Open Bug 92146 Opened 23 years ago Updated 2 years ago

[RFE] Save/open/detach/delete all attachments in multiple/many selected messages

Categories

(MailNews Core :: Attachments, enhancement)

Product:
MailNews Core
Component:
Attachments
Type:
enhancement

Tracking

(Not tracked)

People

(Reporter: m.wawoczny, Unassigned)

References

(Depends on 2 open bugs, Blocks 1 open bug,
URL
)

Details

(Keywords: ux-efficiency, Whiteboard: [UX-Papercut][STR comment 15][has ui-feedback+])

Attachments

(1 file)

UI Proposal (XUL Demo 1): Add "Attachments >" submenu to context menu of multi-msg selection
(deleted), application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml
bwinton
: feedback+
Details
Would like to see an option to save all attachments in all selected messages to specified folder. Now I can save all attachments only for one, currently viewed message.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Summary: [RFE] Save all attachments in all selected messages → [RFE] Save all attachments in all selected messages
*** Bug 110735 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
QA Contact: esther → trix
*** Bug 193571 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 141844 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 267359 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Product: Browser → Seamonkey
see TB Bug 235402
Assignee: sspitzer → mail
QA Contact: stephend
Hardware: PC → All
Assignee: mail → nobody
Component: MailNews: Main Mail Window → MailNews: Attachments
Product: Mozilla Application Suite → Core
QA Contact: attachments
Product: Core → MailNews Core
Blocks: 445472
Depends on: 341263
Updating bug summary to cover detaching and deleting, since these are essentially the same issue (the fix would be the same, anyway).
Summary: [RFE] Save all attachments in all selected messages → [RFE] Save/detach/delete all attachments in all selected messages
I'd like to add my voice for this oft requested RFE. I'd suggest that the best would be to add (Save All Attachments; Detach-All; Delete-All) to the Ctrl-Click/Right-click menu. My main need for it is to remove all attachments from a collection of sent message, these can quickly add up to a lot of disk space on a netbook style machine especially since TB keeps a copy of every attachment sent. There seems to be no other way to achieve this other than clicking through every message.
I find it amazing that we're talking about a TEN YEAR OLD ISSUE. In the interim, there is an addon that addresses this issue. Since no one has the desire to integrate or adopt the addon code, and the addon seems to address exactly what we want done, why can't we kill this off already? This issue seems to no longer be needed. And, considering it's age, it doesn't seem to be destined to get worked on. In a parlance that many would understand, this bug was created when the child was born ... and he/she are now in 5th grade. Does that make sense?
This bug looks like a great Papercuts candidate to me. We are able to handle all attachments of a single message, so we should be able do do the same while traversing a selection of multiple messages. STR 1 select multiple messages, some or all of which contain attachments 2 you want to save/detach/delete all attachments of all selected messages Actual result - not possible; user needs to clumsily repeat the same action for every single message Expected result - provide UI to allow acting efficiently on all attachments of all selected messages
(In reply to brian lehrhoff from comment #14) > I find it amazing that we're talking about a TEN YEAR OLD ISSUE. In the > interim, there is an addon that addresses this issue. Since no one has the > desire to integrate or adopt the addon code, and the addon seems to address > exactly what we want done, why can't we kill this off already? This issue > seems to no longer be needed. And, considering it's age, it doesn't seem to > be destined to get worked on. Like it or not, but as a matter of fact, the age of bugs is unfortunately somewhat irrelevant, and we shouldn't jump to conclusions from that. Looking at a constant flow of 10 duplicates up to now, I'm sure this is still needed as a useful extension of existing behaviour, low cost, high benefit. > In a parlance that many would understand, > this bug was created when the child was born ... and he/she are now in 5th > grade. Does that make sense? Well, I think we should not throw out the baby with the bath water. So let's be positive, cooperative and productive instead. Brian, can you point us to the addon URL? Does it still work for current TB17? Do you have some coding skills to try and integrate the addon code into core? Any help will be most welcome.
Here's a an interactive XUL Demo of a straightforward contextual UI for this. To view the demo in Firefox (regardless of default security limitations): - install Remote XUL Manager <https://addons.mozilla.org/en/firefox/addon/remote-xul-manager/> - and then add a permission for bugzilla.mozilla.org Blake, can we have your feedback on the proposed UI? (In reply to Thomas D. from comment #15) > This bug looks like a great Papercuts candidate to me. > We are able to handle all attachments of a single message, so we should be > able do do the same while traversing a selection of multiple messages. (In reply to Mitra Ardron from comment #13) > I'd like to add my voice for this oft requested RFE. I'd suggest that the > best would be to add (Save All Attachments; Detach-All; Delete-All) to the > Ctrl-Click/Right-click menu. +1 > My main need for it is to remove all attachments from a collection of sent > message, these can quickly add up to a lot of disk space on a netbook style > machine especially since TB keeps a copy of every attachment sent. There > seems to be no other way to achieve this other than clicking through every > message. I'm sure similar scenarios apply for a lot of corporate users, e.g. lecturers who ask their students to hand in papers via email and they want to save all of them into the same target folder in one go.
