Automatic BCC

rjlov · 8th May 2006, 01:51 PM

On the beta server at the moment you can configure your Personalities with a BCC Address. To do this, go to the Options screen, and click on Personalities.

Any message you send using that personality will also be BCCed to the specified address when you send, in addition to any BCC addresses you specify when composing the message.

If this sounds useful to you, please try it by logging in using www.fastmail.fm/beta and and let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Richard.

Aimlink · 8th May 2006, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rjlov
On the beta server at the moment you can configure your Personalities with a BCC Address. To do this, go to the Options screen, and click on Personalities.

Any message you send using that personality will also be BCCed to the specified address when you send, in addition to any BCC addresses you specify when composing the message.

If this sounds useful to you, please try it by logging in using www.fastmail.fm/beta and and let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Richard.

Sounds interesting, though I'm personally not interested in this. I used to use a related feature though, i.e., being able to link personalities with particular addresses or address book groups. In this way, particular personalities were automatically used when sending messages to particular addresses or to particular addresses listed in an address book group.

Fenman · 8th May 2006, 02:09 PM

I'm delighted to have that function. Thank you very much.

For me it woud give slightly greater flexibilty if the automatic Bcc were to appear in the Bcc field of the compose screen. That way one could easily delete it for the occasional exceptional case.

It's a great help as it is, though.

Edward Velo · 8th May 2006, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Fenman
I'm delighted to have that function. Thank you very much.

For me it woud give slightly greater flexibilty if the automatic Bcc were to appear in the Bcc field of the compose screen. That way one could easily delete it for the occasional exceptional case.

It's a great help as it is, though.

I am also in favour of a very noticeable visual way, when this auto-bcc function is active. Since I personally will not be using that function, I would definitely like to see it clearly stated when for instance someone has hacked into my account, and has set it up to forward all my personal mails to some hotmail account...

Fenman · 8th May 2006, 06:08 PM

I don't want to sound greedy but if I use auto Bcc it is usually to two addresses or none. Unless there is a format that I'm unaware of this beta allows only one.

Any chance of a second, please?

adam15c · 8th May 2006, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Fenman
I'm delighted to have that function. Thank you very much.

For me it woud give slightly greater flexibilty if the automatic Bcc were to appear in the Bcc field of the compose screen. That way one could easily delete it for the occasional exceptional case.

It's a great help as it is, though.

I agree. I do use auto Bcc with TB and IMO a visual clue is necessary when composing.

rjlov · 9th May 2006, 09:30 AM

Hi everyone. It's actually pretty hard to show the personality BCC addresses while composing, purely because of the user interface. "Personality" is just a drop down list that you can change without requiring a server round-trip.

We could add some kind of javascript to submit the form when you change personalities. That seems a bit ugly though. Or we could rely on some JS to update the BCC field itself, but then things don't work properly if JS is not enabled, because when the form is finally submitted, we can't tell if the BCC has been modified by hand.

Any suggestions?

Maybe it's sufficient just to have some kind of flag character in the personality list which shows if there are any BCC addresses associated with it. When you actually send the message it shows you the addresses that were used, but it's too late at that stage, of course.

Richard.

Fenman · 9th May 2006, 09:11 PM

Oh, dear, Richard! I'm sorry that the request turns out to be complicated.

If it were me, I'd say the 'ugly' solutions are not worth it. I've worked round it in that for one of my Bccs the worst risk is a bit of clutter. I'm happy to have that one fully automatic and unseen.

The other one has a small risk of confidentiaility about 1 time in 100. I've set that up on Quicklist so I have to take a positive action to use it.

That's good enough for me but I'm sure it won't be for all. Thanks for your efforts.

rjlov · 9th May 2006, 10:46 PM

We've decided to leave things as they are for now. I've made it so that you can specify multiple BCC address in a personality, rather than just one.

If you're unsure about the BCC of a personality, when composing a message you can switch to 'custom From' mode, by clicking on the "Change" button next to the personality drop down. This will copy the BCCs from the selected personality into the BCC field, in the same way that Signature and Sent Items currently work.

Also, after you send, the BCC addresses are displayed, which should reduce the risk of someone setting themselves up to get copies of all your mail without you noticing.

Unless some additional problems raise their heads, we'll just stick with the current situation for now.

Cheers,
Richard.

lane · 10th May 2006, 01:44 AM

The bcc feature as you've set it up works very well for me, and is something I've been waiting for without knowing it.

I tried it first on the beta server, but it seems to have copied over to the regular server as well. Should I have expected that?

beq · 10th May 2006, 04:19 AM

This is great, thanks from me too Richard.

With folder-based auto BCC and henrikg's Fmail stylesheet, I'm tempted to primarily use the FM webmail again instead of Outlook 2003 (with all its plugins which also include folder-based personalities/BCC)

My other wishlist would be to optimize the HTML editor (and to be able to permanently choose FCKeditor for me).

hadaso · 10th May 2006, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rjlov
Hi everyone. It's actually pretty hard to show the personality BCC addresses while composing, purely because of the user interface. ...

