "^" button to open in a new window. - or perhaps it would be easier to have smaller open-new ("^") and open-current ("o") buttons that appear in front of the subject line. Or for that matter, why not have the option to place the "|o|^|" buttons anywhere on the line. And that train of thought led me to an all-encompassing notion of allowing the "option" to arbitrarily specify the order and nature of each column in the message list. The options would specify which item(s) to display and the order they appear in the list. The default would be the current order of "checkboxes", "Number", "Received", "From", and "Subject". And there would be an option of specifying if item(s) (except for "checkboxes" of course) would be constructed as an "open-current" button, rather than as plain text. And whether the "open-new" button ("^") would be postfixed or prefixed. The default would of course be the current representation with only "Number" as a "open-current" button with an "open-new" button postfixed. Oh, I momentarily forgot the mesage read history (which I never use). It probably should be specified in the order, But, like "checkboxes", I doubt if it ever needs to be expressed as buttons. If all this were to happen, I would likely define my message lists with six columns that look like: Item Display Open-new ------------ --------- -------- "Checkboxes" n/a n/a "Number" "button" "none" "Subject" "buttton" "prefix" "From" "text" n/a "Checkboxes" n/a n/a "Received" "text" n/a And for an account with a really simple display: Item Display Open-new ---------- --------- -------- "Number" "text" n/a "From" "text" n/a "Subject" "buttton" "none" Nice and flexible, but is it practical!? Maybe it would be sufficient to just have the "|o|^|" button that can be placed arbitrarily on the line. Just thinking out loud. ;-) (***DONE***) 3) Arbitrary Signature File I think I mentioned before how handy it would be to have arbitrary Signature file(s). I often represent different groups and like to provide a signature that refers to differing titles, addresses, etc. for the groups. I thought a possible approach would be to extend the "signature selection" in "Options" to list names of signature files (perhaps the "*.soymail_sig") in the user's mail directory. This would be in addition to the "none" and "default". Creation of signature files via soyMAIL might also be considered, similar to how the soyMAIL signature file is done now, but I'm not sure how difficult it would be to specify an arbitrary file name to use. Of course there is no reason the files couldn't be created beforehand using a VMS editor. I also thought it might be nice to be able to select the signature file from the "compose" page, rather than just using what is defined as the current signature file by the "Options". As a thought, "Options" would specify if the signature is "none", "default", or "soyMAIL", and if "soyMAIL" is chosen, then the signature button in "Compose" becomes a selection list of the user's signature files. 4) Extract Attachments Location I find that extracting attachments to the user's login directory is often not very useful. My login directory is kept very small, and specific to VMS. I have a subdirectory mapped as a Windows, NFS, and (old) Macintosh share, and that serves as the root for practically all my files. It would be nice to be able to specify an arbitrary location within this network-served file space to which to extract the attachment. Even nicer if the location was specified at the time of extraction. Of course, specifying a location too arbitrarily (ie. by VMS device and directory) might raise some security concerns, it is probably sufficient to just allow an "Option" that specifies a subdirectory of the user's default login directory for all extractions. If this is specified within my shared file space, then the attachment is immediately available to my Windows, UNIX, and Macintosh applications. This is not an "essential" feature, since I usually use the the browser's "save as" to save the attachment to my VMS share (and is hence immediately available to UNIX, Mac, VMS, and other Windows desktops). But it would be useful for those times when it is not practical to use the browser to save the attachment (failed share mapping, using soyMAIL from remote site, a MIME encapsulated non-Windows formatted dataset, etc.). Rare, but it has happened, and moving the file from the default user directory out to the shared directory is just one more step I like to avoid. ;-) 5) User's soyMAIL Work Directory The above also got me thinking about where soyMAIL keeps its information and work files. I would definitely prefer to see the work files kept somewhere other than the user's mail file directory. (My mail directory is already pretty full.) Ideally, work files (options, draft) would be in their own location. Unfortunately, that can be problematic since you'd probably need to read the options file to find out where the options file is located. I assume the mail directory was used because it is readily determined without making any assumptions about the user's file space. So the mail file directory (or the user's login directory) is a reasonable choice for the options file. But it seems to me a user-specified location is more appropriate for the other files. Especially if I want to put the signature files, or more importantly the contacts file in my shared file space so I can manipulate with other tools. I haven't decided whether I want to yet, or whether it's better to "lock in" files in a soyMAIL location and move information in and out as needed (usual pros and cons apply). I'm just saying it might be nice to move the soyMAIL files out of the mail file directory. Whether everything (besides the options) is grouped together, or allowed to be split into separate locations is something to think about. [EDITOR: Thanks for the detailed suggestions Bill ;-) ] * JAN-2007 Malcolm Smeaton (***DONE***) Our students currently use IMAP with PMDF on VMS Mail which is where soyMAIL comes in. They are very used to a Thunderbird or Outlook Express style. Using CC-self to save sent items is not going to go down too well I think. Is it possible to save sent items to a separate folder such as Sent or Sent Items? I know VMS mail doesn't support this but somehow PMDF Pine can do it. (***DONE***) Is it possible to edit the page layout so that attachments show at the top and can be opened without going all the way to the bottom of the message? * JAN-2007 Jeremy Begg (***DONE***) Make it possible to access PMDF IMAP subfolders. * OCT-2006 Bill Korendyk (***DONE***) 1) Order of waste/delete buttons is different on the 'directory' and 'messages pages resulting in some incorrect button use. Can they be made consistent? (***DONE***) 2) Multiple mail files (DECwindows mail 'drawers') ... a) Would be nice to have the name of the "active" drawer displayed somewhere. b) When doing a copy/move, the list of folders in the current drawer are shown in the copy/move selection list, but the folders in other drawers is not listed... Couldn't I just select a new drawer from the copy/move list, have the page update to exactly as it was, except that now the copy/move selection list shows the folders in the selcted drawer... c) There is a minor syntactic anomally: when entering a new folder name in copy/move, it is created in the selected drawer. But if I include a "/" in the folder name, instead of moving the message to the folder that actually has the "/" in its name, it assumes that what was before the "/" is the file (drawer) name and what is after it is the folder name, and creates both if necessary... d) Though I can create a new folder or a new drawer and folder by typing a "drawer/folder" in the box in the copy/move banner, there appears to be no way to delete a file... * JUL-2006 Derek Garson (***DONE***) 1) Automatic deletion of included attachments after a successful send. 2) Upload of multiple files from single browser dialog with single [attach]. 3) When the messages are listed in a folder, is it possible to have them listed in ascending order (by date) rather than the opposite? (***DONE***) 4) Add "all hits" item to search "Results page every:" option. * JUN-2006 Christoph Gartmann: (***DONE***) We just noticed that the "forward" function in SoyMail doesn't forward attachments, e.g. if you forward an e-mail that contains attachments, these are not forwarded. So, I would suggest to implement this functionality, perhaps in a way that a user may specifiy whether to include the attachments and which ones. * JUN-2006 Karl Rohwedder: Other suggestions: o If you delete a contact entry, wouldn't a confirm-box be useful (like the reset function)? o When I look at a message overview with a large number of messages spanning over multiple pages, the possibility to sort on date, subject or author would be a nice enhancement. o The message overview page has 2 checkboxes, one to select all messages from the current page and one to select all messages from the folder. The latter is clearly stated beside the checkbox. I think, it would be clearer for the user, if beside the 1st checkbox the range of messages would be displayed, that this checkbox would select. (***DONE***) I would find it an useful extension, if soyMAIL would be able store messages into local files (analog to the VMS mail EXTRACT or EXTRACT/NOHEADER) function. * APR-2006 Rene Mendoza: Changing the order of the email list columns would be nice so instead of date, sender, subject it could be sender, subject, date, just a personal preference. (***DONE***) Following the 'received', 'from', 'subject' in the folder message listing can be difficult for those with eyesight issues. If the message info in the message list was outlined by a text box it would make it easier to follow from date to sender to subject and back to the message link, or if subject or sender was clickable to bring up the message that would also work I think. * APR-2006 Hunter Goatley: (***DONE***) When replying to email, it'd be nice if soyMAIL took care of multiple "RE:"s on the Subject: line. Right now, soyMAIL just keeps prepending "RE:", even if there's already an "RE:" present. I'd like to see it only add "RE:" on a reply if there isn't already "RE:" there. (***DONE***) It would be nice to be able to define [smtp-server-port] to specify an alternate SMTP port. I run PMAS on port 25, but for mail from my PC going through, I prefer to talk to PMDF directly on the port it's listening on. (***DONE***) When clicking on a URL in a message body, I'd prefer to have a new window opened instead of opening the link in my soyMAIL window/tab. This would probably best be done as a configurable option. * APR-2006 Christoph Gartmann: (***DONE***) So I would suggest a different approach to deal with this situation: what about a switch in the config file? E.g. if URL contains "string" use "~" instead or some switch whether private or public e-mail should be default or use "string1" in URL for private and "string2" for public e-mail. * APR-2006 Willem Grooters: (***DONE***) Would it be possible to have a default setting to close the compose window automatically after the message has been sent (configuration setting, or a separate button (close/send))? * MAR-2006 Francesco Gennai: (***DONE***) Public access folder wildcard support (à la yahMAIL) allowing browsing of a public access folders. * MAR-2006 Jerry Braga: (***DONE***) 1) Form field TABing. (***DONE***) 2) Form field focus. * MAR-2006 Willem Grooters: A message composition [preview] facility. * MAR-2006 Carl Karcher: (***DONE***) 1) For long messages repeat the reply, forward, delete buttons at the end of the page too. 2) Distinguish read messages from unread. I.e. dir/new in mail shows only messages unread. "dir newmail" is what you see with soy/yahmail (every message in folder). If you also use an imap client to read vms mail, soymail shows messages you've already seen (until the folder gets "compacted" in imap terms). Perhaps have a check-box setting that would display unread read messages in bold and read messages as normal like some imap clients do as the default. Then it could be optionally checked to "display only new" where only unread messages would be displayed. * FEB-2006 Frank Weichert: (***DONE***) Have the main-menu [compose] button have an adjacent [^] open in new window. * JAN-2006 Ruslan Laishev: 1) Can you add please a button "Mark as SPAM", with follow actions: a) SPAM-mail (-s) forwarded to a predefined address b) deleted from mailbox 2) Can you made changes which will allows to place (optionaly) work files of the soyMail at some specific directory ? * JAN-2006 Frank Weichert: (***DONE***) yahMail shows all folders a the starting-page, if it is set to top or buttom. So it is easy to move the messages to the corresponding folders. I think it is a good idea to have this feature in soyMail too. Whish: at the left site sorted from top to buttom (like Mozilla Mail-Agent). I did this change to yahMail some times ago.