Attachment #684991 - Flags: feedback?(bwinton)
(In reply to Thomas D. from comment #17) > Created attachment 684991 [details] OT: As seen in the XUL demo's screenshot (and in line with the spirit of my comment 16), I do believe that positive action can change this world to the better, and it just takes a few clicks to make your voice heard together with Millions around the world where human rights are under threat, to stop horrific things like Uganda's planned law to introduce death penalty for homosexuality (see http://www.avaaz.org).
Keywords: ux-efficiency
Whiteboard: [STR comment 15]
I don't think a context menu entry is a very useful way to expose something like this, especially since the "main" context menu has not historically shown anything attachment related. We've already got the nice multi-message summary. Why not let users access attachments from that? This would also be faster, since gloda will have already indexed the messages.
@Thomas that UI looks exactly what I had in mind, keep it close to the existing application functionality. The extension is at http://www.akaandy.com/eviljeff.com.php?page=moz-extensions I installed it and it sort-of works, pretty complex to setup as the defaults don't work until you setup a default folder to use. Like a lot (if not most) TB extensions, its *not* maintained, as it says on the page, and it breaks a lot - its internal method doesn't handle all the ways that attachments get stuck in messages (ones TB handles fine) which means it breaks when you give it a big block of messages to clear - and it can't use TB's "detach" method. @Jim - I'm not sure how you are suggesting it would work in the Mutli-message summary, remember the goal is to access all the attachments at the same time, for example I just deleted (or tried to) 1700 attachments from an Archive folder, something that is prohibitive if you have to do it one at a time.
It would be pretty easy to add a "Save All" toolbar button to the multi-message summary that works like the one in the single-message view.
I'ld just like to say at this point that I totally hate remote XUL mockups. :P I _really_ don't want to have to install an extension to review someone's attachment.
Comment on attachment 684991 [details] UI Proposal (XUL Demo 1): Add "Attachments >" submenu to context menu of multi-msg selection I think having the extra button on the multi-message pane is a good idea, but we can also add the items to the context menu, for people who prefer that (or have overridden their multi-message pane for some reason). Thanks, Blake.
Attachment #684991 - Flags: feedback?(bwinton) → feedback+
(In reply to Blake Winton (:bwinton) from comment #23) > I think having the extra button on the multi-message pane is a good idea, > but we can also add the items to the context menu, for people who prefer > that (or have overridden their multi-message pane for some reason). If we're going to do this in a menu, we should probably use the already-existing AppMenu > Attachments or File > Attachments. Adding this to the context menu would be inconsistent with the single-message context menu, and the single-message context menu is already unnecessarily long.
(In reply to Blake Winton (:bwinton) from comment #23) > Comment on attachment 684991 [details] > UI Proposal (XUL Demo 1): Add "Attachments >" submenu to context menu of > multi-msg selection > > I think having the extra button on the multi-message pane is a good idea, > but we can also add the items to the context menu, for people who prefer > that (or have overridden their multi-message pane for some reason). ...or they might even not have their message preview pane shown at all as we ship with functionality to just switch that off (F8)! +1 & thanks :) Take note of Blake's rapid learning curve in handling live XUL demos :) (In reply to Jim Porter (:squib) from comment #24) > If we're going to do this in a menu, we should probably use the > already-existing AppMenu > Attachments or File > Attachments. Yes, we should definitely add the requested functionality to those menus mentioned by Jim, probably in the same way I suggested in attachment 684991 [details] for the contextual "Attachments >" submenu: - do not list individual attachments (not useful for a potentially unlimited number of attachments of many selected messages) - just list Open/save/detach/delete-ALL commands (I'd recommend to include "Open-all" as we have done for single messages) (In reply to Jim Porter (:squib) from comment #19) > I don't think a context menu entry is a very useful way to expose something > like this, especially since the "main" context menu has not historically > shown anything attachment related. 1) I really don't see the problem of adding "Attachments >" menu to the multi-message context menu; on the contrary, i think it's a perfect fit. Context menus provide a shortcut to actions that are relevant in the context of the current selection. Actions on All-attachments of all selected messages obviously fall into that category and I cannot see any application-logical difference say between "Add Star to all selected messages" and "Save attachments of all selected messages". 2) On the contrary, I'd expect "Save all attachments" to be a more frequent contextual use case once we offer that functionality. 