Not exactly what people here meant, but one way should be the "preview" screen (only available from HTML compose but perhaps should also be available in text mode, at least through the actions drop-down). I didn't check if it shows the automatic Bcc address, but I know it shows the "from" address. I also think it should show some more stuff, like the list of attachments, the signature used. I think it should serve as a "check before send" option that shows everything that a user might want to verify before hitting "send" on an important email.

msulloway · 10th May 2006, 06:39 AM

Thank you very much for this additional feature. Very nice for backup.

541 · 10th May 2006, 03:12 PM

I've been waiting for this feature for some time. Thank you guys.

adam15c · 11th May 2006, 04:12 AM

Thanks for this FM another great feature. Also I've noticed a small (b) appear in my From field when there are Bcc's. Nice touch.

8th May 2006, 01:51 PM	#1
rjlov Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 280 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	Automatic BCC On the beta server at the moment you can configure your Personalities with a BCC Address. To do this, go to the Options screen, and click on Personalities. Any message you send using that personality will also be BCCed to the specified address when you send, in addition to any BCC addresses you specify when composing the message. If this sounds useful to you, please try it by logging in using www.fastmail.fm/beta and and let me know what you think. Thanks, Richard.

8th May 2006, 02:09 PM	#3
Fenman Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: UK (East Anglia) Posts: 544	I'm delighted to have that function. Thank you very much. For me it woud give slightly greater flexibilty if the automatic Bcc were to appear in the Bcc field of the compose screen. That way one could easily delete it for the occasional exceptional case. It's a great help as it is, though.

8th May 2006, 06:08 PM	#5
Fenman Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: UK (East Anglia) Posts: 544	I don't want to sound greedy but if I use auto Bcc it is usually to two addresses or none. Unless there is a format that I'm unaware of this beta allows only one. Any chance of a second, please?

9th May 2006, 09:30 AM	#7
rjlov Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 280 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	Hi everyone. It's actually pretty hard to show the personality BCC addresses while composing, purely because of the user interface. "Personality" is just a drop down list that you can change without requiring a server round-trip. We could add some kind of javascript to submit the form when you change personalities. That seems a bit ugly though. Or we could rely on some JS to update the BCC field itself, but then things don't work properly if JS is not enabled, because when the form is finally submitted, we can't tell if the BCC has been modified by hand. Any suggestions? Maybe it's sufficient just to have some kind of flag character in the personality list which shows if there are any BCC addresses associated with it. When you actually send the message it shows you the addresses that were used, but it's too late at that stage, of course. Richard.

9th May 2006, 09:11 PM	#8
Fenman Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: UK (East Anglia) Posts: 544	Oh, dear, Richard! I'm sorry that the request turns out to be complicated. If it were me, I'd say the 'ugly' solutions are not worth it. I've worked round it in that for one of my Bccs the worst risk is a bit of clutter. I'm happy to have that one fully automatic and unseen. The other one has a small risk of confidentiaility about 1 time in 100. I've set that up on Quicklist so I have to take a positive action to use it. That's good enough for me but I'm sure it won't be for all. Thanks for your efforts.

9th May 2006, 10:46 PM	#9
rjlov Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 280 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	We've decided to leave things as they are for now. I've made it so that you can specify multiple BCC address in a personality, rather than just one. If you're unsure about the BCC of a personality, when composing a message you can switch to 'custom From' mode, by clicking on the "Change" button next to the personality drop down. This will copy the BCCs from the selected personality into the BCC field, in the same way that Signature and Sent Items currently work. Also, after you send, the BCC addresses are displayed, which should reduce the risk of someone setting themselves up to get copies of all your mail without you noticing. Unless some additional problems raise their heads, we'll just stick with the current situation for now. Cheers, Richard.

10th May 2006, 01:44 AM	#10
lane Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Buffalo, NY Posts: 400	The bcc feature as you've set it up works very well for me, and is something I've been waiting for without knowing it. I tried it first on the beta server, but it seems to have copied over to the regular server as well. Should I have expected that?

10th May 2006, 04:19 AM	#11
beq Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 889	This is great, thanks from me too Richard. With folder-based auto BCC and henrikg's Fmail stylesheet, I'm tempted to primarily use the FM webmail again instead of Outlook 2003 (with all its plugins which also include folder-based personalities/BCC) My other wishlist would be to optimize the HTML editor (and to be able to permanently choose FCKeditor for me).

10th May 2006, 06:39 AM	#13
msulloway Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 154	Thank you very much for this additional feature. Very nice for backup.

10th May 2006, 03:12 PM	#14
541 Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 235	I've been waiting for this feature for some time. Thank you guys.

11th May 2006, 04:12 AM	#15
adam15c Essential Contributor Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: UK Posts: 339	Thanks for this FM another great feature. Also I've noticed a small (b) appear in my From field when there are Bcc's. Nice touch.