Reading Pane in Conversation View

It would be really nice if we could have a reading pane in the conversation view. It's a hassle to have to double-click to open each conversation and when you open a conversation, you can't see other messages in the folder.

Yes, it's great to be able to group mail by conversations, but 90% of the time, when you're going through your mail, you don't care about the previous messages in each conversation...your focus is usually on the most recent message and it's more important to be able to see other messages in the folder, rather than other messages in the conversation.

Therefore, I propose that you give the user the option of displaying a reading pane in conversation view. If the user single-clicks on a conversation, the reading pane would show the most recent message in the conversation. If the user double-clicks on a conversation, then it would open the full conversation view, the same way as it does now.

Yes, but the double-click on a conversation just opens the most recent post in that conversation. What's the difference between that and your idea? If you just want the most recent messages then the alternative is 'by message', surely one of those option is what you're describing?

There is one annoyance with the reading pane.
I hate the fact that when you click on a folder the top most email is automaticly opened, so therefore marking it read.

I don't want to skim through the folders and mark emails read which i haven't really read. I would like it so that only when an email is clicked on, that email should show in the pane.

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Originally Posted by MooktaKiNG

There is one annoyance with the reading pane.
I hate the fact that when you click on a folder the top most email is automaticly opened, so therefore marking it read.

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Then look in bugzilla and vote for that feature.

Decided to register for bugzilla.

Created my first bug:

http://bugzilla.zimbra.com/show_bug.cgi?id=13087

I thought there was already a bug for that feature in bugzilla? Ayway, you should also vote on any bugs you create.

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Originally Posted by phoenix

Yes, but the double-click on a conversation just opens the most recent post in that conversation. What's the difference between that and your idea?

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There is a huge difference.

If you double-click on a conversation, that replaces the top pane with the messages associated with the conversation, rather than the messages associated with the folder. My goal is to be able to view the most recent message in the conversation in a reading pane, while maintaining the folder context, rather than switching to the conversation context.

Currently, single-clicking on a message in conversation view does nothing. This is counter-intuitive. When you single-click on an item in virtually every email client (including Zimbra, in the message view mode), you get a preview of the current message. Therefore, why not give the user this option in conversation view? I'm not asking for a change in any existing behavior. I'm just asking that a reading pane be made available, which would be consistent with the single-click behavior in the message view mode.

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If you just want the most recent messages then the alternative is 'by message', surely one of those option is what you're describing?

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The problem with viewing "By Message" is that you lose the benefit of conversation grouping. All the messages in the conversation show up in the folder view, creating a lot of clutter. I want to keep everything grouped in conversations to avoid clutter and provide easy access to previous messages in the thread. However, I still want to be able to view the most recent message in the reading pane.

The point is that most of the time you don't need to look at previous messages in a conversation. If you've been emailing back and forth with someone, you normally don't need to review the prior messages in order to reply to the most recent message. Thus, in most cases, the reading pane is the way to go. It's faster to single-click and it maintains the folder context. However, there are times when you do want to be able to view the entire conversation and if this feature request were implemented, it would leave the existing double-click behavior unchanged. Therefore, it would give you the best of both worlds!

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Originally Posted by bkonia

Currently, single-clicking on a message in conversation view does nothing.

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I think your Zimbra is not the same than mine.

I use "conversation" view.
If I double click on a conversation from the "inbox", I'm getting a screen cut in two (plus the left tree pane, obviously) : the upper of the screen is the list of the messages of the conversation, the bottom is the view of the message (what you call "reading pane" I guess).

Any single click on a message in this list will bring the message to be seen under the list (in the "view" area).

A double click on a message in the same list does nothing.

My guess is you should setup your Zimbra according to your wish : when in a conversation view, click on the drop down "View" menu that is at the very top of the left pane (next to "Mail") and check "Reading pane".

No need to use bold or be loud, just read the documentation and play with the WebUI...

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Originally Posted by Klug

I think your Zimbra is not the same than mine.

I use "conversation" view.
If I double click on a conversation from the "inbox", I'm getting a screen cut in two (plus the left tree pane, obviously) : the upper of the screen is the list of the messages of the conversation, the bottom is the view of the message (what you call "reading pane" I guess).

Any single click on a message in this list will bring the message to be seen under the list (in the "view" area).

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You're missing my point entirely. Obviously, you can double-click on a message to open the conversation, and of course it will then show all the messages within that conversation in the top pane.

My goal is to single-click on a conversation in the main window (without actually opening the entire conversation) and have Zimbra display the most recent message from that conversation in a reading pane, while maintaining the folder view in the top pane. I don't know how else I can explain this. If you re-read my prior postings, I described it very clearly!

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Originally Posted by Klug

No need to use bold or be loud, just read the documentation and play with the WebUI...

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And there's no need for you to be patronizing. I can assure you that I understand completely how Zimbra works and that this is a legitimate feature request, not something that can be resolved by "reading the documentation!"

Just to make sure... you want bug 450? Please vote for it!