3) Add to that Blake's caution that the multi-message preview might have been hijacked for other purposes (or even entirely hidden), which is another sound argument in favor of including the contextual menu. 4) Furthermore, adding ux-efficiency for 3 or 4 obviously relevant commands at the cost of a single submenu sounds like a good cost-benefit ratio to me. (In reply to Jim Porter (:squib) from comment #24) > Adding this to the [multi-message] context menu would be inconsistent with the > single-message context menu, and the single-message context menu is alread > unnecessarily long. With regards to ux-consistency between multi-message and single-message context menus, I don't think that's a strong argument against having the /multi-message/ "Attachments >" context menu, but there's an easy cure: To be ux-consistent, we can just add "Attachments >" context menu for both multi-message *and* single-message selections. Think about it, and realize that having this also on the *single-message* context menu might actually add value (e.g. for users without preview) at virtually no cost. - Length of a context menu not necessarily predicates complexity: The single-msg context menu is long, but it's well structured with separators so e.g. you won't have to parse all 3 open commands to realize that this is the wrong corner of the menu if you're looking for attachments. - The fact that the current single-msg context menu is in a non-reduced state is not a good argument against adding a single, useful & reduced contextual command. If the current menu is too long, then we should make it shorter, and candidates are plenty: - 3 open commands -> combine into dualmenu - 3 reply commands -> combine into dualmenu - 2 print commands -> combine into dualmenu That's a net reduction of 5 entries on the context menu (and we even have somebody who knows how do this, as seen ini :Paenglab's new AppMenu). No problem then with adding a single, clearly-defined menu for "Attachments >".
And before I hear any nonsense of "duplicating" functionality in context menus that is already there, let me hasten to add that it's the very nature of *any* context menu to duplicate functionality nearest to the context where it's needed, to maximise UX-efficiency in a universal, uniform, and intuitive way (rather than having to search around my screen for the right button somewhere down in the preview).
+1 on Thonas's comment - that's what Context menus are for - for things to do to the currently selected object(s). And it makes a lot of sense to do it for individual selections as well as multiple. Also +1 on using it as an opportunity to collapse those other commands - though I'd be careful of gating this on getting agreement to make that change. Just add the Attachments as a dual-menu and propose changing the others.
Summary: [RFE] Save/detach/delete all attachments in all selected messages → [RFE] Save/detach/delete all attachments in multiple/many selected messages
(In reply to Jim Porter (:squib) from comment #21) > It would be pretty easy to add a "Save All" toolbar button to the > multi-message summary that works like the one in the single-message view. FTR: I am not against having such a button in the multi-message summary, but I definitely want the context menu (too), and given the wrong design of the (multi-)message header toolbars and Bug 523544, I'm not sure how easy it will be to get the design right with another big button. Otoh, I'm quite sure that just adding the context menus should be simple as presented in my attachment 684991 [details]. Jim, it would be interesting to know where exactly in multi-message summary you'd like to put the new button: a) in the current multi-msg *header toolbar*? b) in a separate attachment bar (like single-message attachment bar) *below the header area* of multi-message summary? c) in a separate attachment bar (like single-message attachment bar) at the *bottom* of multi-message summary? Ad a) Add button to current multi-msg header toolbar * if dual button (like the current "Save All" button on attachment pane header), button caption must be [Save All *Attachments*] v] because just [Save all] is ambiguous for multi-msg selections whether it refers to the selected messages or their attachments. So we're talking about a big button (and even bigger for other languages like German: [Alle Anhänge Speichern]. Perhaps we could shorten that to [Save Attachments] but it's still a big button. * if single dropdown button, we could have [Attachments v] but it's less comfortable than the dual button * there are two multi-message summary scenarios: a.1) select messages from same thread -> summary header shows thread subject * current design is wrong for long thread subjects, watch the useless gap under the Archive and Delete buttons, which will be worse if we add another big button there, and break entirely when we do bug 523544. a.2) select messages from different threads -> summary header shows "3 conversations" * current wrong design is less noticeable because there is more horizontal space for extra buttons Ad b) Add attachment bar underneath multi-msg summary header - imo that's the least preferable solution, I think it would look odd Ad c) Add attachment bar at the bottom of multi-msg summary + ux-consistent with attachment bar in single-msg preview (so we could show details like "20 attachments (12 MB)" as in the current attachment bar) - less vertical space for multi-msg summary -> imo worth a try It would be cool if somebody (Jim?) could present a mockup of how these variants would look, so that we can figure out the UI to move this forward. Comments welcome.
Flags: needinfo?(squibblyflabbetydoo)
(In reply to Thomas D. from comment #29) > (In reply to Jim Porter (:squib) from comment #21) > > It would be pretty easy to add a "Save All" toolbar button to the > > multi-message summary that works like the one in the single-message view. > Ad a) Add button to current multi-msg header toolbar > * there are two multi-message summary scenarios: > a.1) select messages from same thread > -> summary header shows thread subject > * current design is wrong for long thread subjects, watch the useless > gap > under the Archive and Delete buttons, which will be worse if we add > another big button there, and break entirely when we do bug 523544. Scrap that part about the broken design (gap under the buttons), it's odd but it actually *does* start to scale correctly when you have a subject with 3 long lines or more. Which makes a) an acceptable / easy candidate but I'd still like to see how it looks, with an eye on bug 523544.
