Thinking about using the Drafts folder instead of Notepad

Prognathous · 1 Jan 2005, 01:49 AM

I am a *heavy* user of the Notepad feature (first to break 100 notes), but I've reached the point where navigating between so many notes and actually finding data has become very difficult. The best alternative I can think of (within Fastmail) is to use the Drafts folder.

Possible pros:
* Accessible both from the web interface and from email clients
* Saved data is searchable
* Supports Rich Text (HTML)
* Supports spell checking
* Possible to attach files
* Stores last editing date/time as well as size
* Easy sorting and filtering

Possible cons:
* Notes can't be used as Quick Note
* Clutters Drafts folder

Am I missing something? Is the Drafts folder really a better solution for storing and editing bits of text?

Prog.

1 Jan 2005, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Prognathous
* Clutters Drafts folder

You could store them in a different folder

Quote:

Originally posted by Prognathous
* Notes can't be used as Quick Note

But templates can be used instead (not a complete replacement, of course).

Prognathous · 1 Jan 2005, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Daniel S
You could store them in a different folder

I'll be happy to know how. To the best of my knowledge, the Save Draft button only saves to the Drafts folder.

Prog.

1 Jan 2005, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Prognathous
I'll be happy to know how. To the best of my knowledge, the Save Draft button only saves to the Drafts folder.

It appears that saving a draft on the Web interface moves it back to the Drafts folder

- I didn't think to check this...

So I guess my suggestion only works well with notes you don't frequently edit - but those you could simply email yourself...

Perhaps a categorization system for notes (labels, folders, etc.) is necessary?

Prognathous · 9 Jan 2005, 03:35 PM

I just discovered that sub-folders in Drafts have the same behavior (clicking a message opens it for editing, clicking Send removes the draft/note from the folder).

The upside of this is that I can now differentiate between real drafts and notes. The only thing missing is a "Save as Note" button.

Prog.

ewal · 9 Jan 2005, 05:04 PM

When I save a "note" in drafts (obviously via the compose function initially) and that note has a fully formed url then the draft does not expand the url into a clickable link.

The only way I can get links to be clickable is by sending myself the draft email (partly defeating the object of the exercise).

Prog or Daniel, do you guys get different behaviour? If not, any ideas on creating clickable links without actually sending the draft email?

Thanks
Edward

Prognathous · 9 Jan 2005, 06:00 PM

Plain-text drafts behave just like regular notes - links are not clickable.

For HTML-based drafts, you can either Ctrl+click the link (in Mozilla or Firefox), or right-click it and choose Check Link.

Prog.

10 Jan 2005, 01:13 AM

There's a Firefox extension that opens highlighted text as a URL in a new tab/window (so one can highlight this 'http://www.example.org' and open it in a new window even though it's not a link) - I found it on the Extensions section of mozilla.org's Firefox page.

neilj · 10 Jan 2005, 06:11 AM

In Firefox you could also just select the text then drag it to the URL bar at the top of your browser (no extension required).

bitequator · 10 Jan 2005, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Prognathous
I just discovered that sub-folders in Drafts have the same behavior (clicking a message opens it for editing, clicking Send removes the draft/note from the folder).

I thought this has more to do with setting the \Draft IMAP flag. Any message with that flag will be opened in compose mode in the webmail regardless of which folder it's in (and removed after sending)...

10 Jan 2005, 11:12 PM

Neil: Thanks for the info

Quote:

Originally posted by bitequator
I thought this has more to do with setting the \Draft IMAP flag. Any message with that flag will be opened in compose mode in the webmail regardless of which folder it's in (and removed after sending)...

Correct - non-drafts aren't made editable by moving them to the Drafts folder (since the \Draft flag isn't changed when a message is moved to a different folder), and drafts moved to other folders are editable (for the same reason). However, in the Web interface, re-saving an existing draft moves it to the Drafts folder (I assume that's because it's implemented as "Write new version of this draft to Drafts folder, Delete previous version" (instead of "Write ... to this folder"...which shouldn't be harder to implement?)).

bitequator · 11 Jan 2005, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Daniel S
However, in the Web interface, re-saving an existing draft moves it to the Drafts folder

I see thanks.

I just tested and it seems that custom subfolders under Drafts (except Templates) are no different in this behavior? That is, re-saving draft messages in the webmail still moves them to the main Drafts folder (as you said), even if the original message was in a subfolder under Drafts. So Drafts subfolders aren't really treated uniquely I don't think...

P.S. I haven't tested, but I wonder if Thunderbird 1.0 has fixed the bug with not setting the \Draft flag for a saved compose message?

11 Jan 2005, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bitequator
P.S. I haven't tested, but I wonder if Thunderbird 1.0 has fixed the bug with not setting the \Draft flag for a saved compose message?

No

1 Jan 2005, 01:49 AM	#1
Prognathous Master of the @ Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Israel Posts: 1,060	Thinking about using the Drafts folder instead of Notepad I am a heavy user of the Notepad feature (first to break 100 notes), but I've reached the point where navigating between so many notes and actually finding data has become very difficult. The best alternative I can think of (within Fastmail) is to use the Drafts folder. Possible pros: * Accessible both from the web interface and from email clients * Saved data is searchable * Supports Rich Text (HTML) * Supports spell checking * Possible to attach files * Stores last editing date/time as well as size * Easy sorting and filtering Possible cons: * Notes can't be used as Quick Note * Clutters Drafts folder Am I missing something? Is the Drafts folder really a better solution for storing and editing bits of text? Prog.

9 Jan 2005, 03:35 PM	#5
Prognathous Master of the @ Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Israel Posts: 1,060	I just discovered that sub-folders in Drafts have the same behavior (clicking a message opens it for editing, clicking Send removes the draft/note from the folder). The upside of this is that I can now differentiate between real drafts and notes. The only thing missing is a "Save as Note" button. Prog.

9 Jan 2005, 05:04 PM	#6
ewal Master of the @ Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: West Sussex, UK Posts: 1,334	When I save a "note" in drafts (obviously via the compose function initially) and that note has a fully formed url then the draft does not expand the url into a clickable link. The only way I can get links to be clickable is by sending myself the draft email (partly defeating the object of the exercise). Prog or Daniel, do you guys get different behaviour? If not, any ideas on creating clickable links without actually sending the draft email? Thanks Edward

9 Jan 2005, 06:00 PM	#7
Prognathous Master of the @ Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Israel Posts: 1,060	Plain-text drafts behave just like regular notes - links are not clickable. For HTML-based drafts, you can either Ctrl+click the link (in Mozilla or Firefox), or right-click it and choose Check Link. Prog.

10 Jan 2005, 01:13 AM	#8
Guest Posts: n/a	There's a Firefox extension that opens highlighted text as a URL in a new tab/window (so one can highlight this 'http://www.example.org' and open it in a new window even though it's not a link) - I found it on the Extensions section of mozilla.org's Firefox page.

10 Jan 2005, 06:11 AM	#9
neilj Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Melbourne Posts: 971 Representative of: Fastmail.fm	In Firefox you could also just select the text then drag it to the URL bar at the top of your browser (no extension required).