I was thinking we could just use the attachment pane like the single message view. That has the benefit of letting people easily select many (but not all) of the attachments to do something with them.
Flags: needinfo?(squibblyflabbetydoo)
As I suspected, all the talk about where else to put the interface (other than on a context-menu/right-click) seems to have stalled progress. Since everyone seems to think it belongs at least in the context-menu could we at least have it implemented there.
Summary: [RFE] Save/detach/delete all attachments in multiple/many selected messages → [RFE] Save/Open/detach/delete all attachments in multiple/many selected messages
The save button appears on the bottom right corner of the screen when one message with attachments is selected. Why does it disappear when additional messages are selected? (It should not if the interface is to be intuitive) Nevertheless, one could eventually find it if it were on a context menu and it's not even there. This is becoming more of an issue recently as people with iPads send one photo per message and to individually open each message to save its attachments seems to be as much an unnecessary chore in FireFox as it is for those iPad users to send heaps of photos as separate messages because they have a bad interface. (yes, we can still beat Apple to a more intuitive and convenient interface on this issue!)
Is anyone working on this delete-attachments from multiple messages, or was the perfect the enemy of the good-enough ?
(In reply to Mitra Ardron from comment #34) > Is anyone working on this delete-attachments from multiple messages, or was > the perfect the enemy of the good-enough ? What happened is that no one who's both 1) a developer, and 2) has time to work on this have actually posted in the bug. The only people in these comments that are developers (from what I can tell) are me and bwinton. However, bwinton generally handles UI design and reviews for Thunderbird, and not so much on actual development. As for myself, I'm far too busy with other projects to work on this, and to be frank, if I had time for working on Thunderbird patches, there's a long line of bugs I'd rather spend my time on.
(In reply to Mitra Ardron from comment #34) > Is anyone working on this delete-attachments from multiple messages, or was > the perfect the enemy of the good-enough ? As I said in Comment 15, I'd think that for this bug, we might get away with "just" traversing through *multiple* selected messages and then possibly call the same action-all functions (or slightly tweaked versions) that are now used for *single* selected messages when action-all is triggered from context menu. So I think the next step for this bug is to find and understand existing code for save/open/detach/delete-all from msg context menu, including how identification of the selected msg works. So even if you are not a coder as such, but perhaps you're able to read code somewhat, you can contribute by adding references to the current code on mxr (2) as a starting point. To find the code, use DOM Inspector Addon (1) as described in Bug 507103 Comment 8, or search directly in code mirror on mxr (2), as described in Bug 507103 Comment 10. Alternatively, try to understand how the addon "Attachment Extractor" (3a or 3b) mentioned in comment 20 works codewise and take it from there. Perhaps we could get the addon author on board here on this bug if somebody invites him. Start by adding the addon's installation file (.xpi) as an attachment to this bug, so it's easier for potential developers to find and dissect it. In other words: prepare the ground for this bug and do as much as you can do yourself to move it forward. Thunderbird is now officially "maintained by the community" after Mozilla largely withdrew - so it's us or no one (4a and 4b): (Cited from https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi) > Thunderbird: > Email client originally developed by the Mozilla Foundation and now maintained > by its community. (1) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/dom-inspector-6622/ (2) http://mxr.mozilla.org/comm-central/ (3a) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/attachmentextractor/ (3b) http://www.akaandy.com/eviljeff.com.php?page=moz-extensions (4a) https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/New_Release_and_Governance_Model (4b) https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi
20 users cc'ed on this bug, but only 8 votes - did you forget to vote for this bug? 11 duplicates currently, registered in a steady flow between 2001 and now. 35,926 addon users as of today for AttachmentExtractor Addon (1), that's pretty popular and confirming this as a ux-papercut candidate. (1) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/attachmentextractor/
Things everybody can do to support this RFE: Head over to https://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/ and search for reports that request this functionality (or make a report if there isn't one). Find people who vote for this on getsatisfaction. If you find some, tag them with "bug 92146". Thereafter, they can be tracked from the URL field of this bug.
URL: http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_me...
Whiteboard: [STR comment 15] → [patchlove][UX-Papercut?][STR comment 15][has ui-feedback+]
I have arrive here for the same reason than one of the first posters 17 years ago : I want to get rid of all of the attachments in my sent folder, but retaining my emails. the "AttachmentExtractor" Addon is meanwhile dead, so I guess this would be a reason to review this issue ? Cheers Oliver
This RFE is an important an usefull enhancement for the next Thunderbird release. The not yet defined WebExtension APIs for Thunderbird make it likely that the addon "AttachmentExtractor" will not be adapted.
Thunderbird is growing and growing on my hard disc with all the attachments over the years. Such a function like AttachmentExtractor is very important for the use of Thunderbird in a little company like mine.
Since 2011 I use the possibility with the "AttachmentExtractor" Mail attachments from all mails in different folders to separate and delete. Now I've upgraded Thunderbird to version 60 and it's not working anymore. In the basic functions of Thunderbird, I would like to ask for the possibility that attachments from all emails in a mailbox folder be separated into a defined folder on the PC or network. Sorry for my english, I rarely use it.
Please add this functionality to Thunderbird. Since AttachmentExtractor is no longer functioning managing attachments has become a struggle.
Please add this functionality to Thunderbird. Since AttachmentExtractor is no longer functioning managing attachments has become a real problem. Such a function like AttachmentExtractor is very important!!!
Echoing pleas from AttachmentExtractor users. I would love to have that functionality back. I used it on a daily basis at work, and now I'm struggling to find anything remotely workable. Being able to detach flocks of files into a directory is really really helpful!!
I would appreciate this feature, too!
Adding this feature in Thunderbird would help all the people using Attachment Extractor und would make this feature available for all users in thunderbird. We and many others are working with many attachments and handling them is much effort, thunderbird could help with this effort by adding this feature.
AGREE: Adding this feature in Thunderbird would help all the people using Attachment Extractor und would make this feature available for all users in thunderbird. We and many others are working with many attachments and handling them is much effort, thunderbird could help with this effort by adding this feature.
+1 to have this feature added.
The management of attachments in Thunderbird is a real problem. I get very often with messages sent back and forth and local copies made the same file over and over again in my thunderbird - messages folder, and there is no easy way to get rid of them without the AttachmentExtractor add-on. Also one one should have the choise for local copies to not save the attachment but only the directory. Thanks in advance for considering this improvement
I only can agree with all of you, since the only way (a plugin) doesnt work anymore, this feature is crucial for us to work with TB. Please consider this as integral part of TB.
If this is helpful to others struggling with the loss of AttachmentExtractor, I have been able to get at least part of what I need to use on a daily basis from the ImportExportTools addon. I wrote to the author and explained how close that is to the AttachmentExtractor functionality so here's hoping they will respond by adding an attachment stripper!!
I would like to get back the AttachmentExtractor add-on (or something like). I receive lots of attachments und must becare of, my disc-space will become lower. It was very helful for me, to extract those attachments to separate folders outside TB.
I desperatly need this functionality, too. "AttachmentExtractor" no longer working and I can't find a similar AddOn. - Oliver
I desperatly need this functionality, too. Like the guys above, AttachmentExtractor was my way to do the job. No longer in business. No Plan B.
How the bloody hell is a developer supposed to get any work done with you lot prattling on multiple times a day? If you have nothing to add to the resolution of a bug report, then be quiet!
@Ken Sharp, you're right, people should wait another 18(!) years in hopes this'll get picked up by someone in the development team. It's obvious by the age of this issue, that it hasn't gotten any priority at all. And what with the add-on system having been overhauled, thereby eliminating functionality that's quite apparently important enough for people to createa a bugzilla account for, it has become a lot more important. So yes, while bugzilla's comment functionality isn't meant for these type of comments, it's not that hard to understand people are voicing their hope for a solution for this here, now. This issue needs some attention and the comments make that clear.
sorry - my english is bad. I live in Germany. The computer translates for me. I have been redirected to this page to describe my problem. That ADD-ON helped me for years in my work. Now my system is slowing down because the TB data seems to be getting bigger and bigger. Is there really no substitute or is there a better solution? Is it the wrong way - to write here?
Ken Sharp: if no one shows interest feature will be ignored. This issue has been around for 18 years, but now is desperately needed due to newer versions of Thunderbird not admiting old plugins.
Since the changes in TB60, the AddOn Attachment Extractor has stopped working. Unfortunately, the AddOn has not been developed since 2011.
This feature ist missing (because of the now incompatible Add-on) for a lot of people in german support forums.
With the end of Attachment Extractor, this 18 year old theme becomes really urgent for a lot of people
With the end of Attachment Extractor, this 18 year old theme becomes really urgent for a lot of people. For an spec look to the functionality of the Attachment Extractor Addon. Especially the option to extract the attachments while receiving the mail is of interest for me ...
I've created a follow-up add-on, which is still work in progress. Most functions are now working again in Thunderbird 60.*. https://addons.thunderbird.net/de/thunderbird/addon/attachmentextractor-continued/ The add-on offers (too many) options from which I may have to remove a few in the future (including the "internal routines" for detaching, which were not working since Tb 52.* or prior for me and not working again at the moment).
Really important! I need this function very much in order to delete the attachments of all my sent emails from time to time. Very important in order to prevent the profile from being bloated. I used to use the addon Attachment Extractor for this, but unfortunately it does not work with the latest version of Thunderbird.

As @Oliver said at top in a post (40):

"I want to get rid of all of the attachments in my sent folder, but retaining my emails."
Went to a forum and asked how to remove all the attachments from Thunderbird as i had this installed for lot of years and it did accumulate about 60 Gb+ of data and they recommended this:
"Sort the messages by size (View->Sort by->Size or, if it is displayed, click on the "Size" column header in the message list pane.)
View the massage and right click on the attachment indicator at the bottom left of the message (in the attachment pane) and select "Detach" or "Detach all"."
But when i try to do it, i very much have to go one by one, to detach them! so i asked if i can do in bulk all at once for that specific email account ,so they recommended this addon: " AttachmentExtractor Continued" but looks that is not working with v60.4.0!
So will be nice if a option could be integrated to have to choose in bulk for "Detach all" option.

Thank you and appreciated if this can be done and kindly soon!

Regards,
P.

(In reply to Alex Ihrig from comment #65)

I've created a follow-up add-on, which is still work in progress. Most
functions are now working again in Thunderbird 60.*.

https://addons.thunderbird.net/de/thunderbird/addon/attachmentextractor-
continued/

The add-on offers (too many) options from which I may have to remove a few
in the future (including the "internal routines" for detaching, which were
not working since Tb 52.* or prior for me and not working again at the
moment).

Dear Alex,
many thanks for your effort to reinstall the Attachment Extractor Addon. Once (before to install Thunderbird 6.0) I only used it to eliminate all the attachments from mails (the last option in the sub-menu of AE), not using at all the other 5 options.
Unfortunately the new addon seems to not work properly. I start the process (a little bit longer than before but never mind) clicking on the last option "Elimina allegati da tutti i messaggi nella cartella" (I use the Italian version) and at the end nothing happens and all the attachments are still available in all the mails.
I'm not an expert so maybe I was wrong to apply the procedure. Have you any hints for me?
Best wishes
Andrea

please please please

Hello Alex
Thank you very much for continuing to work on the Extractor. Unfortunately I am of the opinion that the disconnection does not work properly.
On the one hand, the comments are running and the attachments will be copied to the folder I specified - BUT they will not be deleted in TB.
In the Explorer, I see that the size of the email folder does NOT change.
I have WIN10 and TB 60.5.0 (32bit).
What am I doing wrong maybe. It looks right from the process.
Many thanks for helping
from Balderich

I still have no chance to use the "detach all files" of the new AttachmentExtractor Continued. It doesn't work on my laptop. I'm using the Italian version of Thunderbird (60.5.3 (32 bit)). Could be this the reason for this malfunction?
Does anyone have any suggestions?
All the best
Andrea

BugZilla should not be used for your support requests related to the add-on.

Post your support request in my forum, please:
https://www.thunderbird-mail.de/forum/board/83-attachmentextractor-continued/

I was using the add-on FiltaQuilla to detach ALL for multiple messages at one time. But that add-on has become incompatible with release 78 and appears the developer is no longer available to update it.

If this multiple message Attachment functionality it could be part of Thunderbird's basic functionality that would be great.

However, even with FiltaQuilla add-on, if there were very large attachments on a particular message (e.g. >1MB), you could only do a few messages at a time or it would crash. So there may need to be size limits for the detach functionality to work on multiple messages but I was able to accept that.

It seems both FiltaQuilla and AttachmentExtractorContinued have been rendered inoperative by the latest updates. It would be very useful to have this feature in the main program, as it is very useful if you have a strict storage quota to deal with.

This feature request is now 20 years old and still desperately needed.

I agree, it is not even understandable it is not implemented yet since it should be a small working effort

Adding my name to the list for this feature request, I've been avoiding upgrading from 68 to 78 solely because I don't want to lose this function.

I completely agree. With the mass of emails today, all in text as well as HTML, often with attachments, storage management is important, being able to clean in a secure way, too. And in my opinion, working with attachments concerns security and confidentiality and should therefore be integrated into the main program.
My main use for AttachmentExtractor actually comes from a TB missing option : copy-selfs are always saved with the attachment, where it could be largely sufficient to save the copy-self with a link to the attached file. As TB does not provide such an option, I need regularly to remove all attachments from my copy-selfs. And doing this one by one is rapidly becoming tedious.
I hope that this bug will go up again in the todo lists
Thanks in advance to the programmers for considering this

concerning attachments in emails copied to the copy self folder if have created the bug 1680201

I think this would all get handled through bug 292067.

Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 4 years ago
Resolution: --- → DUPLICATE

(In reply to Magnus Melin [:mkmelin] from comment #81)

I think this would all get handled through bug 292067.

Thanks for triaging this issue. However, I believe this merge of bug reports would also require changing the title of bug 292067. Indeed, it's now "Allow creation of a filter to detach attachment upon mail receipt/send", which implies an automatic action, whereas this bug, with all the comments around extensions like AttachmentExtractor is about a manual action, typically from a context menu rather than the filter dialog.

When you set up a filter you can select if it should be run manually or automatically.

(In reply to Magnus Melin [:mkmelin] from comment #81)

I think this would all get handled through bug 292067.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 292067 ***

[:mkmelin] it's actually a little upsetting to see someone casually close a 20 year old bug with a quick "I think this other bug report will resolve it". No, it won't. While having the option to automatically have TB detach attachments using a filter, this bug is about being able to detach attachments manually, with the option to do it in bulk (selecting more than 1 message, or entire folders) to clean up your inbox every so often.

It is not a duplicate of bug 292067. If anything that one is a duplicate (enhancement, really) of this bug.

Please unmark as duplicate and reopen this bug.

After hitting submit, I realize I forgot to add the important part, the rebuttal of using filters:

It makes it impossible to simply select a single message or a few, or many to perform actions on. Filters are great, but manual selection is sometimes better.

It's not casually closing it: Filters can act exactly like you want, and you can very well use the menu to run a filter on selected messages (we have a menu item for that!), or a folder - so it's all covered. With filters everyone can set it up exactly to fit their needs.

(In reply to Magnus Melin [:mkmelin] from comment #86)

It's not casually closing it: Filters can act exactly like you want, and you can very well use the menu to run a filter on selected messages (we have a menu item for that!), or a folder - so it's all covered. With filters everyone can set it up exactly to fit their needs.

In that case, I guess I'm out of the loop on filters. I apologize for my frustrated message. I have been following this bug for ages, juggling TB versions and extensions that work with it, it's a minor thing that's been a returning source of annoyance. Hope you understand.

notabene : well, you can apply filters to selected messages or to a entire folder, have a look in the tools menu.
What's perhaps missing is to be able to do this with a keyboard shortcut. And there we go into another add-on which is not functional anymore ;-)

Wow, this bug has been closed peremptorily without a solution. That's a slap in the face of 20 years of thoughtful user requests.
Stripping attachments on mail receipt/send is not the same thing as stripping attachments in place from selected messages.

This isn't over. Duplicates will rise again. This functionality is needed, and the previous existence of add-ons proves that there's no reason it can't exist. Why do you hate Thunderbird users?

Sorry went off too soon, don't understand why I cannot edit this comment. I would very much like to change the wording.
That said, I still don't feel that the referenced bug is a duplicate - its most recent summary does not contain the functionality I need, which is to delete (not detach) attachments in multiple (not specified) selected (not received or forwarded) messages.

I want also chime in and voice my concern of closing this issue like this. Especially if you onboard new user or also from the perspective of "discoverability" the proposed workaround with the filters dont fit well.

Filters can run on selected messages (Tools | Run filters on selected messages)
Once we have filter actions to handle delete/detach, the feature would exist. After that we could think about possible targeted UI improvements to make it more easy to use or discoverable, but keeping both bugs open doesn't help with that: such changes would need their own discussions about details.

I don't like the implication that I and other users are specifically demanding that the detach all filter action must be capable of automatic application upon receipt or send.
I would be happy if the functionality "detach all" was added as filter action even if it was only capable of manual application.

There's no implication of anything. On the implementation level it should be quite the same.

I believe the main purpose of this RFE since its inception 22 years ago has been to keep track of the idea of a much-wanted UX improvement, mass-acting on all attachments of multiple selected messages (save/open/detach/delete).

There has been significant user interest in this ux-efficiency feature set, which would obviously make many repetitive attachment-related workflows much easier and faster.

  • This bug currently has 13 duplicates, 96 comments, and 44 users CC'ed.
  • The original Attachment Extractor addon had 36.000 users (per my comment 37) before it was discontinued due to webextension compatibility issues (see comment 41 by Alexander Ihrig, one of the two original authors of the add-on).
  • Alexander Ihrig then published Attachment Extractor continued, which only works up to TB 78.* (3741 users as of today).
  • Somebody else published a new add-on also called Attachment Extractor, which works with current Thunderbird (914 users as of today).
  • There's another add-on called Attachment Saver, which saves all attachments of multiple selected messages into a zip file (456 users as of today).

It's fair to say that bug 292067 may help much towards the technical implementation of this feature set. However, bug 292067 does not cover the UX side of this at all, and - per its current title "Allow creation of a filter to detach attachment upon mail receipt/send" - is also much more limited in scope, because it only covers detach action. So this bug 92146 may depend on bug 292067, but if only for all the UX discussion and loads of genuine user support which we want to respect and preserve here, we shouldn't just tuck this away as a duplicate of an implementation-centered subset bug.

I appreciate that this bug 92146 is historically grown and hence untidy/bulky, but keeping this open as a placeholder for the requested feature set isn't prejudicial to making a clean start in another bug if we want to get serious about exploring our UX and implementation options for this feature set. Also in terms of bug management, this bug is helpful to avoid more duplicates and collect incoming duplicates as well as occasional pings from users who are still hoping and waiting for this powerful feature.

No longer blocks: 445472
Severity: normal → --
Status: RESOLVED → REOPENED
Depends on: 292067
No longer depends on: 341263
No longer duplicate of bug: 292067
Resolution: DUPLICATE → ---
Summary: [RFE] Save/Open/detach/delete all attachments in multiple/many selected messages → [RFE] Save/open/detach/delete all attachments in multiple/many selected messages
Whiteboard: [patchlove][UX-Papercut?][STR comment 15][has ui-feedback+] → [UX-Papercut][STR comment 15][has ui-feedback+]
Version: Trunk → unspecified
Status: REOPENED → NEW
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